Wednesday Comics: DC, May 1984 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics Santa might have stuffed in a stocking that were published February 16, 1984, the week of my eleventh birthday.

Warlord #81: This was the only issue from this birthday week for me that I bought on the stands. I discussed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and friends move toward a mysterious, more technologically advanced city. She discovered Barasha was educated there for a time in his youth. Lurking nearby, however, is a Qlov scouting party.

Batman and the Outsiders #10: Lightle/Trapani take over art this issue. Black Lightning is a prisoner and meets the woman that arranged his capture: the mother of Trina Shelton, the young woman whose death resulted from his actions. Faced with his obvious guilt and remorse over what happened, Mrs. Shelton begins to have second thoughts about the whole "hiring supervillains to execute someone" thing.

The Outsiders come looking for their comrade. Batman gets into the Masters of Disaster's hideout in the guise of Matches Malone. The others stage a full-on assault. During the ensuing battle, the repentant Mrs. Shelton jumps in the way of a blast fired by Heatstroke, taking the blast meant for Black Lightning. The Masters are routed, and the heroes go home.

Green Lantern #176: Wein and Gibbons/Giordano continue the story from last issue. Jordan's body is in a coma and is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, his intellect is trapped inside the Shark's mind, as are the Shark's other victims. The Shark is toying with them before he consumes them, but Jordan still has access to his power ring's energy and manages to hold him at bay for a time. His ring's charge will on last so long, though, but luckily Carol figures out it might help and brings the power battery to Hal's semi-conscious body and coaxes him into recharging his ring. He floods the Shark's mind with green energy and frees all the captives. Then, GL has to stop the Shark from getting more radioactive material in the physical world. In the melee, the Shark appears to die in an explosion.

Meanwhile Congressman Bloch calls the Monitor, unaware Smith from Con-Trol is spying on him.  The Monitor agrees to help Bloch and calls in the Demolition Team. At Ferris Aircraft, Rich Davis and Bruce Gordon are discussing the new solar-engine powered jet. Richard is still having chest pain and dismissing it. Bruce finds a threatening note under his blueprints and assumes it comes from Bloch.

Infinity, Inc. #2: The Thomases and Ordway/Machlan finish off the origin of the team and get them up to the point of their first appearance in All-Star Squadron. While the newcomers argue about their next move, Brainwave, Jr. crashes the JSA setting and gets into a fight with them, leading Star-Spangled Kid to make a decision. He forms a team, Infinity, Inc., and invites the six newcomers Power Girl, and the Huntress to join. After that Ultra-Humanite blasts them, and then the events that lead to All-Star Squadron #25 occur. 

This is kind of an odd way to introduce a new team. Ending a two-issue arc with a sort of "now you know the rest of the story" doesn't really build moment for the next issue and provides a convenient jumping off point. I think it might have been better to start after the All-Star issues and flashback to how they came together.

Legion of Super-Heroes #311: There are two stories in this issue. In the first by Levitz, Brainiac 5 has a showdown Computo, whose mind he's trying to separate from Danielle Foccart's body. He succeeds and gets a new Legion HQ in the process, but he has to blow the old one up first. The story plays lighter than most and Giffen's art brings the humor to the fore.

The second story has art by Colan and Mahlstedt. Wildfire goes in search of Dawnstar, who is still on her cultural proscribed quest for a soulmate. We get to see Dawnstars homeworld and her people, at least briefly. In the end, Dawnstar decides Wildstar is what she is looking for at least in terms of love and friendship, despite his lack of a physical body.

New Talent Showcase #5: The cover feature of this issue is Dragon Knights by Scianna and Scarborough who don't seem to have done anything else beyond this. It's a fantasy that aims at a bit of whimsy, I think, with somewhat cartoony art, but while there may be a kernel of something here it's amateurish. There's a quest in the offing, a brother and sister raised by a wizard must find the Dragon Knights to stop the big bad.

The most accomplished story this issue is "Moon River" a science fiction tale that I wonder if was originally submitted for one of DC's anthology titles and inventoried. It's a clearly Logan's Run-inspired story of a dystopian future, would-be escapees, and animal themed hunters. It marks the debut of Mindy Newell, who will go on to do a lot of work at DC and at First, and Cara Sherman-Tereno, who has a short-listed of credits, but still got work throughout the 80s at DC and First.

We also catch up with Feral Man (Ringgenberg and Carlson) and Ekko (Margopoulos and Lightle). Ekko continues to read like an indie supers title maybe based on someone's Champions campaign with the number of costumed characters it introduces every installment, but it has the most polished art with Lightle's accomplished use of screentone. The primetime supers conspiracy story of Feral Man probably has the better story of the two by a hair (heh), but its art is notably less accomplished.

Sgt. Rock #388: Pretty standard stuff. In the main story by Kanigher and Redondo, a little Arab girl takes a liking to Bulldozer after he gives her some chocolates and warns Easy of bandits robbing corpses of equipment to sell on the black market. When the raiders come after her in reprisal, Bulldozer defeats them in a firefight but is unable to save the girl. The second story by Harris and Lindsey is one of those "impaired soldier scared and alone is guided to safety by a voice on a communication device, only to later find the device didn't work and there was no one there." Sometimes this sort of plot is an implied ghost story, but this one ends with no ready explanation.

