Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1982 (week 3)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around June 17, 1982.

Brave & the Bold #190: Barr and Infantino send Batman to Rann for a  team-up with Adam Strange. After Strange is mysteriously killed, Sardath and Alanna summon Batman to Rann to help find his killer-- and fight the Kyrri invaders, because Rannians still need humans to do that. In his investigations, Batman comes up with a way to bring Adam back to life by using the Zeta-Beam. It's a good thing, too, because only Strange has the out-of-the-box thinking to defeat the Kyrri weapon that turns people to water. Batman reveals Strange's killer as one of Ranagar's soldiers, who had a personal grudge against Strange. This is not a spectacular story in a lot of ways, but solidly done. It allows the Dark Knight Detective detect, Strange to do his thing has that breezy Bronze "of course all the heroes are friends" charm.

DC Comics Presents Annual #1: This one by Wolfman and Buckler/Hunt is an okay story but interesting from a DC universe point of view as (I believe) it is the first appearance of the Earth-Two Lex Luthor. Not the Golden Age Lex Luthor who was of course retconned into being the Earth-Two Luthor, but the first time Luthor appears and is designated as being the Earth-Two version in story. It's also important was one of the building blocks of Crisis as it introduces Earth-Three's heroic Alexander Luthor.

Anyway, Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two and Lex Luthor of Earth-One decide to switch Earths (and Supermen) to defeat their foes and then relocate to Earth-Three to use that as their base and the evil Earth-Three "Superman, "Ultraman, as their enforcer. What they don't know, is a hero will rise on Earth-Three to team up with the Supermen of two worlds and defeat them--a hero named Luthor!

Legion of Super-Heroes #291: Levitz and Giffen/Mahlstedt continue the The Great Darkness Saga with the mysterious Master freeing, then feeding on Mordru. The casual defeat of the Legion's greatest foe is an ominous sign of things to come. 

Meanwhile, the Legionnaires have a lot of stuff on their plate. Shadow Lass and Mon-El discover the captured servant of darkness is a clone of Shadow Lass's ancestor, but they don't know what that means, if anything. There's an impending Legion election and Element Lad, Ultra Boy, and Dream Girl are jockeying for position. Reep Daggle is in jail and things don't look good regarding his trial for his anti-Khund adventurism. Lighting Lad is still in a coma.

There are disturbances on Takron-Galtos and Naltor. On the Prison World, a group puts an end to the riot, and find the Time Trapper drained and stricken inside his now broken cell. Shadow Lass and Ultra Boy notice some kind of nearby dimensional portal, cloaked in darkness not even Ultra Boy's vision can pierce through. On Naltor, the Legion arrives in time to stop a Servant from kidnapping White Witch. During the battle, Invisible Kid tries to sneak into the portal, but even invisible, he's spotted by the Master and blasted. Their mysterious enemy decides the White Witch isn't worth all this trouble and he and his servants depart. After the battle, the Legion takes Invisible Kid to a hospital, and Dream Girl has another vision where the Legion fights the Servants again on Sorcerer's World--and gets defeated.

Green Lantern #156: Barr in joined by classic Green Lantern artist Gil Kane on this one. Following a distress signal, Green Lantern finds a duplicate of Earth where the planet Pharos IV should be, inhabited by humans, even Hal's friends, Carol and Thom. Jordan doesn't fall for any of this, though, and sneaks into a meeting, where the shapeshifting alien leaders helpfully explain their really complicated plan to use Earth as a weapon in their generations-long war against Dalgova. Their strategy is to send a group to Earth and live as humans for years, until they have enough numbers to take over and build Xeroz Tubes, a weapon that will allow them to move the planet and crash it into Dalgova. Yeah, it's nutty. Anyway, the Pharoids discover Green Lantern and attack him, but a renegade, Trigus, helps him escape and reveals he's the one who sent the distress signal. Jordan Kirks this whole thing, by grabbing a bunch of representatives of both Pharos IV and Dalgova and forcing them to face each other in combat, but they don't fight because none of them even know why they are fighting. Jordan makes them to sit together talk about how to put an end to their conflicts. He has the Pharoids change their planet back and before leaving, warns them that if they don't end their war, he'll be back.

House of Mystery #308: Having given up his magic time travel ring last issue to save young Deborah Dancer, Bennett is trying to get it back so he can pursue Mary and not be stuck in 1964. He commandeers a boat and goes diving, and wouldn't you know it? His ring just happens to have settled in the vicinity of a sunken U-boat and it's magic animates the crew. He manages to fight them off and get the ring. Following Mary into the past, he meets up with both their younger selves before their vampirification. On his way to meet young Mary in place of his young self, he's asked to assist a group of witch hunters.

Cavalieri and Texiera follow that up with the story of a mortuary sculptor so intent on keeping his son safe from the dangers of the world he's been giving him cement in his insulin until he's petrified. The final story by Harris/Redondo is a offensive by modern standards tale of Roma (though of course they use a different term) revenge on a gold-digger and her sexually harassing boss via a tree that turns into a serpent.

Night Force #2: Wolfman and Colan/Smith continue the origin of Baron Winter's "Night Force" without yet making any of the characters particularly likeable--which isn't a criticism, just an observation. Jack Gold gets all indignant and heroic-like when he thinks Kane's ritual/experiment is hurting Vanessa, so he busts in and takes her--to his hotel room. There he succumbs to the advances of a confused young woman who's a resident of a mental institution. At least, that's what the scene looks like. When Kane, all righteously indignant himself and concerned for Vanessa's safety (and his experiment, and his military contracts) bursts into Gold's hotel room, Gold jumps out of bed wearing a sheet and protests he didn't "lay a hand on her" but she's calling him "honey," and it sure looks like a comic book post-sex scene, so I don't know what Wolfman intends to have occurred.

