Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on the newsstand on August 25, 1983.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #20: Bridwell, Cavallieri and Hoberg/Lay finish out the series with guest appearances by Changeling and Gorilla Grodd and teases for an upcoming limited series that won't appear for another couple of years. The Cavallieri approach to scripting is a bit less punny than the writers that came before, but he does ring some mildly humorous bits from Changeling's bemusement at the differences with the Zoo Crew's world, and that world's with him. Grodd is defeated mostly by the Teen Titan, though. The Zoo Crew isn't exactly sidelined, but they also don't seem to have the lead. Based on one scene, Grodd appears to be working with a mysterious Roquat, who Oz fans will know is the Nome King, but I wonder if Grodd's involvement is still a part of the Oz-Wonderland Wars mini when it appears? Anyway, so long Earth-C.

Detective Comics #532: I liked this issue better than the last one due to an added dose of comic book silliness. Moench and Colon/Alcala have the Joker reveal to the captive Batman and Vicki Vale that his master plan is to get total control of Guatemala and turn the whole country into a Joker-themed amusement park with "killer" rides and attractions. In fact, he's got a site model to show them--and a Joker-faced train deathtrap for them both. Batman frees them both of course. Vicki snatches up a gun, and they fight their way out, collapsing the building on a still-laughing Joker.

Meanwhile, a remorseful Bullock convinces Barbara Gordon he's changed his ways at Jim Gordon's hospital bedside, and Alfred is reunited with his daughter Julia, who finally knows that he is her father.

In the backup by Cavalieri and Moore/Gonzales/Trapani, Green Arrow and the thief he was captured with manage to escape the Survivalists and through a number of outrageous trick shots and gimmick arrows, Green Arrow foils their plot and takes them captive.

Action Comics #549: Bates, Saviuk and Colletta/Marcos continue their "untold tale" of Superman and the Phantom Zone escapees, or as they call themselves here: The Zod Squad. It turns out those criminals are trying to do the right thing for once, and after a confrontation with Superman they manage to convince him. The real enemy is the Vrangs, who we now learn are conquerors with a history of subjugating Krypton (as first revealed in Superman #176). As Kryptonians, the Zod Squad is willing to make common cause with Superman to defeat them. However, when Superman is captured and two of the Phantom Zoners are killed, Zod is quite willing to use the Jewel Kryptonite in a way which will kill the Vrangs (who have a weakness to crystal, apparently) and Superman, thus ridding himself of two enemies. Superman manages to break free from the Vrangs on his own and use the power of the jewel to escape into the Phantom Zone just like the Zod Squad as the Vrang ship blows up. Supes quickly uses the jewel again to return to regular space and ensures the Zod Squad is trapped once again in their prison.

All-Star Squadron #27: Thomas and Howell/Houston again have a lot of characters to juggle, which makes the book constantly feel like a lot of its pages are spent on getting them from one place to another, not on superhero action. While the Atom is briefly hospitalized for his radiation exposure, the Justice Society use Wonder Woman's Magic Sphere to try to find Dr. Fate. They locate him at the end of his search for the Spectre in a Ditko Dr. Strange-esque weird dimension. The Spectre appears to have become the thrall of the evil being known as Kulak, High Priest of Brztal. He fights with Fate and in the end hurls him through an infinity of dimensions, off to the end of time. Then Kulak turns his attention to Earth. Gigantic blue hands, visible everywhere in the world, reach out from the rent fabric of the sky.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #13: Kupperberg returns to script the comic he co-created. Now that Wyynde's father has died, he is expected to become the next dhonu (leader) of the tribe according to the customs of his people. Although, he'd like to keep serving Arion and D'Tilluh, he does his duty. However, his cousin Graywolff challenges Wyynde for leadership during the ceremony, and the shaman Wintermoon uses his magic to help the treacherous Graywolff secure an advantage. Luckily, Arion has Wyynde's back and even without his full magical fight, he's able to help his friend win the day and take his rightful place with his people.

Fury of Firestorm Annual #1: Rafael Kayanan makes his American comics debut and begins a long association with Firestorm. While there are perhaps some amateurish panels here, I think some of his designs (Firehawk, particularly) are an improvement over what we've seen before. The story here continues from this month's issue. Firestorm has to figure out a way to escape Tokamak's plasma rings, which are compressing him right out of the universe. He does by causing a nuclear explosion, but don't worry, he absorbs the radiation. Meanwhile, Tokamak has again kidnapped Lorraine and returns to his base where it's apparent he's not acting rationally. Stein's ex again spies on his activites for Tokamak, who sends the new Enforcer to nab the physicist, but Firestom beats her just like her predecessor. Our hero arrives at Tokamak's base just as Multiplex is deciding it's time to bug out. 

A battle ensues between Firestorm and Tokamak, which it looks like the villain might win, until Firehawk shows up to help. Lorraine's powers got re-triggered by a potential plunge to her death. Firehawk proves she's free of Tokamak's control forever, and the two heroes defeat Tokamak, evening dealing with his explosion, then share a kiss.

