Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1985 (week 3)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on July 18, 1985.

Talent Showcase #19: We arrive at the last issue of this title, and it doesn't really go out with a bang, but just with a kind of sense of obligation. There are more 1 page humor pieces than usual. There's a Western written by Rowlands about a writer who becomes his character, only to have the role taken up by a fan when he grows weary of it. That Darwyn Cooke is back with a story called "Private Eye" that already stands out visually, showing promise if not being terribly interesting otherwise. Dennis Yee is back with another installment of his Texan superhero team, the Desperados.

DC Comics Presents Annual #4: Maggin and Baretto/Ordway bring back Maggin's creation, Superwoman. Historian Kristen Wells, still eager to learn more about the mysterious Superwoman's career (particularly since she now knows she is Superwoman!), travels back to 1985. Baretto/Ordway show us that women history professors in the 29th Century dress like the movie version of an 80s pop star with a Mad Max theme. In fact, she and Stiletta in Hex may shop the same boutiques. Anyway, time travel being inherently risky, she loses her memory. As she struggles to regain it having various minor misadventures, Superman faces certain doom by Green Kryptonite at "Luthorcon III", in a deadly game of "monkey-in-the-middle" (like "keep away," I guess) between Luthor cosplayers who don't know that he's the real Superman or that the fake Kryptonite they had was secretly replaced by the real thing by the real Luthor. It's silly, but in a fun way, the issue's only flaw perhaps being it didn't need the pages allotted to it by annual length.

In the epilogue, we see Wells' colleague in the future (some point more in the future than when we last saw him) staring at a statue of Superwoman and wondering what was his friend's ultimate fate in the past. He's surprised by the appearance of Wells who has just returned from the 20th Century prepared to relate her adventures as a superheroine in the past. Maggin clearly hoped comics would chronicle those adventures, but that was not to be, certainly not with the dawning of the post-Crisis universe. Outside of one more tale--an obscure "imaginary story" by Moore in 1986 you probably haven't heard of--Wells hasn't really appeared again. 

Batman and the Outsiders #26: Kobra sends his agents to ambush the Outsiders as they go about their lives, and the goons all fail utterly. Batman even stops one agent from suicide using his cyanide filled tooth to interrogate him with "truth serum." Apparently Kobra's thought of that and given the goon a drug that kills him when a truth serum is introduced to his system. Either that or Batman misjudged the dose and killed him and is just covering up. Luckily with some forensic detective work and a knowledge of pine straw, they trace Kobra to the commune, realizing that Halo must be in his hands. They've barely started exploring the hidden (and now deserted) base when Kobra appears on a screen, boasting that he has taken control of the satellite missile defense program (thanks to the general he mind-controlled last issue) and is threatening to give it to the Soviets if the U.S. doesn't surrender Fort Knox to him.

Blue Devil #16: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Farmer give us essentially the Blue Devil Swimsuit Issue as the whole cast goes to the beach. The fun doesn't last though as the Fisherman (in his first appearance since 1977, and his last pre-Crisis, outside of the Who's Who--see below.) shows up to rob the partygoers. Blue Devil manages to capture him while battling a horde of mini-monsters that rain down as a side-effect of cloudseeding. There might also be some effect of the weird, red skies (allow this to be an official Crisis tie-in) which the people of L.A. take in stride without all the doom and gloom hitting Gotham and Metropolis. Anyway, no sooner has Cassidy defeated the villain than he is recruited by Green Lantern to the go to the Justice League satellite.

Green Lantern #193: Engelhart and Staton/Patterson pick up where last issue left off. The 3 Lanterns on Zamoran have to leave because Star Sapphire hasn't really committed any crimes yet. On the way back to Earth, Stewart and Katma encounter a creature that looks sort of like a winged gargoyle composite being like the Super-Adaptoid or Composite Superman. He's Replikon, a guy who fought Hal Jordan before, as he wants to make the Earth into a replica of his destroyed home world so his species eggs can be incubated there. The fact that that would kill life on Earth is of no consequence. Stewart defeats him but then gets the Guardians' permission to make a planet suitable to the creature's needs. In doing so, he passes another test in his training. Katma Tui also tells him her backstory, and the two express their love for one another. They also get word the Guardians are becoming involved with this whole Crisis thing, with the issue telling us this is effectively the point where Crisis #1 comes in.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan is sitting on Earth alone, regretting his life choices.