Anyway, the ritual resumes, but the mysterious as yet unnamed conspiracy is now ready to strike. They disrupt the ritual, leading to demonic forces getting out of control and killing Kane's assistants and his wife. The bad(er)guys kidnap Vanessa.

Sgt. Rock #368: Command is weighing heavy on Rock as he collects the dogtags of a dead new kid who just saved his life. He remembers a lot of other single appearance characters who's dogtags he's had to collect. I'll say this for Kanigher's work here. There are few nameless G.I.'s dying in this book. There are a lot of deaths, but everybody at last gets a name.

In a humorous story by Harris and Randall, cookies backed for soldiers in the front take so long to get to the Pacific Theater they save a G.I.'s life by making the Japanese soldiers that captured him sick. Then there's one of those silly pieces where Rock's helmet, Thompson, and pistol are arguing about which is most important to Rock's survival. Kanigher likes a "talking piece of equipment" story. Lastly, there's a tale of the Little Big Horn from the Native American perspective where Custer is labelled the "savage."

Superman Family #222: This is the last issue of this title. Supergirl is going to get her own title coming up, but in this issue were just getting the "change in direction" as Kupperberg and Mortimer have her getting fed up with balancing soap opera stardom and superheroics in New York City, she gives up her job and decides to get back to college (grad-school, I presume, though it isn't specified. Or maybe a second degree?) I suspect that means another relocation, but that isn't clear here.

The rest of the issue has the usual Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Mr. and Mrs. Superman stuff. Oh, Insect Queen shows up again in Mr. and Mrs. Superman. I won't bother giving you all the other details. While this book is hardly one of my favorites, so I won't miss it in these reviews, for historical reasons I am kind of sorry to see it end. While these sorts of stories wouldn't have been what I was looking for then (or now really), they were for the most part competently done. I guess adventures of crime battling reporters probably were better served on primetime TV in 1982, but the loss of them in DC's publishing roster is symbolic of the slow retreat from the newsstand and from the attempts to get beyond superheroes in the 70s, and that retreat leads to where the industry is today.

Warlord #61: I reviewed the main story in this issue here. In the Arion backup, Arion battles Garn in the astral and there's a lot of discussion among cosmic powers about what they must or mustn't do and profound mystical events. I have to say, I find all this attempted weightiness sort of tedious. At least, I don't think the story is helped by these sort segments.

The New Marvel Universe

 In 1986, Marvel launched the New Universe. It was envisioned as a more realistic setting--"the world outside your window." There were to be more subdued and limited super-powers, no gods, magic, or aliens. Jim Shooter argued this was similar to how Lee had thought of the Marvel Universe at it's inception: "the original Marvel Universe -- Stan's conception of it -- instead of doing something Superman or Green Lantern, he was really trying to do science fiction. The Fantastic Four didn't have costumes in the first issue. He was trying to be down to Earth."

Before they created the characters and books of the New Universe they had pitched a reboot of the Marvel Universe, something like the Ultimate line to come along decades later. There is no indication this reboot had the same mission statement as the New Universe, but what if it did? A more realistic Marvel Universe starting in 1986 would be interesting as a supers rpg setting, I think. 

What would that look like? I have some thoughts:

Fantastic Four: The crew of an experimental space shuttle are on their test flight when a strange white light fills the sky. They come back changed. Reed Richards has his genius intellect boosted to superhuman levels. Sue Storm develops the power to turn invisible and telekinesis. Johnny Storm develops pyrokinesis. Ben Grimm is transformed into a monster. The four stay together to fight alien threats and other strangeness as a team more Challengers of the Unknown than the original FF. 

Iron Man: Iron Man probably works the best in this lower key format, you just make the armor bulkier to seem more realistic. He is never able to reproduce the armor for the military due to some change in his physiology due to the White Event, so lesser exoskeletons and armor suits show up, but nothing on Iron Man's level.

The Hulk: The experiment that created hm would be a genetic one rather than a strictly radiation one. Perhaps something akin to the tv show? Obviously, his strength would be toned down.

Thor: An amnesiac being who has memories of another world roams the world looking for his "brother," a being he calls Loki who is head of a criminal empire. He is able to summon or create his "hammer" a weapon of pure energy to wield against his brothers minions. Thor is one of the hardest for this format, but I think he can be toned down enough to work.

Spider-Man: The White Event occurs while Peter Parker is visiting a science lab and he gets bitten by an altered spider. This one could wind up with a very different, darker tone than the original. There might be a tinge of body horror to Peter's spidery condition.

Wednesday Comics: Things I Read Recently

 My review of 80s DC Comics is taking a week off. Instead, here are a couple of things I enjoyed recently that you might as well.

Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Crisis on Counter-Earth: I hate that the Big Two don't number a lot of collections these days, but if it matters this is volume 6 of the Hulk Epic Collections, apparently. These are stories from the early 70s, written by Englehart and Thomas and drawn by Trimpe and they are crazy. The Hulk wanders from one situation (and fight) to another, often running into people he knows no matter where he is. The Marvel universe seems really small! 