Returning to the Day home, Ronnie finds out his father was in the witness relocation program after testifying against the mobster, Shine. Shine tried to have him killed but failed. He's still alive, and he and Ronnie can be reunited now that Shine is dead. Not really sure what the point of this subplot was given that it was resolved so quickly. 

Jonah Hex #78: Fleisher and Ayers/DeZuniga take a bit of a side trip from the ungoing story of Hex being framed for the governor's murder. He does rescue Emmylou from the Turnbull's goons, but as he goes to find the letter than will exonerate him (at least for the original sentence; not for killing the governor) he runs into a massacred group of Indians. He gives aid to the sole survivor, but the kid ropes him into helping bring the men responsible to justice. Hex helps out then becomes the young man's "blood brother." That done, he returns to his mission only to fall into a trap laid by bushwhacking bounty hunters.

New Adventures of Superboy #47: Kupperberg and Saviuk/Schaffenberger conclude Superboy's visit to Japan. We find out Sunburst isn't really a villain but is being forced to commit crimes by criminals who are holding his parent's hostage. In a typical Superman comics twist, Sunburst told Superboy this last issue, so the two are actually working together to set a trap for the crooks. Superboy rushes to rescue Sunburst's parents, who reveal Sunburst must have come by his powers by inhaling vapors from a volcano that happened to be erupting the day he was born. If he appeared again, I'm betting his origin got retconned to "mutant." Anyway, Superboy helpfully super-hypnotized Sunburst so that the hero forgets he has the powers that have been so burdensome. 

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Hunt, Trouble Clef and Venus the FlyingTrap must defeat a cadre of new villains serving the master: Metalliferro, Darkstar, Spyderr, Titaness, Solar Dynamo, Trojan, Blue Damsel Fly, Serpentina, and Cableman. In the end of the issue a shocker: the suggestion the duo's friend Nick might be working for the Master.

Sword of the Atom #3: It turns out Taren's old righthand man, Voss, isn't a spy but only sort of jealous of the Atom usurping his position. In tried-and-true action media tradition, once the two fight a bit, they come to grudgingly respect each other and work together for the rebellion. Meanwhile in Moriadh, Deraegis continues his plan to steal the throne from Caellich by repairing the stardrive that powered the ship their people came to Earth in to power the city. Caellich forbids this because he fears the engine is unstable, but Deragis instructs his men to continue the work.

Back at the rebel camp, a troop of army ants causes an emergency, forcing the rebels to run for safety. Taren, who has been feeling he is a drag on the group, takes the opportunity to commit suicide by ant. This pushes Atom to decide the time has come to lead the rebels forward--and also frees him and Laethwen up to act on their feelings for each other.

World's Finest Comics #297: Big shift in art style this issue as Colan/Smith replace Andru/DeCarlo. We're treated to a long fight between Superman and the Pantheon member Omicron while Batman gets the secret origin of the villains and just what they're about from Rho. It's a kind of interesting set up, having a definite 70s Marvel feel, like something Gerber would have done. A CIA agent comes across a mysterious Living Diamond in his work, killing the person that had it to take it. Everyone he shows it to, from the priest he to whom he confesses, to a jeweler, to a husband and wife scientific research team fall under the diamond's sway. They find a way to harness the diamond's mutagenic affects and hasten their own evolution. They realized the diamond was a seed of the Cosmic Tree, so they set out to find the tree, believing it will complete their evolution so they can remake the world in their own image. Like I say interesting, to the it takes up a lot of pages.

Batman and Superman finally get together. Batman goes to warn the League to bring in reinforcements, while Superman pursues the Pantheon, hoping to stop them from bringing forth, Zeta, who would be their strongest member from the roots of the Cosmic Tree. The issue ends with him appearing to be too late.

Ronin #3: This issue didn't actually hit the stands until next month, but it was dated November. In Aquarius, a group meets to discuss the Ronin. Their security chief Casey would very much like to kill for murdering 3 of her men. The AI Virgo, however, reminds the executives of the value of the Ronin's telekinesis enhanced cybernetics. It appears, however, Virgo may have another motive. Anyway, the head of Aquarius agrees. He's thinking of moving into selling weaponry, something he had been against previously. Meanwhile, the Ronin acquires himself a horse, some clothes, and a bow. With an old hippie as his self-appointment manager, he seems to be starting to play Yojimbo in the middle of a race gang war between the Nazis and the Panthers. Then, Aquarius security shows up.

Miller plays with a lot of things that will again show up in The Dark Knight Returns and other works of his over the decade. Interesting to see how long he's been going to some of these same wells.

Weird Revisited: Setting History Should do Something

This post original appeared on 2020 and was one of my most popular posts that year. Recent discussion of what constitutes good "lore" over on X made me think it was time to revisit it.

If setting books for rpgs sometimes get a bad rap, history sections of setting books are probably even more widely reviled. There are reasons for this, but I don't think the solution is that history should be banned from rpg books entirely. I do think it's worth thinking about why we have history (particularly deep history) in rpg setting books, when it's useful and maybe when it isn't.

