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 January 13, 1983.
Batman #358: Conway is joined by Swan this issue, who is certainly an interesting choice for this sort of material. It mostly works, though Croc looks a bit more like Cactus than might be ideal. Killer Croc visits the Tobacconists' Club and tells them he's taking over Gotham. They decide to test him out by having him break into STAR Labs. Meanwhile, Batman and Gordon are tracing the bullet (and the rifle) he used to kill Squid. Robin also learns that Croc is behind the protection racket leaning on the Circus.
Ultimately, Batman finds Croc's home and waits for him there. We get an odd confrontation where Croc seems enraged primarily that the sanctity and solitude of his home has been violated. Croc destroys the building and flees to the river below, losing Batman in the process.
Flash #320: Bates and Infantino/Rodriquez bring the Eradicator story to its conclusion. The Eradicator nearly disintegrates the Mirror Master, but through the trick mirrors the Flash is able to track the Eradicator to the old windmill (for some reason) where he's holding Fiona. The vigilante and the Flash do battle, and it seems like the Flash is going to be killed, but he moves the battle to the cemetery where conveniently the Eradicator's victims are buried close together. Shocked by the graves, Philips wrests control from the Eradicator personality and turns the power on himself. Miles away, some farmers find Tomar-Re in a field after he was knocked down by a swarm of yellow meteorites and recognize him as a Green Lantern, though not the one they know. Maybe we'll find out about this Green Lantern business next issue?
Anyway, this ends okay, but it was some odd storytelling, almost like an alternate comics evolution. It is Silver Agey (or at least early Bronze) in some ways, but modern in others. I guess it's like some Gerber stories in 70s Marvel (I'm thinking of the Foolkiller stuff, who's a similar villain) but without the indication that it is kind of tongue in cheek. Well, there is Captain Invincible...Maybe it is just more 1976 than 1983?
I confess the noirish Creeper backup is hard for me to follow. The short segments are a part, but it just hasn't engaged me either. Anyway, we finally get something more in the realm of Creeperish doings this issue when the nephew of a doctor involved in these goings on transforms into some sort of monster, and so does Jamie, Ryder's editor's son, who is in jail who was in possession of the fraudulent prescription last issue.
G.I. Combat #252: The first Haunted Tank story has the crew in North Africa and forced to work with a similarly situated Wehrmacht tank crew to stay alive under assault by bandits at a poisoned oasis. The second story is a more original one, at least, with an Italian grandfather vowing to name his soon to be born grandson after one of the crew, but when he's injured and near death he can see and hear the ghostly J.E.B. Stuart, so names the kid Giacomo Stuardo.
The O.S.S. story with Kana feels like a complete repeat. At least it's made of repeated elements from other Kanigher yarns. Kana is forced to work with a racist G.I. who doesn't trust him. There's a white guy from a Pacific Island who turns out to be a German working with the Japanese, but the G.I. doesn't want to believe it at first.
The other tales are by Kashdan with Matucenio and Zamora. In the first, a doll looted from Italy is the death of one G.I. but the savior of another. In the second, a "Women at War" installment, a woman judo instructor is sent on a mission to Germany to still some plans.
Omega Men #1: After the teasing this issue last month, and months of various writers trying to get fans interested in them, the Omega Men debut in their own series, courtesy of Silfer, Giffen, and DeCarlo. This is a direct sale only title on nicer paper like Camelot 3000. It starts in media res, so if you didn't already know the Omega Men, I could see you being a little lost. For those who do know about the Omega Men and their war with the Citadel, the new thing here is that it appears we'll get some focus and background on the individual members.
After taking a Citadelian base, the team heads for Changralyn, Broot's native world. They hope to recruit more fighters as strong as him, but Broot tries to warn them his people won't be of much help. When they arrive they find out he was right. The Changralynians are devoted pacifists and refuse use violence, even in self-defense. Further, the Changralynian elders reveal that they have a pact with the Citadel who provides "protection" in exchange for a number of babies given over to them. When they see this transfer in action, Broot becomes enraged and attacks the Gordanians handling it. In retaliation, the Citadel orders a Branx ship to drop a nuke-bomb on a district of one of Changralyn's cities.