Supergirl #19: Linda Danvers is watching TV with her friend when she's startled to see Supergirl on it. She decides to go confront this imposter, but discovers she no longer has her kryptonian powers! Meanwhile, Supergirl keeps having fleeting thoughts of another identity she doesn't quite remember. Ultimately, it turns out that the Linda Danvers is actually formed from the diminutive Supergirl clones that Supergirl depowered a few issues ago. The real Supergirl gets her memory and identity restored and the clone is promised a life of her own. 

Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner deliver a short of off-beat story that, for its unusualness, is one of the most interesting in the series so far. It does share some similarities, at least in concept, with a Spider-Man story by Flanagan/Butler from What If? #30 (1981).

Saga of Swamp Thing #24: Despite the cover, Moore and Bissette/Totleben use the JLA in what amounts to a cameo. The Floronic Man announces his intentions to the world. He's going to have plants pump out oxygen to force humanity to abandon fire or destroy themselves. The JLA debates what to do, but isn't able to come up with a solution that could stop him when he has the Earth's plant-life on his side. Thankfully, Swamp Thing is here to break his arm, then point out that he's harming the Green and is acting just like another human. The plants reject him, and Woodrue is forced to flee, then is captured by the League to take to Arkham. Swamp Thing reveals to Abbie what he now knows of his origin and tells her he is at last happy.

Wednesday Comics: DC, May 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm reviewing the comics released on the week of February 9, 1984. 

Batman #371:  Moench and Newton/Alcala bring back Catman, who we last saw about a year ago. He's been in an apparent catatonic state in jail for months, but the mention of a cat-related exhibit at the Gotham Museum snaps him out of it. He makes a bet with his cellmate, Collins, that if he escapes, steals the cat idol, and defeats Batman, then Collins must tell him where the loot he stashed from a heist is. If he fails, he will give Collins his Catman outfit which he believes gives a person nine lives. (The comics have always been ambiguous on whether it's truly magical or not. An appearance a few years ago suggested it was, but it's unclear.) Collins takes the bet, and Catman indeed escapes and reacquires his costume. The portrayal of Catman here is a bit crazier than we've seen him before. He sort of obsesses over words with "cat" in them viewing them as signs or omens and using them as clues to lure Batman. Moench goes a bit over the top putting those words in the story.

In the end, Catman is defeated by Batman and Robin. In a twist, Batman pulls victory from the jaws of defeat by using a carved wooden bat when a museum case was broken, so he beats Catman at his own game.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fang plans to fix a boxing match and win big, and Julia answers the phone at Wayne Manor, leading Vicki Vale to erroneously conclude Bruce is back to his playboy ways.

On the subject of Batman, you should check out my recent post on the Flashback Universe linking to O'Neil's Bat-Bible from 1989.

Tales of the Teen Titans #42: Wolfman and Perez arrive at perhaps their most lauded arc: "The Judas Contract." This issue is mostly setup. We see the Titans going about their daily lives: Donna getting ready for her wedding, Cyborg and his girlfriend in the park ice skating, Kory and Donna sparring which leads to Gar picking on Tara and enraging the girl to surprising violence. Someone is taking surveillance photos of them during all this time. Slade castigates Tara for losing her temper worrying the Titans might begin to suspect her, but Tara is sure all but Raven are completely fooled--and she plans to take care of Raven personally.

Elsewhere an unknown woman and young man monitor Slade and Tara's activities. The woman is surprised that she was able to get close enough to Slade to photograph him. She says, "Slade, it's been a long time. But not long enough for you."

Arak Son of Thunder #33: It's not often creators continue a book after their protagonist died, but that's exactly the point where the Thomases and Randall/Maygar pick up. Of course, we know Arak isn't going to stay dead, but he's in the afterlife here, his spirit ascending a mountain to come face-to-face with He-No, god of thunder and his father. He's gets the "how I met your mother" story from his old man, then we get details of Arak's childhood. Many of the Quontauka believed he was the son He-No's enemy, the Serpent, not the thunder god, a suspicion made worse when teen Arak was forced to reveal his recurrent dreams about the serpent destroying his tribe and only him surviving. He's sent to contemplate the meaning of these dreams on a high peak, and while he is gone, they turn to horrible reality as the People of the Serpent attack and slaughter the Quontauka, including Arak's mother. 

He-No gives Arak a feathered mantle and asks him to join him in godhood, but Arak refuses and demands to be sent back to Earth, even if it means that he will die. He-No grants his son's wish, but bars Arak from ever returning to the mountain top. Arak then finds himself alive again in the valley with a feather in his hand.

Flash #333: A trio of disparate people break into the Flash Museum and vandalize it before setting it on fire. Then they report to their mysterious master who releases them from his control, so they return to their lives with no memory of what they've done. Fiona appears to be making progress in psychiatric treatment by getting over Barry. Some criminal types happen to threaten her therapist while she's there, and the Flash has to show up to save her life. The Flash meets with Peter's partner, Cecile Horton who agrees to take his case, but also admits that she hates him! 

G.I. Combat #265: I wonder if DC editorial felt World War II might be holding their war books back. Kanigher at least has shown some desire to branch out. The Mercenaries are back this month with art by Vic Catan, and the trio is captured in North Africa by agents of the French Foreign Legion who transport them to face their punishment as deserters. They wind up escaping in the end, of course. The Kana story with art by Cruz continues his psychic sojourn to the past and so is to all appearances a story of ninja and samurai in feudal Japan.