My thesis is that history in rpg books is most useful/good when it does something. Possible somethings are:

1. Helps to orient the reader (mostly the GM) to the themes/mood/flavor of the setting.
2. Directly establishes parameters that impact the player's adventures.
3. Provides "toys" or obstacles.

It is unhelpful when it does the following:

1. Describes events that have little to no impact on the present.
2. Describes events which are repetitive in nature or easy to confuse.
3. Provides few "toys," or ones that are not unique/distinctive.

Now, I am not talking specifically here about number of words or page counts, which I think a lot of people might feel is the main offender. Those are sort of dependent on the style/marketing position of the publication. Bona fide rpg company books tend to be written more densely and presumably read more straight for pleasure. DIY works are linear and more practical. My biases are toward the latter, but I am more concerned with content here. I do think in general that economy of words makes good things better, and verbosity exacerbates the bad things.

Let's get into an example from Jack Shear's Krevborna:

Gods were once reverenced throughout Krevborna, but in ages past they withdrew their influence from the world. Some say that the gods abandoned mankind to its dark fate due to unforgivable sins. Others believe that the gods retreated after they were betrayed by the rebellious angels who became demons and devils. Some even claim that the gods were killed and consumed by cosmic forces of darkness known as the Elder Evils.

Looking at my list of "good things" it hits most of them. It helps orient to mood and theme (lack of gods, dark fate, unforgivable sins), it sets parameters for the adventurers (cosmic forces of darkness, no gods), and provides obstacles (demons and devils, rebellious angels, elder evils).

That's pretty brief, though. What about a wordier example? Indulge me in an example from my own stuff:

So, the good stuff: orienting to theme, mood. etc. (deep history, memeplexes, super-science, transcendence as old hat, names suggesting a multicultural melange), setting parameters (a fallen age compared to the past, psychic powers, vast distances), and toys and obstacles (psybernetics and a host of other advance tech, Zurr masks, Faceless Ones!)

But wait, have I done one of the "bad things?" I've got two fallen previous civilizations? Isn't that repetitive and potentially confusing? I would say no.  The Archaic Oikueme is the distant past (it's in the name!). It's the "a wizard did it" answer for any weird stuff the GM wishes to throw in, and the source of McGuffins aplenty. The Radiant Polity is the recent past. Its collapse is still reverberating. It is the shining example (again, in the name) that would-be civilizers (and tyrants) namecheck.

Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on newsstands around August 18, 1983.

Thriller #1: In an unspecified near future New York, Dan Grove is considering suicide, dealing with the trauma of filming his brother's brutal assassination by the terrorist Scabbard in the Middle East. Instead. he's reluctantly recruited into a group of adventurers named the Seven Seconds by a ghostly presence of Angeline Thriller, who wants "Seven Seconds to save the world."

The creation of Fleming and von Eeden, Thriller is (like Ronin) emblematic of the new things DC is trying in this era. I remember reading the Meanwhile column on it as a kid, and it seemed so different from anything I was used to in comics. Today, I would say it perhaps prefigures some of the things the British writers would do that became Vertigo, or perhaps more accurately, it resembles something you might see in the direct sell indies of the era. Unfortunately, the storytelling and presentation is as offbeat as the content, and I don't think that part works quite as well. We'll see if that impression changes with later issues.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #13: The indicia title of this issue says the title is still "The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl," though on the cover it's just "Supergirl." Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner introduce a new costume ditching the short of "70s cocktail waitress/stewardess' vibe she was rocking. There's also the beginning of a new story arc, as Kara learns that her neighbor, Mrs. Berkowitz, has had a swastika painted on her door by a fascist group, the Party for Social Reform.  Linda attends a rally at which the group's imposing leader preaches some dog-whistle anti-Semitism.  When a riot breaks out, incited by the staged beating of one of the party members posing Jewish protestor, Supergirl intervenes and orders their leader to end the rally.  Instead, the woman reveals her name as Blackstarr, and she focuses her cosmic powers on the Maid of Might, knocking her to the ground.

Batman and the Outsiders #4: Another lackluster issue by Barr and Aparo. I think they're still figuring out what to do with the team. A former Batman (and Black Lightning) foe now calling himself Meltdown has broken out of prison and is stealing radioactive materials. The Outsiders pursue and do battle but Batman is suspicious something more is going on here. The one thing I did like about this issue was the twist that the warden of the prison is the real villain, and Meltdown was merely driven to desperation because the establishment was withholding life-saving treatment.

Green Lantern #170: I guess Cohn and Tuska/Sekowsky felt like last issue was great because they repeat the same basic framing sequence of the Guardians telling Lantern Kista X, who questions their treatment of Jordan, another story about a former Green Lantern aimed to convince her "the Guardians always know best." In this one, Green Lantern Monak falls to an invasion of his homeworld by the robotic forces of Z'nang after he had warned the Guardians about a despotic takeover on the Z'nang world and they had declined to allow him to intervene. His son, Meeno, because the next Lantern and makes war on the Z'nang in violation of the Guardians' orders, even directing a comet toward the world. When he's shown that the comet will kill many innocent victims of the dictorial regime, he redirects the comet but is killed by Z'nang soldiers. The ring passes to a Z'nang political prisoner who can now fight to liberate his people.  

