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 July 4, 1985.
Crisis on Infinite Earths #7: This double-sized issue was heavily advertised in the previous month. Given that the number of crossovers also pick up this point, it feels like at over halfway done, Crisis is really getting started in earnest. Most of the issue, though, is Lyla explaining the retconned history of Krona and the creation of the multiverse to a group of heroes assembled from each of the 4 Earths. Then, Pariah tells his part in inadvertently releasing the Anti-Monitor. Blue Beetle is amusingly cast in the roll of testy, brass-tacks guy, and keeps telling them to get to the point.
The point is that a selection of the most powerful heroes form the Earths are going to take the battle to the Anti-Monitor, using Alexander Luthor as a gateway There seems to be the pattern of selecting the real heavy hitters, but also people with matter transformation or light powers, so we get 2 Supermen and Supergirl, of course, but also Firestorm, the Ray, and Dr. Light. Most of the team is tied up with fighting rock monsters of some sort, but Dr. Light and Superman make it to the Anti-Monitor's central machine being used to merge and annihilate the worlds. I don't recall that has his plan before, anyway, Anti ambushes them and starts beating Superman to death, but Supergirl hearing his cries, rushes to the rescue. She pounds the Anti-Monitor into his machine and keeps pounding him, telling Dr. Light to get Superman away. Supergirl manages to destroy the Anti's armor, but she's distracted for a moment to yell at Dr. Light to get out, Anti strikes back and bathes her in anti-matter.
Supergirl dies, but the machinery is destroyed and the Anti-Monitor has to flee. Dr. Light is inspired by the heroics she saw and vows to be less selfish. Earth-One Superman is, of course, devastated. The issue ends with a memorial for Supergirl one Earth where Batgirl eulogizes her friend.
This was a well-done issue and sort of sets the style of how "big character deaths" will be handled in events in the years to come.
DC Comics Presents #86: This is a Crisis crossover issue, Kupperberg and Hoberg/Hunt bring back a villain from Kupperberg's Supergirl run and give us a view of Supergirl's time just before Crisis #7. In fact, her emotionally supporting her friend Batgirl in Crisis #4 is portrayed again in this story. With the weird storms in the skies as a portend of doom, Supergirl and Superman are distracted by the unusual appearance of twin black holes in a certain sector of space. When they investigate, the Supergirl foe Blackstarr emerges from one of the holes. At first, they think she's the cause of the cosmic upheaval. Supergirl is quicker to be convinced otherwise than her cousin. Blackstarr for her part, views Superman as the culprit due to a misreading of the spacetime. Kara has to keep the piece until the other two see their errors, and they are all able to join forces, buying the universe a little extra time against the anti-matter wave pushing on it. Blackstarr disappears and Superman and Supergirl precede to the next, uh--Crisis.
Fury of Firestorm #40: Conway and Clark/Akin/Garvey bring Ronnie to graduation day. While Firestorm makes an appearance there isn't a super-villain and very little in the way of superheroics. Instead, Ronnie first has to deal with accusations of cheating (his grades have gotten better, but its due to absorbing knowledge from Stein when they were in gestalt) which he overcomes by taking an oral exam, and the bullying of Cliff Carmichael, which he conquers by not being so reactive. His newfound maturity helps to patch out a disagreement with Doreen. The two plan to go to Vandemeer College--but so is Carmichael. Firestorm also gets served notice Felicity Smoak is suing him, and Ronnie and Stein meet Ronnie's Dad's new girlfriend--Smoak!
Hex #2: I picked up this issue as a kid, but it was the last one I would get for a while. I think the place I usually bought comics didn't carry the title, because most of the covers I never remember seeing. Fleisher and Texeria/Janke pick up where the 1st issue left off, and they keep a breakneck pace up pretty much the whole issue. We rewind to the skies above Vietnam to meet the troops in the helicopter that almost crashes into Hex. He helps the survivors out of the wreck, and while they are on the run from Borsten's soldiers, the information Hex has allows them to piece together a bit of what is going on. One of the soldiers, Harris, is black, and is a bit hostile toward Hex due to his Southernness, understandable given the events of the era he came from, and Hex's Confederate uniform. They still manage to work together to stay alive though. When, Stiletta reappears and offers them help breaking into Borsten's complex to get them home, they all jump at the chance.
It's all a setup. Two of the soldiers are killed by a trap, and Harris susses out Stiletta is a robot leading them into an ambush. Hex and Harris have to fight their way out, but Harris is caught behind an energy fence. Hex can't get to him, so the other soldier tells him to get out, which Hex does. Again, he's on the run on a stolen motorcycle in the desert.
Justice League of America #243: Conway and Tuska/Machlan continue the story from last issue. Aquaman and Mera return to the base to find the team gone to Canada. Meanwhile, Vixen frees the group put in a hole under a boulder by Amazo, and Martian Manhunter and Gunn explore the mystery of how Amazo got out the Fortress of Solitude and what he's up too. They learn of prospector Jake MacGregor's grudges and obsessions, now assumed by Amazo. Ultimately, J'onzz confuses Amazo by appearing as MacGregor, giving Aquaman the opening he needs to defeat the android.
In the aftermath, Aquaman announces he's leaving the team to save his marriage. He seems an abrupt exit, but I think Conway realized that the King of the Seas was a poor fit for the idea of a more street level team based in Detroit.
Tales of the Teen Titans #58: Wolfman and Patton/Tanghal finish up the new Fearsome Five story. Most of the issue is the fight between the Titans and the Five, accentuating the theme of the Titan's teamwork allowing them to hold their own against their more powerful foes. In the end though, it's Jericho that really saves the day for them, and so at the end of the issue they officially make him a member.
The Fearsome Five is also likely hampered by Psimon disappearing. He's whisked away by the Monitor to appear in Crisis on Infinite Earths #1.
Victor undergoes surgery to make him Cyborg again due to his injuries, and the team rallies around him to show their support.
The editorial tells us this is the last original issue of Tales. Reprints will begin with the next issue, starting with a reprint of the new Teen Titans first appearance.
Vigilante #23: Kupperberg and Smith/Mitchell continue the story from last issue, but slow things down to deal with Marcia's and Adrian's relationship. There's a strange storm in the sky (the Crisis most likely) as Marcia demands answers from Adrian about what's going on. And honestly, it's overdue. It is difficult to sympathize with him because he's been behaving so erratically, so Marcia has every reason to think he's mentally ill. And she might be right! At first, he's able to convince her to give him more time, but when she catches him with a gun preparing to look for the killer Vigilante, he's only option to keep her from walking out is starting to tell her the whole story.
No comments:
Post a Comment