The O.S.S. story of two master spies (the Falcon and Falke) trying to get the best of each other is in WWII, as is the single Haunted Tank story that sees Stuart's Raiders making good on the last request of their fallen comrade Slim by being his stand-ins as godfather to a child being christened in a French town.

Omega Men #14: Klein takes over as writer with Smith/Villagran on art. Primus is drowning his self-pity in drink, so Tigorr contrives to snap him out of it with a trip to his homeworld of Karna, but an attack by the bounty hunter, Bedlam, cause them to crash. They are forced to trek across the dangerous wilderness to civilization with Bedlam chasing them. By the time they get there, Primus has rallied a bit and returns the favor to Tigorr by defending him to Karna's Supreme Commander.

Meanwhile on Rashashoon, Harpis still isn't better, so they try a frankly bizarre sequence of medical and possibly psychic procedures to heal her. Somehow, she manages to summon back her wings that Bedlam had previously removed.

Star Trek #4: The Exacalibans reveal their plans to Kirk and Kor: They felt their first contest of good and evil left the question unsettled, so they have maneuvered the Federation and the Empire into conflict, so they have a war as data. Kor objects that the Klingons aren't evil, but Kirk tries to get him to stay focused on stopping the war. Kor's crew and Kirk's are forced to an uneasy alliance as they figure out a way to punch through the Excalibans' barrier around Organia. There, Kirk presents the Excalibans with an even better experiment: they can themselves participate in the contest, to experience a clash of good and evil firsthand. They can be "good," and if they release the Organians, they can be "evil." The Excalibans agree, and the Organians immediately attack their former captors, and all of them vanish, apparently freeing the denizens of the own galaxy to chart their own moral future.

Barr has crafted a good story here with a solution that is authentically Trek (and prefigures the resolution of the conflict of the Shadows and Vorlons in Babylon 5 Season 4 in 1997). He also frees up some storytelling possibilities by removing the Organian Peace Treaty.

Superman #395: Maggin and Swan/Hunt follow the Superman formula in this era of presenting a problem and having it look like the villains are going to win, then revealing Superman had more information than he let on. But that aside, the thumbnail review of this one reveals it's craziness, to paraphrase this guy: Some Vikings send Superman into the Dagobah cave in an initiation ritual, then he fights ersatz Soviets (who want to elect a humor writer president of the U.S.) and giant robots.

The villainous compatriots (whose symbol is a hammer on blue) made a device that can bind reality but only with a suitable human conduit, and Bucky Berns just happens to be that person. Superman is aware something is amiss but only have his initiation ritual is able to figure out what to do about it. Then he defeats the villains without ever meeting them and presumably they slink off to plot again. 

Vigilante #6: Wolfman and Patton/Marcos spend a lot of this issue dealing with J.J.'s escape from the cops with a stolen ambulance and getting Adrian to medical treatment. This might be tense and engaging in film, but it's kind of dull on the comics page, particularly when the outcome is known. Adrian, of course, survives and manages to slip the noose the police are trying to put around him. However, Arthur Hall's "profile" of Vigilante spells trouble, as Adrian very much would be on his list of suspects. During Adrian's convalescence we get some flashbacks to his perhaps recruitment by a mysterious woman who also shares his healing power after the death of his family.

While all this is going on, all the mob bosses in the city are called to a meeting where the Controller (flanked by his Exterminator robots which one attendee suggests come from the Monitor) announces that he is, well, taking control.

Wednesday Comics: DC, May 1984 (week 1)

My mission to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis enters its fifth year. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of February 2, 1984. 

Thriller #6: Fleming and von Eeden/Giordano finish the Kane Creole story. And the resolution is really convoluted. An older Kane Creole gets out of prison where he has been for killing his promoter. He isn't the original Kane Creole (who is the true Elvis expy of this universe) but he's getting a movie made about him anyway, and his younger lookalike (or another Kane Creole lookalike) has been hired to do another bank robbery stunt as publicity. Proxy, who has disguised himself as young Kane Creole, hears this and realizes he has to let the Seven Seconds know because they've set a trap at that bank expecting a real robbery. The Young Kane fights with the Seven Seconds, but the old one shows up to try to put an end to the violence. The old one reveals in confession that the young Kane is his clone--and he's a clone as well, made from genetic material from the exhumed body of the original by his unscrupulous promoter. It's the violation of this graverobbing resurrection that led the Creole clone to murder.

When people say Thriller is innovative, prefiguring the 90s Clone Saga surely isn't what they mean!

Atari Force #5: Conway and Andru/García-López have brought the team together at last as Tempest, Dart, and Morphea assist Martin in stealing his old spacecraft Scanner One and taking off to find the Dark Destroyer. Not that they believe him yet; they each have their reasons for going along. Morphea gets the opportunity to rescue Babe, so he goes too. Pakrat stows away to escape arrest by his brother. New Earth government allows Rident Oly to go after them to get his brother back, but all the doubters are in for a surprise because the Dark Destroyer does exist, and he's waiting to meet them.