Jordan wakes up from the mindgame test the subjected him to, and he is dismissed. He asks for another reply beyond "don't call us, we'll call you," particularly given his current exiled status, but none is forthcoming. Despite this, he tells Krista where he given the option to do it all over, he would still choose to be a Lantern.

Sgt. Rock #382: In the main feature by Kanigher and guest artist Spiegle, Easy takes a town and with it some German prisoners who all happen to be teenagers. The leader is as fanatical as the come, and refuses to go easily, killing some of Easy's "green recruits" with a grenade. This story is a bit unusual; I expected Rock to be able to get through to the kid a bit, but no, he's Nazi through and through.

There are a bunch of shorts on everything from the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee to the F-111, but the only other story is a "Men of Easy" feature on Little Sure Shot, that's okay, other than the silliness of depicting Native Americans in the reservation (presumably) in what must be the 20s or 30s in stereotypical Hollywood "Plains Indians" regalia.

Legion of Super-Heroes #305: Levitz and Giffen/Schaffenberger have a group of Legionnaires go into action against the Shrinking Violet imposter that's married Colossal Boy. Her name is Yera, and she reveals she is working for a group on Imsk that turn out to be separatists. Colossal Boy naturally doesn't take this well but joins the others in trying to locate the real Violet. What follows is well-done, with Cham infiltrating the group as Yera, then calling in the others for a devastating assault. In the coda, Colossal Boy reveals to Yera that he has decided whatever her true identity, she is the one he has fallen in love with.

Warlord #75: Cool Jurgens cover. I reviewed the main story here. No Barren Earth backup this month.

The Collected Planes

One of these days, I'm going to completely finish (and maybe publish) this series on the Great Wheel, but until then, here's everything I've done.

The Planes of Pure Law
The Planes of Chaos
Hell
Carceri

Hades

Arborea

Elysium

Beastlands

Gehenna

Twin Paradises

The Layers of Heaven (part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

Arcadia

Limbo

Ysgard

The Return of Flash Gordon

"Gordon's alive?!" 

That's right, the Flash Gordon comic strip started by Alex Raymond in 1934 has returned in a new incarnation to the (digital) comics page on the website Comics Kingdom. Cartoonist Dan Schkade relaunched the series on October 22, 2023, and has been doing daily and Sunday installments since.

Schkade's continuity starts right after the defeat of Ming (in Raymond's 1941 strip) and tells the story of what happens as the uneasy alliances of the revolution fall apart and the different kingdoms jockey for power. I think it's a novel approach: something fresher than either a complete reboot we've seen so many times or bland "further adventures" in a world without a strong central conflict. 

His design sensibility is strong too. It is broadly "classic," but draws a lot on the 80s film (and I think the New Adventures of Flash Gordon animated series) that many readers will be more familiar with and lightly updates it.

The weekday installments tend to carry the story forward, but the Sunday strips offer a summary of the previous six days from the perspective of a specific character, which serves to both catch you up and give insight into the characters.

Check out the strip here.

Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1983 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I've looking at the comics released the week of August 11, 1983. 

Superman #389: Bates/Kupperberg and Swan/Hunt bring back Cory Renwald, Clark Kent's sort of foster brother, who we last saw in issue 369. This is his final appearance. He's got amnesia and has been framed as a traitor and is on the run from enemy agents. I wonder if Cory has shown up post-Crisis? Looks like no. Meanwhile, Lois and Lana have patched things up, but Perry and his wife Alice still seem headed toward divorce. Also, in the last panel we see Vartox is heading to Earth.

This week also saw the release of DC Graphic Novel #1 "Star Raiders." I won't review it in detail, but I thought it deserved mentioning. It's an Atari tie-in by Elliot S. Maggin and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

Batman #365:  It's been interesting to see how Moench's approach to Batman differed from his approach to Moon Knight, a character most people would consider very similar, I think. This issue feels fairly different from Moench's typical Moon Knight story. Vicki Vale is in Guatemala investigating illegal weapons dealing by Cuba and the USSR but gets captured by the criminal running the operation. Batman into a trap as he comes to Guatemala to rescue Vicki, but that's falling right into the trap the criminals set for him. After confronting indigenous peoples and trained jaguars, Batman comes face to face with the mastermind of this whole thing who is (surprisingly) the Joker!

Omega Men #8: The whole Vega System seems to be celebrating the Omega Men's victory over the Citadel, but there are signs of trouble ahead. First off, the remnant of the Citadel isn't about to give up and their wily, human advisor, Harry Hokum, plans a new offensive. On Euphorix, there are indications the guy Kalista left in charge, Dulak, plans to keep the throne--and maybe seize her with it.