Infinity, Inc. #19: As the cover tells us, this is part of the last "Justice Society-Justice League Team-Up" in this continuity. It's also a Crisis tie-in and catches the title up to those events. Commander Steel and Mekanique show up from Earth-One and convinces the Infinitors (except Obsidian who has disappeared for Crisis) to help him take out the "criminals" who have usurped the name of the JLA. I have to say, repeated storylines regarding them getting duped into helping a badguy do not make the team look very smart. Once they have mostly helped him defeat the Detroit League, his behavior and the little details don't quite add up, so they realize they have made a mistake. Commander Steel orders Mekanique to attack them too. 

This issue also introduces Beth Chapel, the physician treating Jade's poisoning and former student of Charles "Dr. Midnite" McNider.

New Teen Titans #13: This is another of this month's Crisis tie-ins and the most continuity conscious. Wolfman starts where last issue left off and works his way up to the "present" (in terms of this month's issue of Crisis) telling us what the Titans did along the way. First, we see the Tamaranians coming for Kory slowed down by the anti-matter wave. After Cyborg finally has his talk with Sarah, he is whisked away by Harbinger and is missing for much of the story. The Titans deal with the time disruption, and we see their brief team-up with the Outsiders depicted in COIE #3 rescuing people from the anti-matter wave.

About a month after the issue's beginning, Cyborg is reunited with his teammates, and the heroes get a bit of respite from fighting the disaster in the nearly rebuilt Titans Tower. Suddenly, Captain Karras and his crew arrive, announcing that Koriand'r must return with them to Tamaran at once.

Sgt. Rock #405: This storyline was heavily advertised in comics leading up to its publication, but I've never read it before. "Angels with Black Wings" may well be the last in a long line of anti-racism stories Kanigher did in his career, many of which, unfortunately, haven't aged well. We'll see how this one goes. We start off with a double frame of sorts. The story opens in a postwar civil rights march where a black former soldier recognizes one of the police barring the marchers' way from the war. We then flashback to Rock and his Lieutenant meeting Captain George Dennis, one of the Tuskegee Airmen as Easy is camping near their airbase. The lieutenant means to keep his distance, but Rock is interested in how the airman got here. He also offers the first explanation I've seen of how he has a black man in his unit: paperwork mishap. Anyway, most of the issue is Dennis telling his story and the story of the Tuskegee Airmen to Rock. It's more didactic than the typical Sgt. Rock story, but we'll see how it develops in the next installment.

Saga of Swamp Thing #41: Moore and Bissette/Alcala bring Swamp Thing back to Louisiana, where a night-time soap about the antebellum South is in production at a plantation nearby. Abby gets a job there and is a witness to the growing darkness as the past refuses to stay the past, and ghosts begin to influence the behavior of the actors playing their parts. She asks Swamp Thing to look into it, and they arrive as the extras are conducting a voodoo ritual in the fields, and the stars seem prepared to re-enact a gruesome murder inside the old house.

Warlord #97: I reviewed this issue here.

Who's Who #7: It's fitting that Flash (drawn by Infantino) appears in Who's Who the same month his series ends. The Fisherman also happens to appear here, looking much more menacing under Luke McDonnell's pencils than he does in the pages of this month's Blue Devil. Beyond that we've got Felicity from Omega Men and the Floronic Man from Swamp Thing. The Forgotten Heroes and Forgotten Villains aren't yet forgotten as they get a page each. Both Firebrands from the pages of All-Star Squadron are here as well. Fire Jade (recently deceased) from Amethyst shows up drawn by Dan Jurgens. The entry on Firehawk doesn't really make a big deal of her romantic relationship with Firestorm, following the comic's lead in just kind of dropping the previous love triangle (or quadrangle, if we consider Firestorm is a composite of two people). She's drawn by Rafael Kayanan.

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1985 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on July 11, 1985.

Flash #350: Bates and Infantino/McLaughlin come to the end of Flash's run of 246 issues and over 25 years (in 2020, the series' legacy numbering was revived) abruptly with zero fanfare. I didn't see a single house ad heralding the series' end. The letter column suggests a rumor was going around fandom, though.