It opens with Hulk returning to Earth after a sojourn in Jarella's microverse world, which he accidentally kicked out of orbit when he grew big again. He's briefly reunited with some of his supporting cast, but then he's attacked by the Rhino being mind controlled by the Leader. He pursues Leader/Rhino into a spacecraft and keeps trying to fight him as the ship veers off course and takes them to Counter-Earth. They are there for 1 issue and get involved in conflict with factions of New Men, before grabbing a rocket back to regular Earth. There, Hulk goes looking for Betty who's marrying Talbot. Ross sends Abomination to fight him, but Hulk beats prevails, and Abomination has a breakdown over the fact he had ben unconscious for 2 years (since his last appearance where Hulk punched him out of space). And all this isn't even halfway! The Hulk goes to Counter-Earth again before it's all over and bears witness to the death and resurrection of Adam Warlock.

This the sort of flying by the seat of the pants comics storytelling we don't get in this age of decompression. 

Solar, Man of the Atom (1991): Valiant wasn't on my radar when it started and by the time it was it was the darling of Wizard. I was skeptical and avoided it. So, 32 years later I'm getting around to reading it's second title. And I'm actually pretty impressed.

Shooter is definitely still cogitating on the concerns that led to the conception of the New Universe. Valiant is realistic superheroes. Where for Moore realistic means a whole lot of sexual fetishes, for Shooter it means them having to deal with problems like the unexpected difficulties of flying (it's like a motorcycle but worse) or what to do if your powers keep destroying your clothes. Shooter's protagonists in this realistic mode, from Star Brand to Solar, have a hard time figuring out how to do the superhero thing--the sort of stuff that somehow just seems to happen for people when they get powers in most comics.  

Shooter's protagonist, Phil Seleski, definitely can't get things right. He gave himself powers Dr. Manhattan-style in a fusion mishap, but then something bad happened that resulted in the deaths of a lot of people. So, now he's back in time trying to stop that. Maybe he'll kill his past self--but then he accidentally creates his childhood superhero fav Dr. Solar from parts of his psyche, and now that guy is convinced future Phil is a super-villain. Which, in a way, he sort of is. 

Eventually, all of this resolves into more standard stuff, but it's a pretty interesting origin, perhaps given additional resonance by the sense of foreboding Windsor-Smith's art creates with the flashback backstory--though maybe this is only for me since I last read his stuff in Monster. For some reason, comics in the 80s and early 90s at least tend to do interesting things with nuclear test related heroes: Dr. Manhattan, the Bates/Weisman/Broderick Captain Atom, and this. Firestorm is perhaps the odd man out.

Anyway, I look forward to checking out more old Valiant stuff.

Swords Against Sorcery: Claw the Unconquered in Action

 After the first playtest session of Swords Against Sorcery, the Bronze Age of comics Sword & Sorcery rpg I have been working on, I went through 1975's Claw the Unconquered #2, by Michelinie and Chan, and broke it down in game terms just to see if I thought the rules as I'm currently envisioning them could handle it.  Here's one fight scene from that issue.

The story up to this point: Claw and a former would-be assassin turned ally Gofflok climbed a rope to escape dog creatures and find themselves in a floating city. A beautiful maiden, Myrallya, appears and welcomes them to K’Dasha-Dheen. She invites the two to her palace to partake in food and rest. As the two visitors are eating, Myrallya reveals that her city hangs suspended between two separate planes of reality. It also grants its inhabitants immortality but this enchantment has to be renewed through the sacrifice of a god. Since no gods are available, the two men are informed that they will have to suffice...

With so many blades pointed at him, the guards are clearly out to intimidate. Claw's player makes his reaction roll of his dice in his Might Attribute and Swords Domain, counting a 5-6 as a success. Claw succeeds! Now it's on, He's going to enter combat, despite the odds.

The GM says since the guards still have the drop on him, they attack first, meaning Claw will react to their attack. Claw's player plans an acrobatic evasion that will morph into an attack, and wants to use Daring+Deeds for the Reaction. The GM agrees, but adds he'll have a penalty of -1 die for being seated. The guards attack as Tough foes, meaning 2 successes are need to avoid their attack. 

Against the odds, he succeeds! Now, it's his Action, and he uses Might+Swords to make his attack roll, looking again for 2 successes as they have a Tough Defense too. It works and the guards sustain Blows.

It's Grofflok's turn and he gets his Action first thanks to the Surprise Claw gave the guards. His coming up behind his target assassin-style, rolling Cunning+Swords for his attack with one die bonus.

The two continue to fight side by side, getting in some different maneuvers:

Claw uses Daring+Swords to improvise a ranged attack. Then, he uses Might+Swords to heave a piece of furniture in their way, spending a couple of Momentum he's generated from extra success in this scene to get catch multiple guards in its delaying condition.

Anyway, that's one way all that could have gone.

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1982 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of June 10, 1982. 

Batman #351: Conway/Levitz and Colan/DeZuniga have vampire Batman stop Dick from turning Vicki, too. He manages to subdue his ward and bring him back to the Batcave. It seems, according to Father Green, that they can only be cured by a serum made from the Monk's blood. Batman and Father Green go to the vampire's lair, but they only find Dala, who tells them about the Monk's hiding place in an abandoned church. Batman and Father Green go to the place and after a brief confrontation, Batman defeats the Monk and Dala, allowing Father Green to start the transfusion process. Meanwhile, Bard and Gordon get closer to discovering Rupert Thorne, Thorne hires Deadshot to take out Bruce Wayne (who he now believes is Batman), and Christopher Chance seems poised to discover Batman's secret.

In the Jones/Gonzales Catwoman backup, she teams up with an FBI agent who has been investigating the case of Candy Carole, a woman wanted by several loan sharks in Cleveland--the woman Selina has been mistaken for. Impersonating Candy once again, Catwoman lures the criminals out of hiding and they capture the whole criminal gang. That only leaves Roscoe, Candy's former lover, who forced her into a life of crime. When Catwoman finds Roscoe with all his criminal loot, he tries to escape, but dies in the attempt.