G.I. Combat #259: In the first Haunted Tank story, Stuart's Raiders finally get back from their sojourn in the past, but only after Jeb's warrior woman bride is killed by the Huns, and the ghost of Atilla again does battle with the ghost of a Confederate general. This has been the weirdest detour in the history of this title. The second HT yarn is so mundane, I can't even remember it, other than it involves a kid in Italian mountain town saving our heroes with a 50-gallon drum full of kerosene.

There's an O.S.S. story by Kanigher and Cruz where a French chef struggles with finding the courage to assassinate a German Colonel, but in the end, he doesn't poison the Colonel's wedding cake. Instead, the bride, a French partisan, activates an explosive cake topper. Kashdan and Trinidad have a malfunctioning artillery piece getting loose and rolling down a hill to destroy a bridge and an advancing contingent of Germans.  Finally, Kashdan, this time with Henson, has a small group of Americans holding a desert oasis against a German force, in the end the oasis is revealed to be a ruse to play for time, but the explosives that kill the German actually do reveal a spring.

New Teen Titans #36: Wolfman and Pollard/Tanghal follow-up with Thunder and Lighting, who had been left with S.T.A.R. Labs back in issue 32 with the hope of a cure for their condition. They've had no luck, so Raven has to use her power to find their missing father, whose blood holds the promise of saving them. It turns out he's in the hands of H.I.V.E. who've been using his power--and he's an alien. The Titans and the brothers attack H.I.V.E. but badguys control the duo's father to fight them, ultimately forcing Thunder and Lightning to kill him. Using the deceased extraterrestrial's blood, S.T.A.R. scientists are able to cure Thunder and Lightning, allowing them to control their powers, and they choose to return to Vietnam. I wonder was this whole alien storyline planned when they introduced the two? Seems like the Vietnam bit is extraneous, if so.

Saga of the Swamp Thing #18: Pasko and Bissette/Totleben provide a framing sequence where Swamp Thing, Matt, and Abby are overwhelmed by the monsters from Matt's brain and Arcane tells a captive Kripptman the story of his last encounter with Swamp Thing--which is a reprint of Swamp Thing #10 (1974) by Wein and Wrightson. That story involves the ghosts of mistreated slaves attacking Arcane and his Un-Men.

Eternian Icons for 13th Age

Watching He-man & the Masters of the Universe: Revelations this past week got me thinking about how the MOTU mythos has got some good candidates for 13th Age style icons. Here's a sampling:

Earl Norem

DARK WARLORD

The dread general of the vast, world-conquering armies of the Horde whose dominion spans universes. He is a figure of legend who employs terror to first breaking the collective spirit of a world before employing the powerful magic and technology to subjugate it.

Gerald Parel

SORCERESS

Guardian of the secrets of Castle Grayskull which was once in ancient times the Hall of Wisdom, a repository of incalculable knowledge, but also a conduit of cosmic power. The Sorceress' unrivalled magic protects these secrets from the wider world--and the wider world from the secrets. 

ELDER DRAGON

Second oldest living thing on the planet of Eternia, the Elder Dragon rules over the rest of his kind from forbidden Darksmoke. He takes a dim view of humanity, being well-aware of their failings, but may be moved to employ his magic and knowledge in their cause, if supplicants pass the tests he puts before them.

Alvin Lee

SERPENT KING

Once this world bowed to the many-headed Snake God and was ruled by his chosen people. The Serpent King was both Eternia's ruler and the Snake God's high priest. When mammalian humanity rebelled, he was imprisoned outside the world with his god. Still, his presence can be felt. His followers keep the faith in secret. The Serpent King works tireless to return and again ascend the throne.

FOREST LORD

Though believed by many city-dwellers to be nothing more than a legend, the Forest Lord is in fact the living avatar of the natural world, a green god that moves silently through the great forest. His followers are most aggressive against the forces of destruction who would despoil nature but have no love for the encroachment of civilization, whatever its form.

Far Away Land 2e Kickstarter

The Far Away Land has got a Kickstarter for a second edition just in time for it's 10th anniversary. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, is a gonzo fantasy setting with unique art and a vibe a lot like Adventure Time but a flair all its own. It's creator and artist, Dirk Stanley describes it with the elevator pitch: "Imagine Rifts, Dungeons & Dragons, and Adventure Time had a baby," which I think pretty much covers it. 

I always felt like Far Away Land shared a common spirit with my own Land of Azurth, and I've run some of Stanley's adventures to good effect in my home campaign. They are unfailingly imaginative.

The Kickstarter just started but has already funded. Whether you are already a fan or hearing about it for the first time, you might want to check it out. 

The Caped Crusader

Over on the Flashback Universe Blog I reviewed the new Amazon Prime Batman animated series, Batman: The Caped Crusader.

Wednesday Comics: DC, November 1983 (week 1)

My ongoing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of August 4, 1983. 