Saga of the Swamp Thing #12: Pasko and Yeates continue Swampy's fight with the Golem from last issue. Swamp Thing manages to deactivate it by erasing one of the Hebrew letters inscribed on its forehead, changing the word from "life" to "death." Karen telepathically sends Kripptmann and crew a message challenging them to confront her at a synagogue where Kripptmann once worshipped. Wanting to avoid the golem attacking from wrong foe like last time, They then put Karen's locket on the golem before the re-activate it.
Meanwhile in Munich, Grasp forces his way into the hotel room where Dennis Barclay and Liz Tremayne are doing the "will they, won't they?" and threatens them to learn Kripptmann's whereabouts. Dennis and Liz manage to slug Grasp and escape, but that was Grasp's plan. Now they'll lead him to Kripptmann and the others.
At the synagogue, Swamp Thing, the golem, and the psychics almost kill Karen, but the evil inside her manages to escape the dying vessel. After briefly possessing Liz, it attempts to take control of the Swamp Thing. Swamp Thing's tremendous willpower drives the thing out.
Grasp gets in a position with a rifle to snipe at the group, and a computer monitor in Sunderland suggests interestingly that his code number is "666." There's a bright flash of light, the evil entity transports Swamp Thing, Liz, Dennis, Kripptmann, Grasp and the golem to a huge metal fortress where they are about to meet Satan.
In the Cuti/Carrillo Phantom Stranger backup, an 18 year-old with progeria so that he looks more like his late 60s dreams of being an astronaut and he's also in love with a young woman who thinks he's an old man. An experimental medical treatment cures him, and he gets both of these dreams. As he's preparing to take his first spaceflight, the Phantom Stranger warns him not to go. He does and comes through one of those time warps astronauts occasionally fall into and returns to Earth decades later, though he hasn't aged. He returns to his home to be great by his girl, also apparently unaged, but the Phantom Stranger reveals to the audience that it's really her daughter.
New Teen Titans #30: While Kid Flash is still histrionic over Raven being evil, The Brotherhood of Evil gets the jump on him, and Speedy and Frances Kane. At the same time, Robin and Starfire accompany Adrian Chase to see Bethany Snow, who offers them information on Brother Blood in return for protection--but really, she's working at Blood's orders. Meanwhile, in what seems an unheralded turn from last issue, Terra gets a new costume and decides to join the Teen Titans. Cyborg meets a co-worker of Sarah Simms's who claims to be her fiancé, making him feel foolish for thinking there might be something between them. Raven resurfaces at the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square and the Brotherhood is there, too. The Titans and allies confront them but when Phobia turns the crowd against them, they're unable to prevent Raven's abduction. Elsewhere, Terry Long proposes to Donna.
Kid Flash's whining aside, this is a solid issue that well mixes the character subplots and the various villain related threads. It makes me a bit wistful for the time when so much would happen in one issue.
Superman #382: Bates and Swan/Hunt get to the end of the Superman/Superboy switch and finish the Euphor business. Superman/Boy manages to defeat the Euphor-empowered Lois with a nerve pinch and brings her to the Fortress of Solitude where he reveals what's been going on, which makes relieves Lois as now she realizes why he's been so distant and had eyes for Lana. When Superman/Boy realizes that recreating the accident is the only way to reverse things, she reminds him Superboy/Man in the past has probably already had this thought and is likely waiting on him in the timestream. Makes sense, I guess.
Anyway, that works out and Superman then rushes to confront Euphor who after revealing his origin on TV has taken over Metropolis. Superman can't defeat Euphor directly but tricks him into following him through time (despite the other dilemma is this storyline showing the dangers of time travel!) to the destruction of Krypton. Witnessing it triggers his super-grief (my term, not the issues) that causes Euhpor's power to overload when he tries to absorb it. Everybody in Metropolis gets their negative emotions back. Yay.
