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 December 16, 1982.
Batman #357: Conway and Newton bring back a minor villain they introduced back in Detective Comics #497, the Squid. Batman is looking for the associates of the crimelord Tony Falco, who is already in custody. He learns that most of them are being recruited by the Squid, a former spy turned would-be kingpin. The Squid is trying to take out all the competition and become the crimelord of Gotham.
The Squid snatches Falco from a prison transport, but it's really Batman in disguise. In his abandoned aquarium hideout, Squid reveals that he knows about the deception. Batman fights Squid's henchmen, but he's outnumbered. The Squid has Batman thrown inside a tank where his giant squid will devour the Dark Knight.
Meanwhile, Dick Grayson goes to a circus in New Jersey, where his friend Waldo the Clown introduces him to the Todds, the circus' trapeze artists. At the same time, Mr. Sloan, the circus owner, is being shaken down by the goons of the mysterious Croc for protection money.
Flash #319: We open where we left off last issue with Flash and Captain Invincible plunging to their deaths from Creed's highrise apartment. Bates and Infantino do one of those ridiculous comic book things were the fall, which would be maybe 10 seconds in the real world, is long enough for cops on the ground to have a brief conversation about the fall, Captain Invincible to try the rouse Flash first with words and then a series of slaps, and Flash to save them both.
The issue stays ridiculous, really. Invincible goes after Eradicator over the Flash's protests. He is almost disintegrated too, but the Flash snatches him out of his clothes at the last second to save him.
In the Creeper backup from Gafford and Gibbons. The Creeper hauls himself out of the river, his bullet wounds already healing thanks to his healing factor. It appears a corrupt doctor is tied to both Tamblin and the crimelord Winterborn. And Jack Ryder's new boss' son is a drug addict connected to the doctor. All this crime drama seems more suited to 80s Daredevil or Vigilante than Creeper, really.
G.I. Combat #251: This first Haunted Tank story is the sort of thing you'd get in TV dramas of the era, but its done in a kid's comic in 15 pages, so it doesn't work as well as it might have. Sgt. Craig's estranged son joins the tank crew, which leads to a bit of a reconciliation between father and son before the son is shipped off to another crew, likely never to be mentioned again. The second story involves the crew each looking to get a souvenir to take home from the war, but the fortunes of combat continuously thwarting their efforts.
The Mercenaries are back and in Central America where a General Ramos hires them to "liberate" his country from the Juanistas who apparently gained power through popular support but are now oppressing the people (according to the general). The trio are to swim to the island and take out the guns on Fortress Fuego so the General's force can make a beachhead. They've got two problems: Their path is littered with underwater mines, and the General betrays them and sends divers to kill them. They prevail of course, and lure the General in to be destroyed under the Fortress' guns.
The non-series tales by Kashdan with Catan and Talaoc aren't bad. In the first, a G.I. teased for his belief that the message on a pinup of Betty Grable he received was a personal one, goes AWOL to meet the actress, but winds up foiling a German attack (which he can't mention because he was AWOL at the time) and getting Grable's monogrammed handkerchief to shut up the other dogfaces. In the second, the German's still a map cannister from two couriers only to find it's a dummy that has been boobytrapped.
Saga of the Swamp Thing #11: Pasko and Yeates reveal that Kripptman (Kay) was a Jewish kapo at Dachau. Barclay sneers at him as a collaborator. Feldner for his part reveals that Karen Clancy is the herald of the Beast, the "antichrist" foretold in the Book of Revelation. To stop her, Kay and his aide Alan reconstruct the Golem, but it senses Casey's presence in the locket on Swamp Thing's body and attacks him!
In the Levitz/Carrillo Phantom Stranger backup, The Phantom Stranger makes the case for an advanced healthcare directive as Millicent Bedford wishes to help her aged, comatose mother by disconnecting her from a life-support system. But the Phantom Stranger shows her the fate that might await both of them if her mother dies.