Vigilante #1: Vigilante is a very 80s character in a way that it would have been hard to recognize in the 80s. His mission brief, as laid out here by Wolfman, is that he goes after criminals who escaped the law due to "a technicality"--a frequent 80s complaint, but what we now would term "due process." Anyway, Vigilante has got a tricked out, improbably huge RV, and a sidekick who is a tech expert. I'm struck by how much this setup reminds of where the Punisher winds up when he gets his on series (no RV, but a cool custom van). I can't blame Punisher's writers from cribbing from Vigilante, because Vigilante's stark, black and white suit (excepting a blue strip) and origin seem inspired by the Punisher, who I will note, was featured in 1982 in a character-re-popularizing 3 issue arc of Miller's run on Daredevil. The costume as rendered by Pollard and Giordano is pretty snazzy, though.

Anyway, after a criminal, Quilt, who Chase has long had his eye on, gets off thanks to a corrupt judge, Vigilante agrees to help a widow with a secret. Quilt has got a henchman named Brand who dresses all in white, has a white curly mohawk, and uses (guess!) a "B" branding iron as a weapon. There's a big fight scene at Coney Island and a climatic struggle on a roller coaster.

All-Star Squadron Annual #2: One thing I've discovered in this read through is that the comic tradition of large-scale team-ups with subgroups squaring off against villains that I so enjoyed is a kid, mostly winds up with me skimming pages of fights when I'm reading more than 6 comics a week for these reviews! This weeks Justice League is a such a comic, and Thomas and Ordway deliver the same sort of thing here. With extra pages! Which is not to say, in isolation, that it's bad. Finally, the heroes have rallied enough to be on the offensive against Ultra and his goons and this overlong storyline comes to a reasonable conclusion. The 1942 Ultra is seemingly blown up in Cyclotron's self-destruction (perhaps creating a paradox given he's alive in '83) and Infinity, Inc. get to team up with the All-Stars/JSA. Amazing-Man reveals he did make a heel-face turn, but was just playing along with the bad guys.

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #7: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon have Amethyst go on the offensive, crashing the wedding of Prince Topaz and Princess Sapphire to make sure that the nuptials do not come off, thwarting the plans of Dark Opal. She begins recruiting for her coalition to defeat the tyrant. There's a lot of Comics Code approved Game of Thrones-esque lord and lady intros and hints of political intrigue. It could all no doubt seem darker rendered by another hand, by it's all pretty breezy in Colon's cartoony style, and I kind of like it.

Blackhawk #264: Blackhawk pursues the Nazi assassin known as De Morder and they are both forced down in the remote Alps where they find a sort of European Shangri-La: a city of near immortal pacifists with telekinetic powers. Blackhawk and De Morder are forced through a trial to see which of the two men of violence is actually evil. In the end, De Morder's villainy is revealed, and Blackhawk is allowed to take him into custody. Meanwhile, the other Blackhawks attack Merson's recently discovered secret laboratory, but the evil inventor releases a swarm of trained bats fitted with explosive vests to down their planes.

In the solo story backup by Evanier and Meugniot, Chop Chop is in Switzerland breaking up a meeting between Japanese arms dealers and an amoral American arms exporter. The Japanese try a double cross using a giant robot. Chop-Chop defeats the robot and saves the American but she doesn't change her ways.

Arak: Son of Thunder #27: The Thomases and Randall pick up where last issue left off in the hippodrome of Byzantium. Arak recognizes the woman in the cage who can change into a tiger as the sister of the priestess Dziewona (who he met back in the Warlord preview). Risking his own life, Arak frees the woman. The empress orders their deaths, and it looks like the soldiers will bear down Arak and Satyricus through weight of numbers but the woman, Dyanna, calls down the power of her goddess. It's manifest as a solar eclipse and the animation of a pair of bronze horse statues. Arak follows Dyanna out of the city riding one of the horses.

In the backup with art by Randall/Yeates, we catch up with what Valda and Malgigi are up to on their way back to Frankland. Mostly, this means a flashback to Valda's training as a young knight and an incident which began when Creston, the Knight All in Scarlet, dying, whispered to her the name of the Archangel Michael.

DC Comics Presents #63: Mishkin/Cohn and Saviuk/Colon go for some synergy this week and have Amethyst team-up with Superman. Carnelian has come to Earth and is causing trouble, using Kryptonite as a source of magical power. The issue has a clever structure in that part is on Earth where Amethyst is just a kid, but she has useful information to help Superman, and the second half is on Gemworld where Amethyst takes the lead, but Superman's powers, unfamiliar to Dark Opal and his crew, allow the heroes to win the day.

Flash #327: Fiona is still in the hospital thinking any guy with a vague resemblance to Barry is him, but the Flash thinks that's better than revealing himself. Members of a street gang harassing a homeless guy inadvertently re-awaken Gorilla Grodd, who regains his true form. Meanwhile, the Justice League summons the Flash to the satellite for a vote on his continued membership given the charges. The way the votes go down doesn't map to my conception of the characters, but this was also 41 years ago. Firestorm, Green Arrow, and Elongated Man are for letting him stay, while Hawkman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman vote to expel him. Superman arrives and will cast the tie-breaking vote.