Flash #313: Barr takes a deep cut and brings back William Dawson, the guy whose body Grodd stole in wayback in Flash #115 (1960) as the psi-powered Psykon. Psykon is out for revenge on Grodd but Flash won't let him kill him--while largely sympathizing with Psykon's beef. When Grodd tries to betray his ally, the Flash makes a plan with Psykon that keeps hm his body back and leaves Grodd's mind in the body of a homeless alcoholic. Which hardly seems fair to the homeless alcoholic, but I guess that's Central City justice for you.

In the backup, Dr. Fate is able to defeat the combined forces of a Lord of Order and a Lord of Chaos by adding Inza to the mix of Nabu and Kent--shades of one of the conceits of the Dr. Fate 1987 limited series by DeMatteis and Giffen. It's surprising to see how far back that idea goes.

G.I. Combat #245: In the first Haunted Tank story, a German tank crew so horribly burned they look like undead returns to menace Jeb and friends a second time (after a brief stint in a circus sideshow). Jeb tries to save the commanders life, but he chooses to die after his defeat. In "The Easy Way" Kanigher and Talaoc have the path of apparent least resistance mean death for a group of GIs. In the O.S.S. story, Kana is put on trial for refusing to go through with his mission to assassinate the Emperor of Japan. Rather than go to prison, he prepares to commit seppuku, but he's saved with MacArthur orders the Emperor is not to be killed. In the second Haunted Tank yarn, Craig meets up with an old friend from WWI who is now a Colonel and moves Craig to a desk job due to his age. In the end, though, Craig is meant to be a tanker, and proves it. Also, Craig seems rather easily to have taken over the role of doubting Jeb's sanity from Slim. Kanigher wants to keep the same story formula, I guess.

 

Jonah Hex #64: We pick up with Hex in San Francisco, losing at cards, then rescuing a damsel in distress from some thugs. The woman is Sharon Hilliard – daughter of wealthy copper baron, Maxwell Hilliard. She claims her now deceased sailor boyfriend found a pearl of great value, and she knows where to get it but she needs protection. Jonah has to fend off her advances while dealing with the disapproval of her father (who doesn't believe any of this pearl nonsense) and unscrupulous treasure-seekers who do. Jonah and Sharon are kidnapped and threatened with death if they don't reveal the secret. Jonah manages to win their freedom, but after all that trouble, Sharon admits the story was a lie.

Saga of the Swamp Thing #5: Pasko and Yeates left Swamp thing in the hands of Sunderland goons and now he arrives at a private clinic for treating Sunderland employees. Dr. Barclay, who appears to have psychic healing powers, seems like a nice guy and heals Swampy, but something still isn't right. He finds out just what when he discovers that a lower level of the clinic is full of unconscious human clones. The clone are empaths and the wounds from the employees (and Swamp Thing) are being psychically transferred to them. Barclay and Elizabeth Tremayne are as horrified as him, and work to free the clones, but not before Dr. Kay (revived by the transfer of his burns to a clone) arrives to try to stop them. The revenge seeking clones overwhelm the staff, but not before Kay escapes in a helicopter, and our heroes flee.

New Teen Titans #23: Wolfman and Perez shift back to Vega System stuff. As the DA chews out the Titans for complicating his attempts to bring down Brother Blood and his cult, Starfire is hit by a Gordanian mental probe and goes wild. Then, She's captured by the Gordanian slavers under the command of her renegade sister, Princess Kornand'r. The other Teen Titans, with the help of Aqualad, salvage two Gordanian ships and infiltrate the Gordanian mother ship, but they're overcome by its defenses and hurled into space, where Raven's soul-self protects them until they can be rescued by Superman with the tractor beam from the Justice League satellite. Superman is unable to aid the Titans' rescue mission, since his powers were halved (as seen in Action Comics this month). The Gordanians escape with Starfire.

Superman #375: Bates and Swan/Adkins bring the Vartox/Lana wedding thing to an end. Syreena's treachery causes Lana to be turned to stone while Vartox jealously attacks Superman. When Vartox snaps out of his rage, the heroes managed to capture Syreena. She pleads her love for Vartox and eventually agrees to cure Lana. She does, but only by turning herself to stone. Another side effect is that the field that would have allowed Lana to live on Vartox's world is gone. The lover's part, with Vartox carrying the petrified body of his ex home with him.

The Fabulous World of Krypton backup here by Rozakis and Kane is better than average. A Kryptonian reporter spies on the Fel-Kar, head of the Kryptonian Science Council, and the agent Fel-Kar sent to spy on Jor-El. They learn of the scientist's plans to illegally launch a rocket bearing his son to Earth. But, when the Councilman fails to report the findings, the reporter realizes Fel-Kar plans to steal the rocket and escape in it himself. He fights with the Councilman and they are both killed in the collapse of the building, but not before Jor-El's ship rocket's the safety and the reporter records his account for posterity. Later, a group of aliens listen puzzled to the account, but cannot understand the Kryptonian language and decide to sell the device as junk.

The Plane of Whatever It is, I'm Against It

No one is quite certain how the Concordant Opposition came to be. It is quite possible that some soldiers of Law and some warriors of Chaos tired of the endless battle of natures and paradigms and came together in that consensus to make another alternative. Others believe (or hope) that it is the place where the last fragment of the Godhead exists. a strange loop of dreaming God unconsciousness, a bulwark against a schizoid multiverse. People in the City of the Sigil, in particular, like this idea.

