Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1981 (wk 2 pt 1)

My goal: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around July 23, 1981.


Action Comics #524: The Superman titles of this era are big on callbacks and continuity, definitely. Perhaps it's the writers, like Martin Pasko here, being former fanboys? A Luthor-created clone escapes from the Fortress of Solitude (though he thinks he's the real Superman at first) and tries to steal Clark Kent's life. Superman defeats him, but the convenient death of a family-less newscast allows the clone to assume that guy's life, so everybody lives happily ever after.

The Atom backup continues the Calculator story that was already stretched then, by having the Calculator escape from a court room. He's prepared for the Atom's powers, so the Atom calls in Air Wave to help him out. Sorry, Rozakis and Saviuk, but this feels like filler.


Adventure Comics #486: This demonic creature, Grockk, sends his supervillain minions to make way for his kingdom on Earth. They're stopped by the Dial "H" kids in the usual array of supposedly reader suggested superhero identities. Also, Chris is giving Vicki a hard time about hanging with her old boyfriend and reformed badboy, Brad, which only serves to make him look bad and drive Vicki closer to Brad. So much so she goes on a solo Hero Dial adventure and wanders if she needs a partner, after all.


Brave & the Bold #179: Pasko and Colon/DeCarlo have Anton Halkor, an ally of Universo's, traveling to 20th Century Gotham replace a time capsule with a look alike alien, anti-matter egg from the 30th Century, but Batman comes to the future to get help from the Legion of Super-Heroes to stop him. I like that the Legion don't know Batman (though certainly know of him) but it doesn't take much to convince them he's the real deal, because hey, folks time traveling happens to them all the time.


All-Star Squadron #2: Given their marching orders by FDR, the nascent Squadron heads out to the West Coast to protect it from further Japanese aggression. This provides a chance for everyone to introduce themselves. Meanwhile, the heroes captured by Per Degaton get an ear full of his origin and his evil plan for conquest. The heroes manage to stop his hypnotized Japanese pilots flying toward San Francisco, but Degaton decides to eliminate the rest of the JSA with a volcano--but then Shining Knight gets free..


Detective Comics #507: Continues the Conway/Newton Manikin story. Batman manages to save the designer Hoston and escape the fire, but only because the smoke takes its toll on Manikin. That gives Batman the idea of get some sort of spray sealant to cut off her air long enough to incapacitate her. While Batman is preparing his weapon and a trap to lure her out, we get the Manikin's origin. She is, of course, a model and the woman Batman saved from the car. Horribly disfigured she's out for revenge on the fashion designers--one of which she thinks is responsible. Her devoted brother made the suit for her. Despite his warnings, Manikin walks into the trap. Batman defeats her with the sealant, but only her brother is able to convince her to choose life over revenge. Batman confronts Hoston about the car fire, and he confesses his guilt. This was a solid two-parter.


House of Mystery #297: DeMatteis and Sutton are back with I...Vampire. Bennett and friends are on the trail of the monks from a Zen monastery who they are told now serve the Blood Moon, but it turns out to be a trick. The monks are vampires, but like Bennett, have retained their humanity. Then there's an EC-esque story by Kashdan and Carrillo about a crooked televangelist who's schtick is he beats the devil on all his broadcasts. When his devil actor threatens to reveal he's a fraud, the televangelist kills him. The replacement is the actual devil who disintegrates the preacher on TV. The final story by Conway and Cowan/De Zuniga is about a musician whose been around since the 30s, thanks to the fact he's a mutant with the ability to draw life force for anyone who can hear his singing. When a journalist discovers his longevity, he drains her to keep his secret, but he when his car wrecks shortly thereafter he's mortally wounded--and outside a hospital for the deaf.


Green Lantern #145: Wolfman and Staton are still on duty here. Carol's dad isn't all bad as he buys her a cliffside mansion like in Malibu or something. She lets Hal stay in the Gardener's house because she isn't ready for commitment. Meanwhile, Richard Davis, the new Ferris Aircraft VP and mentor of Hal's is acting oddly, like there's a health issue with him. The big problem this issue is Goldface's attempts to become a crime boss. He fights GL and beats him--GL not seeming to realize until late in the fight that his inability to use his ring against yellow only applies to directly using it against yellow.

In the Adam Strange backup from Sutton and Infantino a giant, ugly insect attacks Rann, and Strange defeats it but gets sent back to Earth before the eggs start to hatch.


Superman Family #211: Pasko (he's all over the place this month!) and Mortimer present the Supergirl story. A psychic saboteur, the Mind-Bomber, boosts Lena Luthor powers so she figures out Supergirl's identity. Supergirl is weirded out by the way stories in the soap opera she works on predict the Bomber's attacks, but it turn out that Lena was ghost-writing those scripts and the ideas were being planted in her mind by the bomber, who was really after revenge on his family. A lot of convolution here for little payoff.

The Bridwell/Schaffenberger Mr. and Mrs. Kent story have them stumbling upon an assassination plot at the wedding of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle. The plot turns on a bit of comics trivia that the Earth-Two Two-Face is named Harvey Kent, not Dent. In the Private Life of Clark Kent, Clark gets a visit from Elongated Man. He thinks its a ploy by someone to reveal his identity as Superman to Dibny but the truth is dumber: Dibny just dreamed a phone call. Conway and Oksner have Lois Lane getting too close to a hostage situation so she gets taken hostage herself, but ultimately she saves the day. Pasko's and Delbo's Jimmy Olsen has Jimmy confronting the criminal that tried to ruin his life with duplicates. His friends and family (well, mainly Superman) come to his rescue, and Olsen helps the guy who had set out to hurt him.

3 comments:

Dick McGee said...

"Carol's dad isn't all bad as he buys her a cliffside mansion like in Malibu or something. She lets Hal stay in the Gardener's house because she isn't ready for commitment."

The Comics Code Authority seal on the cover might have had something to do with it too. DC was pretty leery of showing unmarried couples living together at this point. Had Teen Titans done the "Nightwing & Starfire wake up in bed" thing yet, or is that in the future yet? Supposedly that sequence was inspired by the 1976 Doonesbury strip that so many newspapers refused to run. Different times, different times.

"When his devil actor threatens to reveal he's a fraud, the televangelist kills him. The replacement is the actual devil who disintegrates the preacher on TV."

Then again, maybe I'm wrong them caring about the CCA. Pretty certain a devil vaporizing even a very bad Christian authority figure was on their taboo list. :)

"Batman defeats her with the sealant, but only her brother is able to convince her to choose life over revenge."

I remember liking this story, but wondering why the blazes Bruce didn't call Diana and ask if she's still got that purple ray. Manikin's "scarred for life" thing seems extremely fixable in a world of superscience and magic, and Bruce sure doesn't need more people joining his Rogues' Gallery. Maybe fix the ones that can be fixed, y'know?

"They're stopped by the Dial "H" kids in the usual array of supposedly reader suggested superhero identities."

Given how many of the dial heroes are incredibly lame and childish, I never saw any reason to doubt their origin as the product of children. They might have been staffers' kids rather than random readers, but still - kids. If there were supposed adults responsible for those characters they really needed to get out of the house more often.

"The Atom backup continues the Calculator story that was already stretched then, by having the Calculator escape from a court room. He's prepared for the Atom's powers, so the Atom calls in Air Wave to help him out. Sorry, Rozakis and Saviuk, but this feels like filler."

I'm virtually certain that any story starring Atom, Air Wave, and the Calculator is going to be filler by default. Not really a trio of characters you bring out your A game for.

Trey said...

Good point.

jdh417 said...

Some great covers this week.