Fury of Firestorm #23: The Conways and Kayanan/Rodriquez deliver an issue that I think wears its influences on its sleeve: It's at once very topical, but also clearly indebted to a sort of Spider-Man plot template. I liked it a lot more than the previous story arc. Ronnie is moping because he feels guilty about his relationship with Doreen given Firestorm's relationship with Firehawk. He makes his day worse by accidentally magnetizing and ruining a shipment of computer stuff while stopping a runaway train. The owner of said computer stuff, Felicity Smoak, threatens to sue him. After more bullying from Cliff at a school play, Ronnie decides to attend a computer show mentioned by fellow Cliff-victim and classmate Barney Bonner. At the show, an electrical villainess, Byte, emerges from a computer and attempts to kill Dr. Stein's friend, Belle Haney. Firestorm stops her (for now), but Ronnie recognizes Byte as Blythe Bonner, another schoolmate and sister to Barney.

DC Comics Presents #69: Evanier and Norvick/Jensen gives us a time travel crossover. An old award is found in a drawer at the Daily Planet recognizing Perry White for reporting on Hitler's "Secret Olympics" in 1941. The weird thing is, Perry has absolutely no memory of it. Must be a slow day for superheroism, because Superman decides to go back in time and see what the deal is. He winds up covertly (so as not to disrupt the timeline) helping the Blackhawks defeat some chemically enhanced Nazi super-soldiers and saving Albert Einstein, all while meeting a younger Perry White. Perry writes about what he knows of those events, but then Himmler grabs him and wipes his memory, so the Germans won't be embarrassed by their defeat. All this Superman just watches because he can't change the timeline. Curiosity satisfied; Superman returns to the present.

Justice League of America #226: While the letter column promises Conway and Patton cooking up big changes ahead, Cavalieri and Patton/McLaughlin trudge on with the second part of their story. The Leaguers battle Hellrazer and his djinn to a stand-still, but when he escapes to his own infernal dimension of Perdition, he takes Zatanna captive. Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Hawkwoman enter Hellrazer's dimension to rescue her. Meanwhile, Elongated Man and Red Tornado join Atom and Hawkman in Morocco, where Lord Arsenic, another Faitlux leader, has used Luciferase and a mystic mask to gain the power of the deity Set--which mostly seem to be shooting energy blasts. The heroes defeat him by turning his own powers against him and set out to track the rest of the Luciferase. In Perdition, the heroes believe they have found Zatanna (thought Hawkwoman is suspicious) but the story clearly telegraphs it isn't her.

Wonder Woman #315: Mishkin and Heck continue the story from last issue. Tezcatlipoca depowers Wonder Woman into Diana Price, but she still manages to hold on her own and help Griggs thanks to her martial arts skills she learned when she was depowered before. Tezcatlipoca forces her to face funhouse mirror reflections of part of her character she rejects, but she overcomes these weaknesses, and again empowered, prepares to square off with the mad god. Meanwhile, someone is stalking Etta Candy, and Steve Trevor and a gremlin flying in Wonder Woman's plane hear a surprising message mentioning Trevor's death.

The art by Beachum/Martin has the Huntress backup looking better than it has in the past, I think, and Cavalieri's writing reaches for greater sophistication. The plot primarily revolves around Huntress trying to find out who leaked information regarding the limb regeneration program, Project Starfish. It turns out ultimately that the Sea-Lion is involved. What's more interesting though is how Cavalieri portrays and highlights Huntress relationship with several men in the supporting cast. There's the hospital intern Kelly who awkwardly asks her if she wants to listen to old Motown records at his place and seems intimidated by her. There's the cop, Minelli, who's assigned to surveil her, who has an obsessive attraction. Then there's her ostensible boyfriend Sims, who seems to resent her independence and wants someone more submissive. Huntress actually gets told by a man in this issue that she should smile more.

Blackhawk #270: Evanier and Spiegle pick up where last issue left off: the Blackhawks are in the hands of General "Killer Shark: Haifisch, and their leader is riding in a coffin on a train toward Spain. From Spain, Blackhawk steals a plane and flies back to Blackhawk Island, where he learns that his men have been captured, so he flies to save them.

Meanwhile, Haifisch has moved his prisoners and his troops to a U-boat in the English Channel. He fires a radar-guided antiaircraft missile at the pursuing Blackhawk, knocking him from the sky and presumably killing him. Blackhawk bailed out, though, so when Killer Shark surfaces, Blackhawk jumps him from the superstructure of his own sub. They fight hand-to-hand with Blackhawk losing, until the arrival of a flight of RAF planes distracts the Nazi general. The sub is taken and the prisoners freed, but the Killer Shark presumably escapes.

Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1984 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on January 26, 1984.

World's Finest Comics #302: The cover story here is a reprint from issue 176 (1968) by Bates and Adams where two aliens in conflict from the same species appear to recruit a Batman and Superman to their respective sides, pitting the heroes and their allies against each other. It's all a trick with a twist ending, of course, though Batman does appear to punch Superman with kryptonite gloves, so the cover is only mildly misleading.