New Teen Titans #29: Brother Blood continues to be a villain I don't really get, but at least he's involved here in an interesting villain-on-villain clash with the Brotherhood of Evil who just struck Zandia. The Brotherhood heads to New York to kidnap Raven, whom the Brain believes is the key to overcoming Blood. Back at Titans HQ, Dick is still being a mood, angry jerk for no good reason, which worries Kory and Donna. Wally and Raven talk about how they can't have a relationship. Changeling keeps trying to make Terra his personal project. The visiting Speedy is mused by all of this. Frances Kane, again dealing with unwanted magnetic powers, comes to Titans Tower to see Kid Flash. When the Brotherhood of Evil attacks, Speedy and Frances manage to stop them, but not before Phobia causes Raven to attack and almost kill Kid Flash, who decides he isn't so into the Goth chick after all.
Superman #381: Bates and Swan continue the Superman/Superboy Freaky Friday mix up. A by-product of the self-contained stories of the era: every issue of this crossover must spend pages retreading how it happened. They can't seem to just recap it in a caption. Superboy in 1982 is kind of making a mess of thing. He does manage to defeat three Superman-hating cranks empowered by emotion-siphoning baddie Euphor, but he snubs Lois so badly she becomes Euphor's next anti-Superman soldier, and makes a pass at Lana who slaps him and sends him away.
9 comments:
I only bought Teen Titans out of this bunch.
Is the Gibbons on the Creeper story Dave Gibbons?
"He is almost disintegrated to, but the Flash snatches him out of his clothes at the last second to save him."
Granting that 80s Flash could do that with some vibrational trick, the question of why he would do so instead of just taking the costume with him arises. Was he trying to get the guy to stop playing superhero? Does he just like carrying naked vibrating people around? Did he learn this trick while trying to come up with a surprise for Iris in the bedroom? :)
Very good questions! In Comics Code approved style, Invincible keeps his underclothes.
@Dale - It is Dave.
I need a trade paperback of The Creeper's pre-Crisis appearances. I loved that First Issue Special as a kid.
Also a trade collection of Green Arrow's bronze age pre-Longbow Hunters stories. That Barr/Von Eeden miniseries was aces.
I'm looking forward to revisiting that series in this review.
Why did I keep buying Flash? Every one you recap gives me a twinge of the old frustration, disappointment and "shrug" emote. It's as though Infantino maintained some kind of clout to keep the book uh running as it were, kind of like Kanigher on his titles.
Your notes on the chaotic struggle for Zandia trigger an insight about what made the Wolfman tick in this era. He's written multiple epic plots now where the real drama is villain-on-villain machinations, leaving the titans in the middle to meddle and observe. It's an interesting structure, not sure where he gets it. Starlin? Either way, one or two a decade goes a long way.
The Levitz PS sounds oddly sentimental.
I suppose it is, though in our current climb it struck "Pro-Life" chords in more than the general since. Probably not intentional though.
You're on to something regarding the Titans. They are really very reactive, otherwise trying to deal with their personal issues. I guess the X-Men can be like this, but the oppressed minority angle makes it a bit different.
I will say in defense of the Bates/Infantino Flash it is better than I thought it would be as a kid when I always passed on those issues on the stand, but it is odd. It's "modern" in some ways (update to date 80s comics that is) but also retro in others, like it represents so strange, evolutionary offshoot from the early Bronze Age. But it isn't good, certainly.
Infantino certainly did still have major clout in this era. He'd spent over 20 years working for DC before going freelance at Marvel for a while (where his Star wars run proved to be a tremendous cash cow), was a major part of the Silver Age revival for the company, was personally responsible for snapping up Jack Kirby when he left Marvel, and served as both editorial director and publisher (the latter with rather poor results, granted). And Flash was his baby, the comic that more or less established his career alongside mad genius Bob Kanigher. Nota surprise that he had both the oomph and motivation to keep it going all the way to its cancellation a few years down the road.
Love him or hate him, he was a big name at DC (and arguably the whole industry) even in the 80s.
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