With Abra Kababra revealed as the true villain, the Rogue's must escape from a deathtrap he leaves them in. They wind up teaming up with Newbury and Flash to defeat the time traveling villain. The Flash realizes the identity of the future visitor inhabiting Newbury's body:  Iris Allen! It turns out her parents (in the future) were able to rescue her psyche upon her death in the past and have since cloned her a new body. "Newbury" reveals Abra Kadabra's juror tampering which gets Flash acquitted, and somehow, that restores public confidence in him. After all this, and with Barry Allen "dead," the Flash goes to the future to be with Iris. Everybody lives happily ever after--though since we've seen Crisis, we know it's only for a while.

I'd be interested in the origin of this arc and its resolution and whether it was always intended to end this way or it was modified for Crisis. This had the ingredients to make a great storyline. Taking a character to their lowest point always makes good drama: the "Born Again" arc in Daredevil will begin just 3 months from this issue's publication. Unfortunately, Bates's narrative still has a foot firmly planted in the 70s with its episodic nature and lack of resolve to really have Flash wallow in misery, while "Born Again" will become a defining story for the 80s. Further, the story fails to really wring the melodrama from the tale that would have surely been a part of an analogous arc in the Marvel 70s. Cheesy though it would have been, 70s Englehart (or whoever) would have had poor, mid-shattered Fiona Webb become a super-menace briefly, instead of just shuffling her off-stage. At least that would have been interesting! Infantino, unfortunately, is not really the artist for the over-the-top emotion that sort of 70s Marvel-style storytelling would have required. (I think a review of his 70s work at Marvel would support that, but maybe I'm forgetting something).

Some might say these differences are just Marvel vs. DC, but I would argue given the stuff being published in a number of DC titles (Swamp Thing and New Teen Titans, just to name two), it isn't so much DC as perhaps DC's approach to their oldest, core characters, and whether this is due to a failure of creativity or editorial vision, I can't say.

DC Spotlight #1: This was a free promo giveaway, but there are a few interesting things about it. One, it has a nice cover by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Another is that the series it plugs aren't the ongoing series of any of their marquee heroes, outside of Green Lantern (which at this point, isn't your Super Friends Green Lantern). Instead, Firestorm, the Teen Titans, and the Outsiders are plugged, giving an indication of where the comic shop fan interest in DC was at. We do get a page on the upcoming Pozner/Hamilton Aquaman limited series, and some Frank Miller Batman book. Also, this issue is technically the first appearance of the Watchmen, though of course, not in-story, in the illustration accompanying the text piece on the upcoming Moore/Gibbons limited series.

Legion of Super-Heroes #15: After introducing the new Legionnaires last issue, Levitz and LaRocque/Mahlstedt sideline them this issue as they real just serve as bait for Dr. Regulus to lure the Legion into a trap. Sun Boy takes his foe on in one-on-one combat. Though it's a tough fight, Sun Boy wins through creative use of his flight ring. 

Meanwhile on Shanghalla, Timber Wolf pays tribute to his fallen comrade, the Karate Kid. He pledges to fulfill the Kid's last wishes by planting a flower at the Sacred Stones of Lythyl. At the Time Institute, Brainiac ruminates over the (historical for him) death of Supergirl.

Amethyst #10: Interesting cover by Colon. His art in the rest of the issue (or perhaps it's Kesel's inks) seems rushed and sketchier than the usual art on this series. We reach the conclusion of the conflict with the Ancients over the fate of Gemworld. As the creatures exert all their influence to destroy the world, Amethyst brokers a deal where they siphon excess energy all the time instead of reaping it in a world's destruction, allowing the worlds to "pay rent." Meanwhile on Earth, Carnelian has found Dark Opal's broach and intends to use it to gain power.

Batman #387: Moench and Mandrake bring Flash Rogue's Mirror Master and Captain Boomerang to Gotham. The two at first discuss teaming up, but after Batman thwarts their first robbery, and members of Black Mask's False Face Society looking for someone new to "hench" fall under the hypnotic sway of Mirror Master, the two villains are as much out to get each other as the Caped Crusader and friends. In fact, after the Mirror Master barely escapes Bullock and Robin, he receives a boomerang from the Captain made from his own will-zapping mirror tech. 

Arak Son of Thunder #49: The series reaches its penultimate issue with Arak's final showdown with Angelica. She's revealed as being behind the dragon in the Canton harbor. She's after the elixir of immortality she steals from Mu-Lan's grandfather. Mu-Lan, like Haakon, doesn't survive this issue. They are on a ship smashed by the dragon. Our heroes do a lot of fighting, but they would have likely shared the same fate had not Mu-Lan's grandfather summoned a dragon spirit to do battle with Angelica's monster. He also traps Angelica within a magic mirror, which Arak smashes with his tomahawk.