The interesting story, though, is the second one by Kraft and Mazzucchelli/Rodriquez which serves as a coda to the Pantheon saga that concluded in issue 300. As the other heroes depart, Batman asks Superman if he'd like to get a drink with him. The two go to a pub full of African colonialist scum and villainy and a couple of them don't believe these funnily dressed strangers who order milk and talk about their feelings are real superheroes and decide to challenge them. Humorously, the two heroes defeat the tough guys without leaving their seats and only barely disrupting their conversation. The strange thing about this story from the modern perspective is seeing Batman talk to his friend about his feelings. He references his loneliness and concern that the two of them seldom get to talk because they are always dealing with some crisis. I can't say Kraft's script completely sells me on it, but it's kind of refreshing to see a time where friendship was important to these characters.

Action Comics #554: This is another story that appeared in that formative comic fan experience for me, Best of DC #61 (1985). While it isn't as memorable as "Anatomy Lesson" or "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" it is a pretty good story of the "importance of these characters" type that comics fans (and writers) like. Wolfman and Kane pick up where last issue left off with Superman's destruction of the ancient pyramid temple, which we now learn was made by aliens as a tool of conquest, creating an alternate timeline where humans don't have violent tendencies and have been easily conquered by the aliens. Two children (named Jerry and Joe, naturally) imagine a hero, Superman, coming into existence to defend them--and their belief makes him manifest. Superman conquers the aliens and sets things right.

Batman Special #1: I read this one in Best of DC #62 (1985), "The Year's Best Batman Stories," and it's the only one from that volume that stuck with me. In this story by Barr and Golden/DeCarlo we're introduced to the Wrath, sort of a criminal opposite number of Batman's whose origin parallels that of his nemesis. On the same night when Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, he was made an orphan, too, as the police killed his parents in a gun battle after the commission of a crime. He also became a dark avenger of the night, but one that preyed on the representatives of law and order.

As the anniversary of his parents' death approaches, the Wrath is coming for the man who killed them: the now-Commissioner Gordon. As Batman keeps Gordon safe, Wrath investigates his foe and deduces Batman's identity. he destroys the Waynes' grave marker, invades Wayne Manor, and brutally beats Alfred. On the anniversary of the Waynes' (and his parents') murders, the Wrath kidnaps Leslie Thompkins, offering to release her in exchange for Gordon.

They meet on a Crime Alley rooftop. The Wrath shoots Gordon three times, but Batman and the Commissioner have worked out a ruse beforehand and he's protected by a bulletproof vest. Batman and Wrath fight one on one. Eventually, the Wrath is engulfed by a fire he started, leading him to fall from the rooftop and presumably (since he didn't re-appear) die.

The Wrath is definitely a villain designed for one story, and once it's told, he's of limited utility. (Though he does show up in The Batman (2004) animated series and even gets a kid sidekick, Scorn, which I thought was a clever addition.) Still, it's a good single story with nice Golden art.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #18:  Continuing form last issue, Garn Daanuth has successfully broken free free from Arion's body and is terrorizing the land of Khe-Wannantu. Chian and Wyynde leave the palace to look for Mara, who they find, while Garn wracks the village with a powerful storm. Desperately, Arion makes mystic contact with his father's crystal back in Atlantis. He's able to draw on the power Caculha's spirit and use it to fight Garn. However, the villain unleashes a tidal wave that drowns Khe-Wannantu. Arion binds Garn underwater with a magic chain. He returns to the surface to find that his friends may have survived, but nearly all of Wyynde's people are dead.

Batman and the Outsiders #9: Barr and Aparo debut a new villain team, the Masters of Disaster. In their introduction their leader gets to say "Punk is over. I'm New Wave!" so we know it's still the 80s. The Masters are in the hire of the Shelton family (out for revenge on Black Lightning for the accidental death of their daughter) and approach gang boss Morgan Jones offering to kill Black Lightning for him. They attack a Wayne Foundation benefit for a new housing project to draw the Outsiders to them. During the fight, the Masters of Disaster make their goal clear, so Black Lightning surrenders to them to keep anyone else from getting hurt. Batman and the rest of the Outsiders vow to get their friend back.

All-Star Squadron #32: The origin of the Freedom Fighters continues. This issue is a whole lot of characters giving backstory to the All-Stars. First, Uncle Sam, then it's Midnight, and finally Doll Man. Midnight and Doll-Man also went to Earth-X and fought Baron Blitzkrieg. They learned about a new attack being planned on America--one that is supposed to occur at Santa Barbara on two Earths. The Spectre sends Sam and a new group of Freedom Fighters (the one's we know) back to Earth-X, while the Squadron flies to Santa Barbara to protect their own Earth from attack.

Detective Comics #537: Intriguing cover this month. Robin, Bullock, and Gordon try to locate Dr. Fang, but get nowhere. Alfred tries gets some time to bond with Julia, but also has to keep her from uncovering Batman's secrets, Out on patrol, Batman encounters a homeless man from Mexico living in the sewers who tells him about a murder. Batman follows him to his camp. He recognizes the body as a known gang member. Batman helps him against a group of criminals who came looking for the body of the man they killed and ultimately convinces the man to leave the sewers.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and McManus, Ollie sends guys moving his stuff out of his apartment and discovers his landlord is forcing all the tenants out of the building. He organizes the tenants into a protest. The landlords goal in all this is to kill Sammy, one of the tenants who could I.D. him as a hitman when he killed Sammy's parents years before. Green Arrow tricks the former hitman into shooting a dummy, then captures him, revealing that Sammy was institutionalized and had his memories of his mother and the murder destroyed by electroconvulsive therapy.