However it came to be, it stays because he serves a purpose. It's the phase boundary between not only Law and Chaos but the other syxygies which emerged from their conflict come together. It is the place of concordant. Of course, it actively resists being incorporated into any camp (though they all try). It is a place of opposition.

Across it's expanse none the Powers hold sway, yet no where are their philosophies more discussed and debated. There are groups of evangelists and missionaries from other Planes working to convert travelers, though these all die out eventually, either in conflict or by loss of faith. The plane does not mock, but it is actively indifferent.

At the edge of these Outlands are the Border Towns. Their appearance vary from town to town, but they control the flow of traffic from whatever plane is on the other side. All are fortified, no matter how benign the appearance of the Plane on the other side. Indeed, from the perspective of the Opposition, the most benign are often the most dangerous.

Swords Against Sorcery: Kharron the Slayer! Anatomy of a Pregen

Kharron was one of the pregens I put together for the first playtest of my in-progress comic book Swords & Sorcery ruleset, Swords Against Sorcery. I don't know any more about Kharron and his background than these stats suggest. I gave the player a picture of DC's Stalker as drawn by Steve Ditko for an illustration, but I also had in mind Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis, a character created by my friend Jim Shelley and artist Pierre Villeneuve for the Zuda competition. Jason Sholtis drew this rendition with that in mind:

Anyway, every SAS character has two Archetype descriptors. These determine what abilities they have. For Kharron these are Cursed Warrior.  

His Distinction is "Neither Living Nor Dead," which can come into play as a special bonus once per session, but can also be used as a penalty at other times.

These are the primary abilities of the game. Every roll is a Attribute plus a Domain with situational modifiers. I talked about these before. Attributes range from 1-5 (with 2 being the minimum for heroes) and Domains 0-4 (with 1 being the minimum for heroes).

Expertises and Talents further flesh out a character. Expertises are skills they are exceptionally good at, while Talents are sort of special abilities that allow a character to "break" the usual rules n certain circumstances.

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1982 (week 1)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of June 3, 1982. 

Adventure Comics #491: Adventure returns as a digest of mostly reprints, but there's a new Captain Marvel story by Bridwell and Newton. Satan assembles Ibac, Sabbac, Master Man and Darkling to get rid of the Marvel Family and Kid Eternity. The heroes are on a hike when it gets uncommonly dark. Realizing Darkling is responsible, the Marvels try to transform, but the darkness is so intense even magic lightning can't get through. Having been given the power to see in magical darkness, Master Man puts his hand over Kit Freeman's mouth before he can use his power. Billy Batson tricks Sabbac into conjuring a flaming light and Kit uses it to burn the gag from his mouth and says his magic word. He summons Zeus, who brings along three Shazam lightning bolts for the Marvels. Ibac, Sabbac and Darkling are defeated, but Master Man summons four gods of evil.

Arak Son of Thunder #13: Thomas and Colon/Acala continue Arak's adventures in Greece. A chance encounter with some dead monks and soul-taking Keres demons, leads to Satyricus and Arak impersonating the monks at a monastery and agreeing to investigate a story of demonic influence in some neighboring caves. Inside the cave, the satyr mysteriously falls asleep, and a swooping Keres causes Arak to become lost. He finds a thread which leads him to a tapestry which depicts his native land and He-No the god of thunder.

In the Valda backup by the Thomases and Colon, the gifts of treacherous Hun ambassadors are ensorcelled and meant to harm the Charlemagne. Valda prevents the king's own sons from killing their father who they perceive as a stag thanks to the magic. She destroys the cursed helmet, and the king plans to punish the huns for their treachery. It's interesting how different Colon's art looks here when he inks it himself compared to the main story with Alcala inks. This is more cartoony and cleaned lined, and the other grittier.

DC Comics Presents #49: Thomas/Kupperberg and Buckler bring Black Adam and Captain Marvel over from Earth-S for a team-up with an unusual angle. After a terrorist bomb shakes an ancient Egyptian temple, the Billy Batson of Earth-One has a dream about becoming Captain Marvel. Black Adam turns up on Earth-One intent on conquest, and Superman needs Captain Marvel's help, but he'll need Billy Batson and the secrets of the temple to get him here. 

Fury of Firestorm #4: Conway and Broderick/Rodriquez have Firestorm at the mercy of Killer Frost, lest the people of New York suffer. Her first demand: bring her actor Curt Holland (a Burt Reynolds stand-in) to be her consort. Firestorm heads off to do that, but first has a pointless but Marvel-style fight with his teammates in the JLA who want to help, but won't let Firestorm do it, his way. Eventually, they talk it out and collaborate with Ronnie on a plan involving a device built by Stein and Red Tornado impersonating Holland. It works, and Frost is defeated. 

Justice League #206: Conway is joined by Infantino for this one with Tanghal's inks reining in some of the excesses we see in his work on Flash. In the 25th Century, Thomas Parker recounts to his son one of the Justice League's adventures, while the two visit an exhibit in the JLA's honor in the Space Museum. Unknown to the League, the demons Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast had caused the mystic Jar, Bell and Wheel used to imprison them to be left behind in the Souvenir Room of the original Secret Sanctuary when the Justice League moved to their satellite headquarters. The artifacts were eventually discovered and used to free the demons from their crypts. The demonic trio attacked the satellite and then battled the heroes a second time at Stonehenge. They trick Zatanna into using her magic to destroy the 3 objects that can imprison them, but they are defeated when she uses her magic to recreate the Jar, Bell, and Wheel and imprison them again. 