Omega Men #31: The cover proclaims this as a Crisis tie-in, and it does acknowledge that the Crisis is occurring, but that's really about it. The group of Omega Men we've been following attempt to save an ailing Viathan with travelers in pods in its belly, while Artin and Green Man try to save Elo. Klein and McManus get around to showing us what the Vega System is up too. The Tamaranians mourn the supposed deaths of the group we've been following, and Harry Hokum strikes a deal with Doc, Shlagen, and the rest for cooperation against the remnants of the Spider Guild.

Red Tornado #4: Busiek and Infantino/McLaughlin bring the limited series to a close. Red Tornado confronts the Construct, and it doesn't go well. While the Construct thinks he has the android defeated and spends his time gloating to Kathy, Reddy is rebuilding and infiltration the Construct's mental domain. By force of will and tough questions that shake the Construct's resolve, Red Tornado wins the day. In the aftermath, he embraces his found family and his newfound humanity.

I feel like the more abstract Infantino/McLaughlin art works for this issue in a way it didn't always work in Flash. It probably won't be to everyone's taste, but it reminded me a bit of Alex Nino. It's too bad it wasn't in the service of a story that really played to its strengths for the whole run.

Star Trek #19: We get a Chekov-centric story from the ST:TMP era written by Walter Koenig himself with at by Dan Spiegle. It isn't the best story we've gotten in this series, but still more Trekian than most of the comics previous licensors Marvel and Gold Key put out. Chekov is feeling guilty over the Enterprise's inability to rescue another vessel and inadvertently incites a portion of the crew to mutiny. made worse because Enterprise is out of control and on a collision course with an asteroid. All is not at seems, though, and manipulation by a hidden alien species is responsible at least in part for the crew's behavior. Chekov shakes off the psychic mind games in time to save the day. The aliens decide to make friends instead of manipulating others.

Super Powers #2: The Kupperberg and Kirby/Theakston toyetic series continues with Green Arrow, Red Tornado, and Hawkman sent to New York to deal with one of Darkseid's seeds of doom. They tussle with Kalibak and get sent back in time to the Age of Dinosaurs. Some of the dinos escape to the modern era and Martian Manhunter and Aquaman have to help deal with them. Martian Manhunter also confronts Darkseid in his secret base, but Darkseid holds him off with a bluff.

Superman #412: Nice cover by Janson. On the inside, Bates and Swan/Williamson continue the "Clark Kent--Fired" story. While Clark goes to the unemployment office and reconnects with Steve Lombard, Superman continues to try to do good while worrying about his sanity. Luthor advances his plan, setting these mysterious hi-tech staves in the ground around Metropolis. After Superman experiences an illusion where he fights with Luthor and punches right through his chest, killing his foe and dooming Metropolis to nuclear holocaust as Luthor's battlesuit explodes, he is fully convinced he's losing his mind.

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1985 (week 1)

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.

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1985 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on June 27, 1985.

Detective Comics #554: The cover by Janson actually goes with the backup story by Cavalieri and Moore/Patterson. It proclaims this is the debut of the new Black Canary costume "the first time anywhere," but as I've mentioned is this series, it has appeared in both Who's Who and Crisis prior to this.  

Following the events of last issue, Black Canary searches for the reason she froze in the battle with Bonfire and comes to believe it was imprinted memories of her mother's fear when she fought a villain named Pyra. Deciding that the only way conquer her fear is to break with the past, Dinah designs a new Black Canary costume for herself, then goes out looking for Bonfire. After a difficult battle she defeats the villain with her canary cry--something her mother couldn't do. She and the late-arriving Green Arrow take Bonfire into custody and discover the fire marshal Ollie was sure was corrupt was doing his job all along.

The main story is an unexceptional but well-crafted action/crime piece by Moench and Janson. Batman, Robin, and Bullock team-up to deal with an ocean liner from Sicily that is being held in Gotham Harbor under suspicion of smuggling. Forces on the liner are trying to get the police cordon opened with a scuba diver with a bomb. Batman and friends win the day, and it's discovered the whole plot was for nothing. The plan was not to smuggle anything in but to smuggle a person out--a person ordered deported on that ocean liner.

We also see an ad in this issue for Outsiders that explains that that group will be getting the same treatment as the Teen Titans and the Legion and receiving a direct market book on better paper, too. No mention of why Batman is no longer in the title, though.