Jonah Hex #83: Mei Ling rejects Jonah once again after he punches out Hart. He returns to his hotel to find Emmylou gone. All the women in his life having forsaken him, he crawls into a bottle, only pausing to outgun a couple of punks who think they can challenge him while he's drunk. He later throws his guns into a pond, then is taken in by an old woman whose sort of a temperance crusader. He works on her farm and dries out but then has to deal with the usual owl-hoots coming after him for revenge. The old woman, fearing further trouble, asks him to leave her farm.

Nathaniel Dusk #3: It's typical for the gumshoe in detective fiction to endure a lot of hardship in solving a case, put MacGregor and Colan really heap it on Dusk. He manages to escape the cliffhanger at the end of last issue, by sending "Big Mouth" plummeting to his death from the elevated train after a melee. He goes Joyce's apartment to find clues about her murder and discovers Abrahams waiting to arrest him for Squire's murder. He manages to convince his friend to let him go, but now the heat his own. He finds out from her daughter that Joyce's mother (despite what he had been told) is still alive. Before he can investigate that, he gets a call from a woman he will tell him who killed Joyce if he meets her on the Staten Island ferry. He does, and she tells him who did it--"Blondie." She's about to tell him who Blondie works for, but the killer shows up and he and Dusk get into a fight, and we end (again) with Dusk being thrown from a height to likely death.

New Adventures of Superboy #52: Superboy discovers the town hermit who has been around since before his father was a kid, is actually an alien with teleportation powers whose been stranded on Earth. Superboy is unable to help him at the current time, but he promises to find a way. Meanwhile, Lana seems to be jealous of Clark and his new girl.

The interesting thing about this title is, despite the "retro" nature of the stories typically, Kupperberg pays attention to continuity and character stuff in a way that is definitely of the era. Johnny Webber, the former Dyna-Mind, shows up in this issue, and is still facing some (perhaps understandable) ostracization for his former behavior.

Saga of Swamp Thing #23: Swamp Thing is still inert, dreaming within the Green and dealing with the fact he is Alec Holland. Meanwhile, the Floronic Man begins to reign terror through his control over the plant kingdom across Terrebone Parrish. Abbie is caught up by some of his murderous vines, and her cries rouse Swampy from his reverie. We get a full-page illustration by Biessette/Totleben of the new, leafier design of the character. He rescues Abbie, having recognized Woodrue's malign presence in the Green, and goes to confront the Floronic Man.

Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1984 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics Santa might have stuffed in a stocking that were published January 19, 1984.

Green Lantern #175: Weirdly, part of this is a replay of the events of last week's Flash that Jordan participated in just from Jordan's perspective. Even the dialogue is the same. Beyond that, the Shark is on a mind-absorbing spree in Coast City. Clay Kendall's Psi-Chair experiments accidentally make contact with the creature, but the contact is fleeting, and the Shark moves in on STAR Labs instead. Green Lantern tries to intervene but in a fight the Shark gets the better of him and leaves him unconscious on the ground. 

Meanwhile, Jason Bloch is stewing over the failure of Javelin to get the revenge for his family on Ferris Aircraft thanks to the action of Green Lantern. gets a visit from the mysterious Mr. Smith from Continental Petroleum (Con-Trol) who asks him to stop cease or at least delay his vendetta until Con-Trol his company can conclude their business. Bloch refuses, and when Smith is gone, reviews his file revealing he knows Green Lantern is Hal Jordan.

Legion of Super-Heroes #310: Levitz, Giffen, and Mahlstedt really up the action this issue. It's made all the more frenetic (and honestly, more than a bit hard to follow) thanks to Giffen's new, ragged art style. On Khundia, the Legion has a showdown with the Omen and the partially controlled Prophet, even as Ambassador Relnic, per the Khunds' demands, orders them off the planet. Ultimately, Omen reveals that the Khunds have constructed a "negaton bomb," a weapon spacetime-puncturing weapon. As Omen easily defeats the combined powers of the strongest Legionnaires, Dream Girl detonates the bomb, sucking Omen and Prophet out of the universe--and disgorging back into it the original Invisible Kid! Meanwhile, Brainiac 5 thinks he's discovered a way to cure Danielle Foccart.

The Prophet and Omen storyline sort of ends abruptly with us never really understanding their conflict or motives. In a way, that's an interesting approach: a cosmic menace that remains an enigma. I think to make that work the story needs to feel like it has a bit more of a payoff, though.

New Talent Showcase #4: Perhaps editorial felt like they have to have more at least superhero adjacent material to sell this title? We get a whole new batch of features and most of them are. Margopoulos and Steve Lightle/Gary Martin introduce Ekko, a hunky, pipe-smoking MD-PhD who developed an ultrasound-powered superhero suit. Just in time, too, because superhuman assassins in employ of the Crimeking are after his no-account older brother. This one reminds me a lot of 80s smaller press/indie stuff. It's clear Margopoulos' knowledge of medicine comes from TV, but I don't hold that against him.

"Who is Feral Man?" by Ringgenberg and Brigman/Magyar is similar but a bit more amateurish. I could have easily seen it being a late 70s/early 80s TV show as it has a Man from Atlantis or Manimal vibe. A Altered States-esque experiment unlocks the primal essence of our hero giving him animalistic heightened abilities. The shadowy government agency wants to make him a weapon, so he's got to escape and fight back.

