My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on newsstands around September 22, 1983.
Power Lords #1: A tie-in with the short-lived toyline, written by Fleisher with art by Texiera and Dee. The cover completely sold me on this issue as a kid, and overall, Texiera does a good job working with the sometimes-challenging character designs by Wayne Barlowe. Shaya, trusted bodyguard for the Toranian royal family, flies to Earth purused by the forces of an alien alliance, to recover Adam Power, who is unaware he is actually a Toranian Power Lord. A jewel removes Adam's amnesia, and he remembers everything about himself, his family--and also remembers how his homeworld fell to dictator Arkus and his allies. Shaya and Adam are attacked by two of Arkus' henchmen, Raygoth and Ggriptogg. While Adam and Shaya defeat both those two, Arkus ambushes them.
Thriller #2: This issue drags out Dan Grove's introduction to the Seven Seconds so some background on those characters can be given to the reader. There are a number of things unexplained, including why there is a bank robber called "Molluskan" and Scabbard's girlfriend Mallochia seems to be Scotty Thriller's nanny under the name "Molly Lusk"--and what either of these people have to do with Edward Thriller's old colleague, Moses Lusk. Von Eeden's panel layouts are as difficult to follow as last issue. We do learn that, thanks to a lab accident during his attempts to harness the power of the so-called "rogue cell" lurking within every human, Edward Thriller and his wife Angeline got merged, so that Angeline exists a noncorporeal being tethered to Edward's body. Or something like that. We also so the fire that killed Angeline's father and blinded her mother--a fire her brother Tony accidentally started while playing with matches. I like the setting and characters, but there was probably a better way to go about this.
Supergirl #14: Indicia and cover title now agree that this is Supergirl. We pick up where last issue left off with Supergirl battling Blackstarr. Supergirl manages to hold her own, but eventually Blackstarr just decides to escape. Back at her building, Linda is talking with Mrs. Berkowitz, and they discover that Blackstarr looks uncannily like Rachel, Berkowitz's daughter who she believes died in the camps in 1941.
That night, Blackstarr's followers fire-bomb a synagogue. Supergirl gets the rabbi out, but the old man dies of smoke inhalation. Angry, Supergirl takes to the skies and calls out Blackstarr. The villain shows and the fight is on. Blackstarr boasts she has comprehended Unified Field Theory which is the source of her powers.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Berkowitz heard about the fight on the radio and rushed to the scene. When she sees Blackstar she exclaims "Rachel!", and Blackstarr stammers out "M-momma?"
Batman and the Outsiders #5: Barr and Wolfman continue the story from last week's New Teen Titans, this time with Aparo on art. The two teams barely escape drowning in Gotham Harbor after Psimon destroyed the underwater base, but thanks to Terra they manage it, bringing Dr. Jace with them. Whiny Dr. Light is on the outs with the Fearsome Five, so Psimon sends the mudmen to get him, but he winds up captured by the heroes. This issue plays up the tension between Batman and Robin, and Batman assumes leadership and makes Robin feel like a junior partner. Robin eventually asserts himself, countermanding Batman on strategy, but when it works out, Batman commends his leadership and the part with mutual respect. It's interesting how aligned the Batman books, BatO and NTT are on the whole two potential Robins and Batman stuff. It does really feel as if these are all events happening at the same point in the characters' lives.
Here's the covers of the two-parter combined:
Green Lantern #171: Feels like another fill in issue while we're waiting for the new creative team house ads have been telling us about (Wein and Gibbons) to take over. We've got Alex Toth on pencils here, at least, and Austin on inks. The writer is "Noel Naive" which is a pen name and here apparently represents Giffen, Snyder, and Cavalieri. Jordan and Dorine visit desert world are are captured by the "Caretaker" of an alien race. He plans to siphon their life energy in an attempt to cure his people of their "sleep sickness," just like he's doing to his own wife. Jordan intervenes when the alien's wife cries out in pain, and destroys the machine, causing the Caretaker to die of shock. His sadden wife explains that their race was not sleeping, but already dead, and she only let her husband keep believing they could be saved because his struggle to find a cure was the only thing keeping him alive.