Action Comics #571: Great cover by Bolland for a mediocre issue. The editorial note at the beginning of this story by Maggin and Saviuk/Hunt helpfully tells us that this story takes place before the "Clark Kent--Fired" storyline appearing in Superman. It starts by paralleling a robotic alien scientist on another world with an Earth genius, both of whom are attempting a breakthrough to benefit their people. The robot scientist winds up coming to Earth to find an essential element to save his people, and it turns out to be in the formula the other scientist invented. Meanwhile, the Earth scientist is embittered by her perception that she was snubbed for the Nobel Prize and winds up causing havoc. There's also a subplot about a robot appearing on TV to fill-in for Clark Kent which is where the cover comes from.

Ambush Bug #4: Giffen, Fleming, and Oksner bring this series to an end with some goofing on Thriller facilitated by an appearance by Scabbard. When Scabbard storms off, embarrassed to have been in the wrong book, the creative team is forced to improvise, giving us some one-page gags. Then, we get a second story, one of the most amusing in the series, where Ambush Bug must face the villainous singlet sock in a metal mask, Argh!yle. Finally, Ambush Bug gets his long-promised confrontation with Darkseid--an inflatable Darkseid that he just deflates. 

Rereading the series, I think it holds up today in that it's still amusing. I do think 4 issues might be a bit much, but maybe that's an artifact of how many of these old comics I have to read week after week. Regardless, I think a one-shot might have been the right amount.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #35: Kupperberg and Duursema continue the story from last issue. After Arion was engulfed by the shadow bat, the evil sorcerer, Rhajeem, wastes no time in declaring himself king of Atlantis. He's counted Arion out too soon, though. He comes bursting out of the shadow being and two again engage in magical combat until Rhajeem casts Arion through a portal. He begins to declare himself ruler in front of the populace, but no, Arion is back again this time being followed by a monster from the other realm. It gobbles up Rhajeem before Arion banishes it. With the threat ended, the conclave selects D'Tilluh's recently returned son M'Zalle as the next king.

The last page reveals the next issue (coming in two months) is the double-sized conclusion of the series. It seems likely this came as something of a surprise to the creative team as they were steadily introducing new characters and subplots up to the end.

All-Star Squadron #49: Dr. Occult makes an appearance for the first time since 1938. Like the All-Stars, he's a captive of Wotan. Wotan is in league with Hitler and unleashes the Shining Knight and his Camelot robots on British troops. Hourman and Blackhawk manage to snap Shining Knight out of it by waving a Union Jack at the right moment. 

World's Finest #319: Cavalieri and Delbo/Alcala have Superman seeking help from Batman as his sleep is continuously disrupted by disturbing dreams. Using a Kryptonian device, Batman enters Superman's dreams and finds out the culprit is Rem who looks like the evil cousin of Rainbow Brite and sneakily quotes a lot of stuff in his dialog, including Shakespeare, the Beatles, Eurythmics, and Catch-22. Rem has a plan to drop a bunch of psychedelics in the Metropolis reservoir so he can get control of the populace's dreams too, and the issues cliffhanger has him dropping Batman into the reservoir from the airplane, as well! Meanwhile, the surviving members of the Network have the feeling that Cathode is still alive within them somehow, and a shadowy figure called the Powerbroker (not the Marvel one) makes his move.

Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2: Barr and Ross/Adkins invite us to the wedding of Rex Mason and Sapphire Stagg. The cover had me a little worried, but it's just a tease. Sapphire isn't killed and the wedding goes on. Things don't go smooth, though. Before the ceremony, the venue is attacked by a power-stealing android on a mission for a Maxwell Tremayne, an old foe of Simon Stagg. Sapphire is kidnapped, and our heroes must pursue. The other Outsiders and Batman do battle with the Masters of Disaster (last seen in issue 10) while Metamorpho rescues his fiancée. 

V #8: I've never seen this issue, but I remembered the ads DC ran promoting it with the tagline "I could have had a V 8!" which I suppose they thought was too good to pass up. The actual story involves a group of our protagonists making contact with a printing facility in a rural area that went from printing comics to churning out resistance literature. Unfortunately, it's got a problem with Visitor infiltrators. The team has to flush them all out before they can sabotage the presses. 

The editorial addresses fan concerns that NBC might cancel the TV series. It reassures us the series will finish the storyline whether  there's a TV show or not. As it turns out, the show had already aired its last episode on March 22.