I've said before Conway's run here is generally good, but uneven, and this is one of the less good issues. It feels like a Silver Age throwback, and not just for Infantino's art.

Sgt. Rock Annual #2: Kanigher and Spiegle have Rock sent on a special mission to rescue a man with sensitive information who has fallen into German hands--and if he doesn't think he can rescue him, Rock is to kill him. A hard enough assignment any time, but harder still because the man in question is Rock's younger brother. With the help of the Haunted Tank crew and Mademoiselle Marie, a handpicked group of Easy rescue Larry Rock, though a rogue's gallery of villains get in their way: the Iron Major, Helga Voss, and a over-sized robot called the Goliath of the Western Front. Larry's been tortured and has a head trauma causing him pain. He wants desperately not to fall into German hands again. He attempts to get Rock to kill him, and when he won't, Larry jumps from the top of a cable car in the mountains. Rock tries to save him, but can't keep a grip. Mission completed, Rock and his men return to Easy. This was a good one, justifying the extra-page count, I thought.

Weird War Tales #114: Kanigher and Carillo bring back G.I. Robot (JAKE-2) with a cameo by the Creature Commandos. I suppose the story is a silly if you think about it, but I also feel like it's probably the most poignant of the week, even moreso that Kanigher's other effort Sgt. Rock. There is pathos in Sgt. Coker's devotion to his robot "buddy," in a way perhaps more now than in its era. JAKE always seems to have some humanity, but his mute, inexpressiveness never allows you to know whether it's an expression of his soul or just his programming, when he sacrifices himself for others or even puts his arm around a frightened princess.

Wonder Woman #295: Thomas/Mishkin and Colan/McLaughlin are keeping it topical with this storyline about a nefarious video game. Wonder Woman stops a riot in a department store caused by a rush of people trying compulsively to pick-up the Commander Video. The villain here, the Sandman foe last seen in 1974, General Electric, is in prison, but he has taken over the mind of the warden and many others by means of his game. Electric contacts General Darnell, another of his mind controlled lackeys, and has him transfer bombers and nuclear missiles to the prison just as Wonder Woman bursts in after destroying Steve's Commander Video game. She attacks Darnell, but the controlled general brands her a traitor, and she's on the run to try and stop the weapons transfer. Her jet takes a hit from a missile at the transfer site, and she falls unconscious and into the hands of the military.

In the Huntress backup, Alfred has been poisoned by a unknown, time-release toxin by a mobster out for revenge. When threatening the life of the thugs responsible doesn't yield any useful information, she rushes him to the hospital. Not knowing what the toxin is, the doctors don't know what to do. A desperate Huntress decides to science this herself. After all, she watched her dad do this sort of thing and she's had "two courses in organic chemistry." This being a comic, she's successful and Alfred lives.

Swords Against Sorcery: Wizard's Challenge!

 Last night, I did the first playtest of the Bronze Age comic book Swords & Sorcery system I have been working on. I made a few pregens and this was the line up:

• Oriax the Red, Gladiator Champion (Aaron)
• Thunda, Barbarian Acolyte (Andrea)
• Korag, Primitive Warrior (Jason)
• Kharron, Cursed Warrior (Paul)

The adventure began with the heroes all at a seedy tavern in the city of Djadishar. They are surprised by the sudden appearance of a robed sorcerer with a brass dome over his head like Mysterio. He said he was Narznn Gath and he was here to cause the death of the heroes as his divinations had showed they would thwart his plans in the future. The other tavern patrons rise up, seemingly under the sorcerer's control to take.

Bronze Age Sword & Sorcery comics tend to get to the action very quickly, typically with foes the heroes can deal with relatively easily. Here it also serve the purpose of giving everybody a try with the basic mechanics.

The heroes fairly easily dispatch the unfortunate tavern lowlifes. They figure they had better take the fight to Narznn Gath or he'll keep coming after them. Thunda and Kharron, with their combined occult knowledge, know that he is reputed to dwell in the Tower of Eyes deep within the hellish Desert of Urrd. The heroes aren't eager to cross the desert with a wizard waiting for them. They want to try for the element of surprise. Maybe swifter mounts of some sort or magical transport?

Kharron knows a sorceress who lives in a villa on the outskirts of Djadishar who might be able to help. The decide to seek out Yasheeng of the Gossamer Veil. 

Kharron actually failed his roll here, but with a "fail forward" sort of mentality, this just means a complication down the road.

Yasheeng agrees to see them and even his an idea that might help, but there's a catch. She has a magical mirror which can allow them access to the idyll plane where Zaarzog the Demon dwells. There grows a tree whose fruit can secure the cooperation of the winged creatures than nest in the caves of the Vestari Mountains nearby. However, in return for her aid she wants the large opal at the bottom of the pool near the tree--and she wants a few drops of Kharron's magical blood to ensure they don't double cross her. The party agrees, and jump threw the mirror.

They are greeted to the scene of glade with a small hill and a huge, gnarled tree with strangely fleshy leaves. At the center of the glade is a limpid pool with a giant statue of a seated demon on the far side. While Korag climbs the tree to gather fruit, Kharron dives into the pool after the mikly-colored, potato-sized, gem. Thunda investigates the statue and notes one of its eye sockets is empty, but the other has a white gem in it.

When Korag picks the large, pear-shaped fruit, thick juice drips from the sap. When it hits the ground, wriggling creatures began to grow, ultimately to two-foot tall goblin-things. When Oriax cuts down a few, more grow from the spilt blood.

Meanwhile, Kharron as emerged from the water with the jewel which feels strangely warm in his hand, but then, the statue comes to life with a grinding of it's stone joints. Thunda calls upon her gods and the demon is transfixed for a moment, buying them a little extra time.