"Bobcat" by Tiefenbacher and Woch/Kessel gets making me think it's going to turn horror, but nope it's a little hearted tail of a bullied kid with a perhaps unhealthy fixation on big cats who turns homemade costumed vigilante to scare his bully--and winds up befriending him. Similarly, "Full Circle" by Tillman and McManus/Alexander is about an older guy (the story says he's "near retirement" and some characters call him old, but he's only 51!) who feels like his life is effectively over, until a moment to be a hero fighting for an old homeless woman preyed on by street punks. He takes a beating but makes a friend. 

Sgt. Rock #387: This feels like an unusually grim issue. The Kanigher/Redondo main story has Easy getting two new soldiers after a tough battle: one's gung-ho and the other is a conscientious objector. They wind up being able to work together--and dying in the same foxhole. The reprint from '73 by Kanigher and Estrada has George Washington taking the time to talk with a boy who tried to desert at Valley Forge. Washington convinces the boy to be brave--as he meets his end in front of a firing squad. Then, there's a one-page humor strip to round out the issue.

Supergirl #18: Supergirl takes her new headband out on the town for the first time and gets into conflict with a storm-causing alien named Kraken. He entered Earth-One's dimension years ago, tried to conquer Argo City but repulsed and almost killed. When he returned years later, he found Argo City depopulated but vowed get its last survivor in gain revenge. He boasts that is magical powers will easily defeat his target, Supergirl. Turns out his magic is really the product of super-science devices in his belt and bracelets. Supergirl melts those with heat vision, and Kraken is easily subdued. It's interesting just how different Infantino's art looks under Oksner's inks than McLaughlin's.

Warlord #80: I discussed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, the slavers pursue Jinal and her friends. With the help of their the Harashashan, they set traps for the slavers, destroying their force and allowing Jinal to retrieve her weapons.

Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm reviewing the comics released on the week of January 12, 1984. 

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #12: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon reach the conclusion of this first Amethyst saga. Our heroes are hard pressed against the increased power of Dark Opal, but the villain's treachery and madness cause his former allies Sardonyx and finally Carnelian to turn against him, which seals his fate. Despite her budding romance with Prince Topaz and the rulership offered her, Amethyst feels the need to return to Earth and her life as Amy Winston. She is reunited with her family and resumes life as a normal teen. For now. In Gemworld, Opal's scowling broach lays in debris--and we see it's expression change.

While I didn't give the series any attention in my youth, I found it enjoyable now, and it might have been even more enjoyable if I hadn't read it as one among a stack of 80s comics a month. While Mishkin's and Cohn's story is good, Colon's art is probably what really makes it work.

Tales of the Teen Titans #41: Sorry, Wolfman and Perez, but I find this one a bit silly. We pick up where last issue left off with the Titans (except for the brainwashed Dick) in a deathtrap as Brother Blood gloats. Raven tries psychically to free them, but Blood defeats her. Thanks to Terra, the Titans escape, but then there's another trap, where again they may die, but no, they defeat the monster. At every turn, we have Brother Blood either gloating or thinking that he is sooo powerful that he could kill them any time, but he just doesn't want to.... Then they are captured again and wake up in another (guess!) deathtrap (like the cover) with Dick again supposed to push the button to kill them. They escape, of course, and Brother Blood appears to have died, but there's the hint he's really still doing some Xanatos Gambit. The initial and final deathtraps are even very similar in appearance. Ending and beginning with pretty much the same set piece makes the issue feel like the padded installment of a modern streaming TV series.

In the letter column, Wolfman explains the title's name change--though he states the new title (which he says won't begin until the next issue) is just The Teen Titans. I can only assume they thought better of it and added "Tales of" but didn't think the change was big enough to redo the column. The name "New Teen Titans" will now go to a Baxter paper (though Wolfman doesn't use that term) direct market series.

Arak Son of Thunder #32: The Thomases and Randall.Maygar get up to some old-fashion comic book Sword & Sorcery big monster fighting. Arak and Satyricus are in the Lebanon Mountains and come upon an abandoned village that would remind the reader of Jurassic Park if that were around a decade away. The villagers are hiding in a cave an about to sacrifice a traveling alchemist's daughters to the saurian beast. Arak vows to fight it instead. Ultimately, the alchemist is eaten but turned to gold by his formula mixing with the "dragon's" saliva, but Arak manages to kill the beast. However, he is thrown off it's back and appears to have died in the fall.

Batman #370:  Moench and Newton/Alcala continue the relatively tight plotting between the bat-titles as we open with a solo Robin patrol as Batman is still out of town. He runs afoul of goons working for Dr. Fang and hurries back home to report. Meanwhile, Bullock is pursuing his undercover operation and meets with the eccentric crime lord who is an ex-boxer who dresses like a pro-wrestler with a vampire horror host gimmick. He's sort of Kingpin by way of Zacherley Anyway, he agrees to work with Bullock, but doesn't fully trust him and has him followed. He's aware that Bullock has revealed his plans to rob the Wayne Foundation and plans a trap. Batman and Robin attack Fang's base first and manage to round up the gang, forcing Fang to flee.