Vigilante Annual #1: My brother and I had this issue as kids. It was our first introduction to the character. Kupperberg and Cown/Maygar tell an untold story of "times past" before the current craziness in the ongoing title. This is a bit more grounded in style that that series and uses detective fiction inspired first-person narration like Miller would do in Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. That and Cowan's artwork make Vigilante seem a more "realistic" Batman without the gestures at meditations on vigilantism and the psychological breakdown of the main character like in the series.

When a college friend of Marcia's is arrested for the murder of a neighbor, Chase helps out by investigating as Vigilante. He discovers it was a mob hit, and must race against time to stop another crime boss from mistakenly having an assassin hit Marcia's friend in jail as reprisal.

Wonder Woman #327: This is the second ever Crisis crossover, but the tie-in is pretty weak.  Newell and Heck just use the red skies and cosmic storm as a convenient explanation for why Wonder Woman loses control of her plane and somehow ends up in the Central American jungle where Tezcatlipoca is. In some weird either other dimension or timeless realm, she and a group of pre-Columbian Indians witness the "death" of Keith Griggs three times, as the god demonstrates his power to create a time loop for some reason. Wonder Woman manages to break the loop and free herself and her three friends from Tezcatlipoca's grasp. Meanwhile, on Paradise Island, the Amazons begin debating whether or not to choose a new queen.

Wednesday Comics: DC, September 1985 (week 3)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I read the comics on sale on June 20, 1985.

Hex #1: Here at last is the series that's been teased (in the pages of Jonah Hex, at least) for the past few months. Fleisher and Texeira have Jonah Hex plucked from the 19th century and brought to some unspecified, post-apocalyptic near future (far enough away that capes and big metallic shoulder pieces have come into fashion, though). Hex was brought to the future by rich geezer, Borsten, who collects historical warriors--quite literally. He promptly escapes, though, and winds up teamed with a woman wasteland raider named Stilletta. He falls in with her gang of Road Reapers, who raid settlements to steal water in the radioactive deserts in the vicinity of Seattle. Hex has his doubts about the morality of all this, but before he can formulate a plan, fate steps in. Someone has tipped off the next target, and there's an ambush, and the gang's leader Falcon takes a dislike to him, so Hex winds up on his own with a stolen hover cycle and a costume out of Road Warrior. Then he almost has a head on collision with a Vietnam-era military helicopter!

Westerns were at an ebb in the early 80s and sales were apparently poor on Jonah Hex, so with post-apocalyptic films a fad in the wake of Mad Max, this new direction makes some sense. As a kid, I hadn't been a regular reader of Jonah Hex, but this title got my attention for its subject matter and the dynamic art of Mark Texeira.

Batman and the Outsiders #25: Barr and Davis have most of the Outsiders out of costume this issue as they go about the arrangements for the wedding of Metamorpho and Sapphire Stagg. Meanwhile, Halo is becoming part of the religious cult community she had stumbled into and doesn't notice anything sinister at first. She misses when the father of Brother David visits the community to try get his son to return home, and he's surreptitiously drugged by "Brother Abraham's" second in command. We learn later that he's a general working with "Star Wars," but I'm sure that's a coincidence.

Ultimately, David asks Halo to marry him, and he plans for them to leave the community. The cult leaders catch them, and Brother Abraham is revealed as Kobra. He recognizes Halo as a member of the Outsiders. Under threat of David's death, Kobra forces her to reveal Batman's secret identity. 

Blue Devil #16: Mishkin/Cohn and Kupperberg/Maygar continue the Vanquisher story from last issue. Marla,in the hands of the Vanquisher, Verner's chauffeur, Vance, whose brain is being affected by his super-suit, has to figure out a way to get him to calm down and keep herself out of danger. When the Vanquisher isn't reacting to unreal enemies, he starts to get rational. Then Dan shows up and almost blows things, but Marla quickly clues him in, and they've got things settled down when Kid Devil shows up and again stirs things up. Ultimately, Vance returns to his normal self, and Marla agrees to a date with him.

Green Lantern #192: Engelhart and Staton/Patterson spend most of this issue giving some background on Star Sapphire and her relationship to Carol, explaining how we got to this point. I don't know Star Sapphire's history well enough to know if any of this is retcon or not. After Star Sapphire tells her story, she leaves Hal and travels to Zamaron. Green Lanterns John Stewart, Katma Tui, and Dalor, following some Zamaron raiders, arrive on Zamaron in time to witness Star Sapphire's coronation as the new queen.