Oriax runs to their aid, while Korag jumps from the tree and kicks his way past goblins to the portal. Kharron taunts the demon with the stone--perhaps unwisely, as it snatches him up. 

Oriax attacks but his blade is no match for stone. Kharron manages to pry himself loose. They all try to make for the portal, but Kharron is tripped and pulled down by goblins. Thunda comes to his aid, and everyone runs through the portal, a grasping horde of goblins on their heels.

Dr. Banner or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Gamma Bomb

This is a post in my Omniverse series of a "realistic," shared superhero universe. The original version appeared in the Gplus days in February 2018.

The official narrative regarding the creation of the Hulk prompts one to question: Just what was going on at Los Diablos Missile Base? Let's review the eyebrow raising details: Bruce Banner is given a shocking amount of freedom to place restrictions on and make demands of the base’s military commander, a Russian scientist has somehow gotten security clearance, the control room is grossly under-staffed, and the detonation is down to just one push of a button. Ultimately this is all the result of the government's Cold War mentality, but the immediate cause of the irregularities in the base’s operation and the tragedy that followed is Dr. Bruce Banner.

The first mystery (this one obscured by governmental secrecy) is just what the gamma bomb was. It was not a gamma ray weapon—though that was exactly what Banner had dangled in front of the Army to get his project off the ground. Once he had funding and security clearance, Banner went for something more daring: he planned to build the K-Metal Bomb the German’s had sought near the close of World War II, but never perfected. He hoped to use the K-Metal (or Kryptonite as it was becoming popularly known) to power a weapon that would weaken and incapacitate but not kill (in a manner similar to so-called “slow kryptonite” developed years later by Metallo) and would also not destroy infrastructure. “Gamma” became the Army’s codename for this weapon.

Not only were the generals incredibly interested in what Banner was offering, but Banner’s secrecy (either conscious or unconscious) regarding the physics involved only served to leverage a virtual celebrity status for him. A status coupled with Cold War thinking regarding means and ends would prove disastrous for more than one person present that faithful day.  Truth being more complicated than fiction, Windsor-Smith's version of these events in Monster would split Banner into two characters: a traumatized victim of a sadistic experiment and the sadistic scientist running the experiment. 

Dr. Leonard Samson, psychiatrist, wrote extensively about the psychological dynamics of the principles after the fact. That Banner was rigid and emotional repressed was obvious to virtually everyone, but Samson argues that he projected his anger for his mentally ill and abusive father onto the bellicose General Ross and taunted him in a passive aggressive manner. (This, incidentally, only served to heighten Ross’ daughter’s attraction to the emotionally unavailable scientist.) It was Banner who demanded and got unprecedented control over the test and a limited, handpicked staff. 

Which brings us to the oddest figure in this drama, “Igor Starsky,” the Soviet spy. Igor had been assigned to establish a relationship with Banner in graduate school—something not easy to do with the young physicist. For reasons of his own, Banner suffered Starsky’s presence, but seldom showed him any genuine warmth. When they were working together on the gamma bomb, he often treated the man like a lackey. Samson surmises that Starsky’s presence on the project was merely another way for Banner to assert his mastery over Ross, his father surrogate. He was the personification of foreign power in Ross’ domain. Banner would deny ever having considered that Starsky might be a Soviet agent, but he pointedly did not reveal any more of the science involved with the project to his colleague than to the military.

Why did Starsky attempt to kill Banner in the gamma bomb test when his presumed mission was not yet completed? Clearly, he had reason to resent Banner for the treatment he had received, but wouldn’t have stealing Banner’s secrets for his government been revenge enough? Samson believes Starsky’s murderous feelings against Banner were a reaction-formation of his attraction to the scientist. His tolerance of abuse had been the masochistic, unconscious expression of the depth of his feeling, but in a pivotal moment he pushed the button to free himself from Banner, and perhaps the intensity of his own feelings, once and for all.

That isn’t, of course, how it turned out.

Wednesday Comics: DC. August 1982 (week 4)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we check out the comics hitting the newsstand on May 27, 1982.

Action Comics #534: Wolfman and Swan/Hunt bring back Satanis and Syrene. Superman is pulled into the 14th Century by Satanis, as he's been trapped there by, well the actual Devil, but he still plans to conquer all of time, using Superman's physical might to do it. Satanis and Syrene are still vying for the Runestone of Merlin. Their magical duel somehow splits Superman into two duplicates.

In the Air Wave backup, Air Wave becomes aware of alien invaders with a plan to scour the Earth of life. It turns out one of his teacher's may well be part of the invasion force.

All-Star Squadron #12: Thomas and Gonzales/Ordway have revealed Hastor as the villain behind the fake alien invasion. We're given an extensive retelling of the Golden Age Hawkman's origins to explain it all, which is a bit tedious to me, but was probably necessary for the reading public in 1982.  Hastor comes by his power via a device that channels the brain waves from comatose scientists, the originators of this plan to save mankind, which he's co-opted for evil. He's confident in his ability to best the All-Stars, but acting on a complicated hunch, Hawkman uses the ancient sacrificial knife (his psychic connection to his previous life, Prince Khufu) to battle Hastor, on the astral plane. When Hawkgirl adds her psychic energy to her beau's, they are able to beat their old foe. The captured All-Stars use their mental energies to keep the flying eye from crashing, and the day is saved.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #6: No sooner have the Zoo Crew defeated the Yolk Monster from last issue, then they see more of these things attacking the White House. They rush to save the day with Oklahoma Bones Jr. and his snake coming with them. It seems this is also the work of the ambassador from San Salvador who is really Bones' old nemesis Baron von Vermin. He tells the Crew about the Space Bunny who bought the eggs from another world and buried them on Easter Bunny Island. The Space Bunny encased himself in a cocoon and buried himself on the Island, too, in case the eggs were ever awakened.

