My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were on stands in the week of March 7, 1985.
Best of DC #61: I haven't reviewed these digests since the earliest days of this blog series, but since I have mentioned this issue many times and how great I thought it was in my childhood (and I still do), I thought I should note it. If you only wanted to read one anthology of late pre-Crisis DC material to judge what it had to offer, this would be the one. We've got "Anatomy Lesson" from Swamp Thing, "Who is Donna Troy?" from New Teen Titans, "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?"from Legion of Super-Heroes, and "Final Duties" from Green Lantern, then lesser, but still notable stories: "Babe's Story" from Atari Force, "Killers Also Smile" from Sgt. Rock, "Viva Nebiros" from Blue Devil, and "If Superman Didn't Exist..." from Action Comics.
Crisis on Infinite Earths #3: I bought this issue off the stands as well. We get introduced to Alexander Luthor, last survivor of Earth-Three and an adolescent now composed of both matter and antimatter. He's in the care of the Monitor. Harbinger, meanwhile, is preparing for her betrayal.
Flash is somehow in the future (his series will get around to this, I'm sure!) and to escape a wall of antimatter, begins vibrating his molecules back in time--which again leads to us seeing him giving a desperate warning to Batman and the Outsiders and the Teen Titans in the 20th Century, as they try to save people from the antimatter wave in New York. Also in the present, though out in space, Brainiac becomes concerned about events and decides to seek out Lex Luthor.
In Markovia in 1944, the Monitor's chosen, Blue Beetle, Dr. Polaris, and Geo-Force, wind up fighting alongside a who's who of DC's war comics characters: Sgt. Rock and Easy, Stuart's Raiders, and the Losers. Those last wind up losing their lives to shadow demons.
Cyborg, Green Lantern, Psimon and Firebrand arrive in Texas in 1879. They meet up with several Western heroes including, Nighthawk, Scalphunter, Bat Lash, Johnny Thunder and Jonah Hex. The two disparate groups join forces and fight the shadow demons. Either what happens isn't clear or I missed something, but somehow Nighthawk winds up in a separate place from the group and is taken by the antimatter wave riding towards a town.
Other heroes fall: Psycho Kid is taken by the wave in the 30th Century. In Earth-AD, Solovar succumbs to his injuries suffered last issue. We're only 3 issues in and things are looking bad for the heroes!
Atari Force #18: Baron and Bareto/Villagran open with Tempest escaping from detention on New Earth, but he spends much of the issue lost in weirder corners of the multiverse until Dart is able to guide him to Scanner One. Scanner One has to get back home because supplies are running low, but the navigational path is a treacherous one. Dart, based on her vision, volunteers Blackjak for the task, and ultimately, Martin relents. Blackjak's new eye makes it an all but impossible task, but the Tazlings restore his mechanical one in time for him to get them to safety.
In the Hukka backup by Manak and Rogers/Delbeato, Young Christopher Champion takes Hukka with shopping with him to buy some action figures, but Hukka stays behind and the store closes. He gets chased by the security patrol dog. Christopher, realizing his pet is missing, uses his phasing powers to rescue the critter.
DC Comics Presents #82: Bates's story here is pretty good but elevated by Janson's art. Alanna is having recurrent nightmares and when she begins to mumble in Kryptonian, Adam Strange calls in Superman. It turns out Alanna is possessed by a Kryptonian demoness called Zazura, who is out to destroy Rann. When they figure out her presence on Rann is due to it passing through the area of space where Krypton was when it was destroyed 30 years ago, they are able to use a crystal harvested from Krypton's dust to weaken and destroy her. Superman also gets a chance to commune with other spirits of his lost homeworld, those of its people.
Fury of Firestorm #3: This issue isn't Kayanan's or Kupperberg's best interior art, though the cover is nice. Perhaps it was rushed? Storywise, Conway picks up where last issue left off, with Firestorm having been left for dead, Stein silent, apparently unconscious, and the Killer Frost/Plastique team headed for Niagara Falls. Firestorm pursues them, and luckily, he's helped in this second round by Firehawk. He takes down Plastique while Firehawk deals with Killer Frost. Later, Ronnie visits Stein in the hospital as he recovers from a concussion. Though he will miss him when the Professor moves to Pittsburgh, he now feels better able to go on without him--but when Doreen mentions college to him, Ronnie begins thinking that they can both go to school in Pittsburgh!
Jonni Thunder #3: Turns out Red Nails isn't just an exotic entertainer and club owner, she's also very much in the know regarding the statue and apparently able to put together an electrical super-weapon to threaten the city, cribbed from Tesla's notes! Jonni and Harrison Trump have to make common cause to escape Red and her Glamazons (that's what they're called!), then thwart her super-weapon. In between all that, 'Slim' Chance makes yet another attempt to steal the Thunderbolt statue.
Justice League of America #238: In the beginning of the issue, Conway and Hoberg/Patton address the continuity problems created by Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash being away for "weeks" while the old JLA was disbanded and a new one formed, all while having ongoing adventures in their own titles--and Flash even being on trial. The solution: "Crisis did it," which may make this the first appearance of that explanation that will get used quite a bit in years to come. The issue ends with the 3 going back in time via Flash's treadmill to not "create a paradox."
That out of the way, we get down to Vixen having her final confrontation with her uncle. He kidnaps Mother Windom to provoke her, and Aquaman seems to use his telepathy to briefly stop her from going after him, but Martian Manhunter intervenes and reproves him for his coercive tactics. Maksai dies as a result of his actions, and Vixen's father is avenged.
Shadow War of Hawkman #2: The editorial notes in place of a letter column in this issue make clear that Isabella is engaged in sort of Thomas-like retcon and streamlining of the Hawk mythos, which I suppose makes this the first in an almost continuous history of such from the mid-80s on. In the main story, the Shadow War continues with the murder of a mutant who is just practicing with his flight powers. In Midway City, Katar Hol prepares to go after the attackers. He tracks them to their cave hideout and meets their leader Fell Andar. He first has the upper hand, but they manage to capture him when he is shocked by his discovery that they are Thanagarians.
Tales of the Teen Titans #54: Buckler does interior pencils here, though Barreto proves the cover. The trial of the Flash uh, Terminator continues, and it isn't going well, because in the New York state of the DCU if they don't have an admitted super-criminal super-soldier with links to a terrorist organization beyond a reasonable doubt on a murder wrap, they've just gotta let him go! So decides Judge Adrian (Vigilante) Chase. Anyway, Slade is helped in escaping justice by the mysterious impersonator who creates doubt that he is in fact the Terminator. This turns out to be Gar Logan using Mento's helmet to project an image. He wants Slade free to he can seek his own justice. Meanwhile, Azrael pines for Lilith and Lilith wonders about his past. This stuff might build tension if it all hadn't been explored in the past couple of issues of the sister title.
Vigilante #18: After painting Linnaker as a relentless killer last issue, Moore and Biakie move to at least humanize him a bit by revealing his thoughts in a letter he wrote to his daughter from prison. As he searches for a way to get out of town with a terrified Jodie, Fever and Vigilante keep up their uneasy partnership to try to track the two down. In the end, Vigilante and Linnaker engage in a brutal fight, but Jodie grabs a gun and shoots Vigilante, not her father. Fever runs over Linnaker with a car, however, and keeps on doing it until he's definitely dead. Jodie in horror starts to shoot her, but Vigilante takes the gun. In the aftermath, Vigilante is trouble by all of this, and by what he read in Linnaker's unsent letter, including attacks on the hyprocrisy of society and the nature of judgement.
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