In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons, mustachioed GL Deeter, explains to a young boy how he too was given a hard time by a woman: a caustic princess whose rescue he botched by failing to understand the situation. In the end, he reveals he got his revenge by marrying her as the princess arrives on dragon back to pick him up after her errands.
Sgt. Rock #383: The main story by Kanigher and Redondo is a bit of a surprise in that idyllic, isolationist community Rock discovers in the Alps isn't destroyed or forced to accept the grim necessity of fighting the just war at the end of it. They stay hidden and Rock leaves, managing to catch so G.I.'s looking to loot some Nazi booty and defeat some German ski-troops on his way back to Easy.
There are "Battle Album" entries on the F-14 and Cromwell's heavy cavalry, then a morality play by Harris/Lindsey about a German soldier on the Russian Front who murders a fellow soldier to get his fancy boots only to lose his feet to frostbite.
Legion of Super-Heroes #306: While awaiting the returns in the election for Legion leader--one where Star Boy hopes his girlfriend Dream Girl loses--he passes the time by filling Wildfire in on his origin. Giffen draws the frame sequence, but the flashback is handled by Curt Swan and recaps incidents from recaps incidents from Adventure Comics #317, #342 and #350.
Warlord #76: I reviewed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, something appears to be blocking the pipe taking water from the subterranean sea to their reservoir. Jinal dives down to take a look and finds an ancient, space battleship, which she manages to salvage but only after defeating some automated guardians.
5 comments:
Power Lords #1: Sometimes you do a toy adaptation and you wind up with Micronauts or ROM or GI Joe or Transformers. And sometimes you get Power Lords. DC really didn't seem to have the kind of luck with this stuff Marvel did.
Warlord #76: "Jinal dives down to take a look and finds an ancient, space battleship..." Don't you just hate it when you get one of those stuck in your pipes? :)
Batman and the Outsiders #5: Only issue of this book I ever bought, and that solely for the Titans connection. Stunning cover(s), but I just could not get into the Outsiders team in this era at all.
Thriller #2: I don't remember ever seeing this title. Heck, I don't even remember you reviewing the first issue, which I assume was only a month or two back at this point. It's like it lives in a permanent hole in my perception. Maybe it's been overwritten by that Michael Jackson video or something?
I kind of like Power Lords (though for the art mainly), but it's a good point. Most licensing comics for either of the big two don't come to much--and truly most weren't planned as much, only limited series. I would say DC had one licensing success that's notable because Marvel wasn't really successful with that property: Star Trek. I would also call Atari Force a success, creatively, on par with Micronauts or ROM, certainly, though it's run was not as long with either. But toys, you are right, Marvel had all the successful runs there, at least in this era.
Thriller evidently had a problem sticking in a lot of people's minds!
DC released the combined Titans/Outsiders covers as a promotional poster. I read Marvel comics almost exclusively, but I had that poster on my wall for years.
Yeah, Atari Force was an interesting read, but it didn't last long. ROM is probably the biggest surprise out of any toy comic ever - the toy itself was an utter flop, but the comic not only sold well and ran for years, it's become a solid part of Marvel canon that still gets (carefully) referenced to this day. Micronauts too, but their toys actually sold pretty well so it's more understandable that the book would get readers even if there was very little connection between the two.
Not that Marvel didn't have their toy flops too. Shogun Warriors did not do well or last long, and I think the only canon vestige is Doctor Demonicus, a villain they actually inherited from Godzilla right at the end. Godzilla still gets the odd oblique reference, but Red Ronin is by far the most prominent thing from that title to make it into canon - and even then it's pretty obscure despite appearing multiple times in Avengers, of all things.
A Doctor Demonicus vs. Red Ronin storyline seems overdue. :)
Warlord 76 - Dan Jurgens does a nice job of emulating the Grell cover style here.
Legion 306 - A Curt Swan fill in issue is kind of a letdown when Levitz/Giffen are knocking it out of the ballpark. Still pretty good if I recall. (Curt Swan was a great artist - but I'm not sure superheroes were the thing he was meant to do.)
BatO #5: Enjoyable, but Jim Aparo (whose work on Brave and the Bold, Phantom Stranger and the Spectre I love) is a bit of a comedown after George Perez.
Thriller #2: I need to reread these sometime. I loved it even though it was less than straightforward. Which might be one of the reasons I loved it. More please.
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