The Crew goes to revive the Space Bunny to help against the monsters, which once awakened, he does. He also turns von Vermin into a statute and embarks on a mission to subjugate the Earth. He captures all the Zoo Crew easily, but Captain Carrot manages to escape by changing back in Roger Rabbit and slipping his bonds. After eating a cosmic carrot to turn back super-powered, he manages to tie the Space Bunny's ears into a knot, causing the being to blast himself when he tries to use his powers.

Detective Comics #517: Conway/Levitz and Colan have the non-vampiric Batman return to Wayne Manor and struggling to control his unholy urges. He does wind up losing control with a criminal, though. Father Green shows up to provide Alfred the secret origin of "the Monk" (really one Louis Dubois) and his sister Dalia. He also suggests he knows a way to cure Batman.

Meanwhile, Gordon and Bard get closer to uncovering the puppetmaster behind the shady political doings in Gotham. Vicki is still at the party, but she's offered a ride home by Dick--who is still under the control of Dalia.

In the Batgirl backup by Burkett and Delbo, Barbara figures out how do de-snakify her legs by thinking hard. She is forced to adopt a shorts or skort version of her costume for the rest issue. The doctor's tell her she's got to get some venom from the serpent that bit her to save herself. She tracks down Lady Viper and snakewoman to snakewoman, defeats her, leaving her confined and taking the venom. Cured, Batwoman returns to deal with Lady Viper, but the villainess has been in snake form too long and devolves into a snake permanently.

New Adventures of Superboy #32: Bates and Schaffenberger reveal a rift in the Superboy Revenge Squad as s renegade member Trohnn (the extra "n" means extra nefariousness!) tries to destroy Superboy...not at the time the others want to do it, I guess? Anyway, this leads the other members try to secretly work to save the Boy of Steel.

In Dial H for Hero Bridwell and Bender switch up the formula as Vicki has to undial from a superhero identity to save herself as she is trapped on a world where she has super-strength, but the heroic identity doesn't. 

Tales of the New Teen Titans #3: Wolfman and Perez reveal the origin of Changeling. I'm not sure what of this issue is there invention or what has appeared in previous issues. I would guess most of the stuff post his original stint with the Teen Titans (his time on the TV show Space Trek: 2022, the attempt on his life by his former guardian who had taken over the identity of the super-villain, Arsenal) is all new, and likely the stuff before that is greatly expanded. Anyway, this seems less padded than the last issue and the juxtaposition of Gar's self-important narration with actual events is a nice touch. It's interesting how much body hair Perez makes Gar. That kid is as hirsute as Wolverine! 

Unknown Soldier #266: Continued from last issue, the Unknown Soldier's planned execution of the beloved Major he believes murdered the general in charge of "Bannon's Marauders" has to wait as Rommel's forces are attacking. Rommel seems suspiciously aware of their tactics, and it turns out it was the Lieutenant who had recently been captured by the Germans but "escaped," who has betrayed them and killed the General. The exonerated Major carries the day and is appointed General by the Unknown Soldier, who I guess can do that. The mystery here to me is why the Major never mounted any defense when charged with killing the General. Did he think he was covering for his men?

In the Kanigher/Severin Enemy Ace story, a passing French plane injures von Hammer as he is riding along in a car, so he's recovering when Balloon Buster challenges him to another duel. A younger pilot goes up in his place and gets shot down. Von Hammer and Savage plan to meet again, but when they do they are both forced to land on the French side, and von Hammer is taken captive. In the final story, Kanigher/Evans revive the Viking Commando for some reason. The Commando gets arrested and sent for a psychological evaluation as the brass finds it hard to believe he's really a time-displaced warrior from the 12th Century.

World's Finest Comics #282: Burkett and Novick open with Superman and Batman tracking down the Weapon-Master's lost stash of weaponry stolen from the Fortress of Solitude. They find the time-displacer at the hands of some low-level criminals. One of them activates the weapon and sends Batman back in time, forcing Superman to travel back to Earth's prehistory to save him. In the past they discover a civilization of extradimensional, winged-tiger riding wizards, the Eldiran, who are working to prepare the Earth for maturity so it can bring forth it's children (whatever that means). One of wizards tries to sabotage the mission, though, and Superman is threatened by a magically enhanced fire-lizard from a volcano, until Batman makes the malefactor undo the spell. This story is crazy, but not in a particularly interesting way.

Barr teams up with Gil Kane for this issue's Green Arrow/Black Canary story. Canary is kidnapped by Slingshot, and GA is lured into a trap to get her back--a cannier trap than he knows, as Slingshot is in the employ of the mother of a criminal he accidentally killed back in Flash #217. She plans to destroy the archer by tricking him into killing again! Rozakis and Infantino bedevil Hawkman with a precarious situation and annoying alien who hulks out when he feels unwanted in "Doctor Katar and Mister Plert." The ending, if genuine, seems to rush Katar's reuniting with Shayera, but this storyline hasn't been great so that may be okay.

Finally, Bridwell and Kane bring back Kid Eternity foes Her Highness and Silk who are working for Marvel family baddie Aunt Minerva. They plan to get the wealthy to a charity circus starring the Marvels so their houses can be robbed. Kid Eternity's intervention helps the Marvel's quash the plot.