Flash #332: Continued from last issue, Flash's super-speed manages to keep his lawyer from dying in a bomb blast, at least immediately. He's at the very least severely injured and will need time to recover. The celebrity lawyer Redik somehow gets word of this quickly as he's immediately working through various means to get the gig as the Flash's attorney. Flash, unaware of these maneuvers meets with Cecile Horton, Peter's law partner. Flash hears Fiona got released from the hospital and gets frustrated with a flyer offering a reward for information on the missing Barry Allen, but then the Rainbow Raider kicks off a crime spree, so he has to deal with that. Ultimately though, it's Green Lantern who happened by the see how his friend was holding up with the whole murder charge thing who takes down the villain.

Bates' story is already beginning to show signs of dragging things out, and it's nowhere near done. This sort of longterm story is probably tough for comics to pull off successfully even today, but in the late Bronze Age where scene decompression isn't employed, you can't just stretch it out with dialogue. It lends a very soap opera effect with scenes always ending on cliffhangers. Infantino's increasingly abstract art (under McLaughlin's inks) probably isn't the best for this sort of story, either. It's ambitious, though, and deserves credit for that.

G.I. Combat #264: No Mercenaries this issue. Instead, we have just one Haunted Tank yarn and a Kana story, plus some nonserial tales. The Haunted Tank story is a bit schmaltzier than most. The Stuart's Raiders are on their way to check out a place called the Grotto of the Saint where there's a German fuel stash, which they need badly. Along the way they (without Jeb's permission) pick up Rick's brother who has been blinded in combat and believes the Saint will heal him. After a fight with some German tanks, it appears the Saint does or at least his vision gets better and also the fuel the Germans were to use is replaced with water--which may have been the saint again or maybe the partisans.

The "AWOL Army" by Drake and Yandoc is a humorous tale of two soldiers fed up with spam who go AWOL to sneak into Paris and have a good meal, run into lots of trouble, but manage to make it out alive, just without a Parisian feast. "Boy in the Bomber" with Talaoc is Kanigher where he is comfortable: gritty heroism. A boy lies about his age to serve on a British bomber run, manning the guns as the crew is whittled down by the mission, refusing to parachute out even when only he and the captain are left. They both die, crashing into the cliffs as the wounded captain can't keep the altitude to get them home.

The Kana story by Kanigher and Cruz is supposed to tell his origin, but so far gives the bit we already know regarding his parents, then detours into time travel to the Japanese feudal era induced by ninja meditation. 

Omega Men #13: Slifer and Smith/DeCarlo deliver an issue more focused on character then events which is atypical for most of the run of this title to date. Much of this issue is devoted to Broot coming to terms with the fact that his wife and the miner Changralynians she ministers to are content with their life of toil for others and early death, preferring its predictability to the unknown. Broot and his wife say their goodbyes with acceptance of each other, if not understanding. Broot is left with at least a little hope for the future as one of the young Changralynians approaches him to say he will at least think on the Omega Man's words.

Meanwhile, Primus gets a new eye, but is still mourning the loss of Kalista, and Shlagen blunders by making an accidental transmission contact with the Gordanians. 

Star Trek #3: Barr calls this one "Errand of War" which echoes the ST:TOS episode "Errand of Mercy" and foreshadows where the plot is going. Both Starfleet and the Klingon Empire are pushing to war and we discover (though our heroes don't know it yet) that some sort of rock monster alien(s) are behind it (Excalibans if you know your ST lore). There's even a jingoistic Federation propaganda broadcast. Kirk and his crew, realizing something isn't right, disobey orders and head for Organia rather than the Romulan Neutral Zone where they have been sent. Why Kirk thinks going to Organia is so important isn't really well laid out in the story, but it appears he believes the Organians would be actively enforcing their treaty on the Empire and the Federation unless something had happened. 

As anti-Klingon sentiment among the crew builds (pertinent because they took on a Klingon defector last issue), Enterprise arrives at Organia to find it enclosed in some sort of black void--and Klingons ready to attack. Kirk manages to convince now-Admiral Kor (the Klingon Captain from "Errand of Mercy," who is now depicted as bumpy-headed) that something's going on and they join forces. Before they can do anything, an Excaliban appears and threatens them.

Superman #394: The thumbnail synopsis of this one on the DC Database conveys its basic weirdness: "Superman and Valdemar clean up some industrial polluters, political humorist Bucky Berns finds that he can predict future events in his column, and Superman endorses Berns for president." This one is by Maggin and Swan/Hunt. If you are wondering who the hell Valdemar is (as was I, even after reading the issue) he's a Viking who hides a giant hawk who lives in some hidden Viking valley. He previously appeared in some Maggin penned stories in the early 70s, but not since. Berns is presented oddly too (and I'm not talking about his super-powers), like we are supposed to know him. The Database helpful supplies that he's a stand-in for Washington Post humor columnist Art Buchwald. Why does Superman support him for President? It doesn't seem like he's completely sure, so perhaps a reveal is coming. Berns' powers are caused by a cabal of wealthy men who wish to destroy America by destroying Superman who they feel symbolizes what Americans see as right and good about their country. No motive is provided here, but it's a continued story. This plot seems an odd one to graft a somewhat didactic story about polluters and how to combat them through media and legislation that happens to feature a magic Viking. 

I have more to say about how Superman is written in this period, but for space reasons I did that over on the Flashback Universe.