Fury of Firestorm #18: Taking up where last issue left off, Conway and Tuska/Rodriguez reveal Hewitt's knew inelegant supervillain identity--Tokamak. He can shoot "quantum rings." First, he fills Merkyn, the former Enforcer, for failure, then he gives the Enforcer suit to Mica Love before he goes after Lorraine Reilly in the hospital. Firestorm, whose been trying to figure out the connection between all these events, is jolted into action to protect her. We learn Hewitt is working with some organization called the 2000 Committee.

Justice League #220: Thomas and Patton complete the JSA/JLA team-up, revealing the true origin of Black Canary, and it has real "One Last Day" energy, in the since that it's pretty dumb, but it was a means to an end. Evil Earth-One Johnny (we're never given any backstory on his villainy) and T-bolt reveal that Dinah and Larry Lance had a daughter who was cursed by an evil Wizard to have a really loud cry (or sonic scream), so Dinah calls a guy who used to crush on her to see if he will get his genie to help. The genie can't do anything but take the baby away and let her grow up in isolated, suspended animation. Problem solved! Except the parents get radiation poisoning and die, but the Dinah's dying wish is to let her now-grown but mentally a black slate daughter continue for her by making her a mental clone. And Superman knew all this, but never told Black Canary or the JLA. Thomas thanks Wolfman for the idea, which seems to me to be a way of sharing the blame.

Anyway, the JSA and JLA defeat the villains, and Black Canaries youth and super-powers are explained.

Wonder Woman #309: Mishkin and Heck conclude the story started last issue, with the Roma woman, Zenna, whose mind is in Black Canary's body, explaining how the sadistic Nazi Schlagel has continued his experiments and has been using Roma children with psychic gifts to power a machine so that he can have the power to challenge the U.S. military. Our heroes free Black Canary, but Zenna jumps to Diana's body in her quest for vengeance, so now Wonder Woman is in Zenna's body as they race to stop Schlagel from launching missiles. In the end, Wonder Woman in Zenna's body is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, but the real Zenna jumps back in at the last second.

The Cavalieri and Burgard/Rodriguez Huntress backup reveals a new villain, the sewer-dwelling Earthworm, who I recognize from his half-page in the DC Who's Who. He's apparently the supplier of this baby-snatching ring, but we don't get the details just yet.

To Catch A Titan

Our Land of Azurth 5e game continued last night with the party having successfully completed their quest to collect all the pieces of the magical armor known as the Quicksilver Panoply from the mind of Gob. They returned to the regular world, only to hear from Princess Viola that the giant automaton they were acquiring the armor to safely control had been stolen by a traitorous gnome artificer, Zobus Bok and a group of mercenaries. 

Bok apparently plans to sell the giant automaton to the Wizard.  Princess Viola wants to party to chase down the automaton and regain control using the armor. She tells them there's a way to get inside the giant from either foot.

After a rest, the party pursues the automation using a device the princess gave them. When it stops to survey a ravine, the party attaches chains to its feet to try to trip it, but that doesn't work. They gain access through the right foot portal, though a gnome guard escapes to raise the alarm.

Traveling up the leg on an internal portal system, they make it to the first floor in the body, where they find a conference room--and an ambush by two tough bravos of the Nighthawk mercenary group. The party's superior numbers carry the day and after looting the bodies, they prepare to proceed upward.

RPG Crowdfunding to Check Out

 Time for some plugs for rpg projects by friends of mine I think you ought to check out.

Luka Rejec's Our Golden Age: An Ultraviolet Grasslands rpg has taken off big time, so you are probably already aware of this one, but just in case, you should follow the link and cast you eyes upon its goodness!

Chris Vermeren has been toiling away for a while now on a cool cyberpunk rpg, Terminal State. I've been privileged to see the teases he's been dropping on Discord, and think if it's a genre you dig you won't want to miss this one when it launches. Be there in the beginning for the street cred! You can download the Quickstart free, too.

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on the newsstand on July 28, 1983.

Detective Comics #531: Moench and Colon/Alcala conclude the Chimera arc with Batman escaping the hungry lions, but absent most of the issue while Jason tries to figure out the Chimera's identity in the daytime. Has he killed Waldo and replaced him completely, or could he be someone else in the circus? Investigating Waldo, he comes upon Batman--who turns out to be the Chimera, but luckily Waldo appears and he's Batman is disguise. The two take out the Chimera together and free the real Waldo. This super-villain-less story line was a nice change of pace, and a good showcase for the soon to be much maligned Jason Todd.

In the backup by Cavalieri and Moore/DeCarlo, Green Arrow thwarts the Survivalists by preventing the nuclear silos from completely opening with magnetic arrows and blasting the power supply for the missile detonators. He trails the terrorists through the sewers, but winds up getting caught along with a thief pilfering the Survivalists' stores of supplies. 