Infinity, Inc. #18: Either the Thomases are trying to make the Helix into a big deal or this issue is padded, because in addition to getting the Helix's origin (as victims of illegal in utero experimentation) and a fight between them and Infinity, Inc., we get a whole sequence of them robbing a store for "humor" and to showcase their powers and personalities. There's also a pin-up of them in the back of the issue. McFarlane is still leaving a lot of space in the layout that he's filling with character logos instead of just making the story panels bigger. Anyway, the issue ends on a cliffhanger or two with Jade poisoned with Mr. Bones's cyanide and the Harlequin confronting Thorn.

New Teen Titans #12: Wolfman and Woch/Tanghal give us a ghost story as Nightwing's and Cyborg's encounters with a ghostly little girl lead the team on an investigation that uncovers a murder of a family by the mob 50 years ago in Dick's apartment. It's not a bad bit of investigative storytelling, but it seems sort of out of place in a superhero team book. It would have worked better as a solo Nightwing story.

Sgt. Rock #404: Kanigher and Kubert bring us a reprint from Our Army at War #158 in 1965 repackaged with cool new Kubert cover. It tells the story of Rock's first meeting with the Iron Major, who's a bit of a different character here (commandant of a prison camp thanks to his injury and prosthetic) and pretty clearly intended to be a one-off. We also get an interesting detail about Rock's past: He and his brother were originally paratroopers involved in a test of gliding techniques to reduce mortality in cases of parachute failure over water. In a test of these techniques in a jump from the Golden Gate bridge, his brother Josh (Josh Rock?) is killed. Strangely, Josh calls his brother "Rock" throughout the flashback instead of "Frank." I wonder if Kanigher envisioned Rock as the Sargeant's first name in 1965? 

Saga of Swamp Thing #40: Moore and Bissette/Totleben bring us a feminist werewolf story. Swamp Thing follows Constantine's direction and goes to Maine where a woman named Phoebe has been transformed into a wolf creature under the moon by the lingering anger of the Pennamaquot Indian women who were forced to stay in a lodge while menstruating on the site where Phoebe's house is now located. Swamp Thing speaks with her but is no match for her rage. Ultimately, she kills herself on a knife display in a supermarket. Constantine shows up again, and Swamp Thing angrily tells him he's going home to Louisiana, but that's exactly where Constantine wants him to go.

Warlord #97: I reviewed this issue here.

Superman Annual #11: This is the second Moore scripted Superman story this month, this one with art by Gibbons. It's certainly the more famous of the two, having been adapted to an episode in the first season of Justice League Unlimited, and being reprinted as soon as 1988 in Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. Interestingly, like the DC Comics Presents story, it involves Superman being taken over by an alien, non-animal organism. 

Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman arrive at the Fortress of Solitude for Superman's birthday to find the Man of Steel seemingly insensate with an alien plant attached to his chest. This is the work of Mongul, who steps up to explain that the plant can psychically project a person's heart's desire, trapping them in a dream. While Wonder Woman fights Mongul, Batman and Robin try to remove the plant. Meanwhile, Superman experiences a world where Krypton survived, and he has a wife and child there.

With help from his friend's and his own force of will, Superman escapes the dream, though losing his son is emotional wrenching. Batman is briefly caught in his own dreamworld, but Robin saves the day, throwing the plant on Mongul before the alien can defeat Superman in a fight.

Who's Who #7: We finish off the D's here with a number of characters that haven't appeared a lot. Dr. Regulus last appeared in 1982 in Legion of Super-Heroes #286, while Dr. Psycho appeared in an arc in'82, but last showed up in Wonder Woman #325 earlier in '85. Dr. Thirteen had a run in Ghosts in 1981 and was last seen in a bit part in Batman #354 in '82. The others are more obscure, except for Dolphin who gets a sultry illustration by Dave Stevens and did appear as one of the Forgotten Heroes. 

Then, we're into the E's. There are bit players from now-ended titles: Earthworm from the never-satisfactorily solved storyline in the Huntress backup stories, and Eradicator from Supergirl. Then, Easy Company gets a 2-page spread by Kubert. The Eclipso entry has art by Gibbons, presumably because he drew him recently in Green Lantern. Elongated Man shows up in a costume he hadn't yet worn in the comics ny Infantino. With end the issue with two F's, one of which is Fastback from the Zoo Crew.