New Adventures of Superboy #46: Kupperberg and Saviuk/Schaffenberger continue Superboy's visit to Japan and his conflict with Sunburst. We get further hints that there is some motivation behind Sunburst's crimes other than greed, but Superboy doesn't pick up on the hints, so we don't get an answer. Also: Clark tries sushi and spits it out when he hears it's raw fish. Meanwhile, hoods with a protection racket visit Jonathan Kent to persuade him not to run for city council, which has the opposite effect.

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Giella, Chris (as Trouble Clef), Vicki (as Venus the Flyign Trap) and Nick Stevens storm the Master's hideout, but are greeted by a group of super-villains: Hitpin, Decibel, Electron, and the Overseer. As soon as they defeat those guys, they discover a room full of other costumed characters awakening from some sort of tubes.

Action Comics #548: Bates, Saviuk and Colletta/Marcos present a story we are told is occurring somewhat out of continuity, but we're not given any indication when (Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics places it between next month's JLA and this week's World's Finest). Anyway, it's sort of an intriguing start: A group of aliens land on a meteor and discover that it's debris of the planet Krypton. They find evidence of the ruined Argo City – the birthplace of Supergirl. Meanwhile, an attempt to create a synthetic diamond becomes unstable and Superman compresses it and throws it into space. In other, I'm sure unrelated, jewel-centric developments, some of the Phantom Zone criminals escape the Zone by concentrating their mental energies on an ultra-rare example of Jewel Kryptonite.

Later, Clark Kent is assigned to interview a community watch organization in inner city Metropolis known as the White Wildcats. During the interview, Clark discovers that the hi-tech outfits they sport are based on Kryptonian designs.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #12: Moench and Duursema/Mandrake send Arion and friends off to the city Thamuz, where Garn Daanuth kept a tower stronghold, on a quest to restore his magic. In the tower, Arion, Wyynde, and Mara encounter a series of magical creatures and traps. This includes S'Net, Garn's jackal-headed former lieutenant, who's also seeking the magic of the tower. Arion and friends triumph, but all they retrieve from the tower is an empty sword hilt. Lady Chian shows up at the end with a message for Wyynde concerning his father.

Jonah Hex #77: As was strongly hinted last issue, Fleisher and Ayers/DeZuniga reveal that Jonah has been tricked into getting imprisoned by the machinations of Turnbull. He shows up to gloat. That was probably a mistake, because Hex now knows the score and begins looking for an opportunity to escape. The warden puts out the false story that Hex has died in prison, which makes the situation all the more embarrassing potentially when Hex does escape. Turnbull visits his crony the governor and accidentally kills him in anger after the guy reveals he gave a signed letter to Hex stating the bounty hunter's innocence. Hex's escape is revealed, but everyone thinks he killed the governor. Turnbull and his goons go after Emmy Lou because they think she must have the governor's letter.

Sword of the Atom #2: Strnad and Kane have the Atom and Taren spared a death by rats so they can fight and die in Morlaidh's gladiatorial games. However, Taren is blinded before the games, apparently by order of King Caellich's prime minister Deraegis, but the deed is blamed on the king. A riot breaks out because of this action, and the Atom and Taren are spirited away by Princess Laethwen to a rebel camp outside the city. Due to his disability, Taren asks the Atom to lead the rebels in the field. We learn that Taren was captured due to a traitor in his ranks. Voss, either jealous of the Atom or a traitor, attacks him. Meanwhile, we get a glimpse of Deraegis' plan to fan the fires of revolt, so he can seize the throne.

World's Finest Comics #296: Kraft is the writer here, but Fontes is given a credit as "co-plotter and creative cohort." Andru and DeCarlo are on art. This still continues to be a team-up book with the conceit that the two stars are sort of on the outs, so they spend the issue doing things solo.

In Gotham, Batman encounters a group of robotic-looking individuals called the Pantheon, who raid the Gotham Art Museum. In Metropolis, Jimmy tells Clark about sightings of a dinosaur around Mount Ossa in East Africa, just before Superman has to fly to the Gotham Airport to stop the Pantheon from stealing a plane.

Earthquakes start occurring all over the world. While Superman deals with the natural disasters, Batman traces the Pantheon to Africa. At Mount Ossa, Batman fights the Pantheon who tells him they plan to replacement humanity, and Superman arrives, tracing the earthquake source, and finds a giant, crystalline structure called the Cosmic Tree.

 

All-Star Squadron #26: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan are milking this arc for all it's worth and then some. Or maybe they are doing decompression before it was cool? In any case, there is a lot of talking with a few important revelations, like that the Ultra-Humanite of the 80s (fresh off the JLA/JSA crossover) found a way to contact the Ultra of 1942 and hatch a plan to free him and the other super-villains from that previous story from Limbo. Also, we learn from Brainwave, Jr. how the other members of Infinity, Inc. got co-opted to Ultra's cause. The super-villains from 1983 appear in place of the missing 40s heroes. Brainwave leads the All-Stars in a search for Ultra, who is now hidden with his allies and captives in Mt. St. Helens, Amazing Man decides for the moment to stay a heel, and the Infinitors escape.