Showing posts with label dc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dc. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1983 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I've got the comics at newsstands the week of March 10, 1983. 


Omega Men #3: Slifer, Giffen, and DeCarlo introduce Lobo, though as with many of comics character introduction, he really isn't much like hit character he'll become in the 90s. The Citadel is trying to conquer Euphorix (the last world standing against them), but they thwarted by its shield. Enter Harry Hokum, a human who claims he can help them. Presumably, at Hokum's urging, the Citadel sends out a false message that Euphorix's shield has fallen and it is under attack. Kalista takes the mothership rushs there, not waiting for Primus and the others to return. It's a trap, of course, and Lobo and Bedlam defeat the crew and take Kalista captive. 

Hokum, Lobo's employer, interrogates Kalista, demanding the secrets of Euphorix's defenses. He exposes Kalista to a telepathic creatue, the greeshagurt. The greeshagurt begins to physically merge with her, absorbing her bodily and mentally.
 

Saga of the Swamp Thing #14: Yeates is still on the cover, but there's a new team on the interior: Mishkin and Bo Hampton/Scott Hampton. This was the first issue of Swamp Thing I ever read, and my brother and I read (and re-read) this issue and the next many times in our preteens. It's structured, really, more like a Phantom Stranger story more than a Swamp Thing story. Nathaniel Broder, a genius working with a new electronics technology, transforms his body into a mass of living silicon crystal. Despite the parallels with Swamp Thing, they aren't the same. Broder seems corrupted by his power and turns both Swamp Thing and the Phantom Stranger into crystal.


Batman #360:  Moench takes over as writer. His run on Moon Knight will be coming to an end in a few months, but his long run on the Bat-titles is beginning. This issue really feels like it could have been a Moon Knight story: a knifing-wielding killer with a horribly scarred face, the Savage Skull, is killing cops--and Batman figures out Gordon is next on his list. It turns out the killer is a disgruntled former cop out for revenge. It's perhaps not a great issue, but it has several good attributes: it's got a nice gritty vibe, making Batman distinctly "street-level" and has him actually being a detective.


Flash #322: Continuing from last issue, the Reverse Flash is back and out for revenge, and Barry and Fiona seemed to moving (remarkably quickly) toward marriage. All of this feels like Bates building toward Zoom killing another spouse or at least almost spouse which seems really lazy storytelling. In fact, having Reverse Flash back from the dead seems sort of lazy to begin with. It hasn't been that long. Does the Flash have other worthy rogues? Granted, we haven't seen reverse Flash since 1980, so it's been a few years, and Bates may be going to swerve. We'll see. Anyway, Flash is caught between the Sabre-Tooth (or the Sabre-Tooth's apprentice, the issue suggests both) and the Reverse Flash, but isn't yet aware Zoom has returned.

The Creeper backup has Patton on art, and it looks amateurish. Cuti is now the writer. Everybody's passing this storyline around like a hot potato! Anyway. the Creeper invades the Kraken Clinic (the name's a bit on the nose, even for comics) to try and stop the spread of the monster drug and runs into more patients who become monsters.
 

G.I. Combat #254: The conceit of this issue is that it covers all the wars from World War I to Vietnam. The two Haunted Tank stories deal with Craig's service in the first World War and its relationship with the second, and they're okay. In the other two stories. dealing with Korea and Vietnam, Kanigher strikes a sour note. First off, there are a lot of racial slurs against Asians. Maybe this could be defended as authentic--maybe. But the stories fail to humanize the North Korean and Viet Cong forces. In fact, the point of the Vietnam story seems to be best to treat civilians as enemies because you can't trust anybody. This from the writer who has given us numerous "honorable Nazi" antagonists in other stories.  I don't recall previous stories by Kanigher dealing with Asian wars to know if these are anomalies, but they aren't great.


New Teen Titans #32: Two costumed youths calling themselves Thunder and Lightning wreak unexplained havoc in the streets of St. Louis on an urgent, but mysterious mission to find someone. The Titans respond and try to diffuse the situation, but wind up having to fight. Eventually, it's discovered that the brothers are from Vietnam and are looking for their father, because they believe he is the key to controlling their elemental powers. Wonder Girl tells them their father is dead (which isn't true, but he is missing) and promises to get them help at STAR Labs, ending the crisis.

Thunder and Lightning seem weird to me. I mean, I can explain their actions within the story, but why their costumes, why did this particular background and story seem the way to go? I suspect the answer is "Vietnam" seemed a much more dramatically laden concept in 1983 than it does today. 

A lot of this issue is team drama in the usual X-Men-ish fashion. Wolfman isn't adequately articulating whatever angst Robin is suffering, so it makes him come off looking bad, and I can't help but view it as just a means to an end to debut Nightwing. The Titans TV show had a similar problem making Grayson's angst sympathetic instead of annoying, but at least it made it understandable. 


Superman #384: Bates and Swan/Hunt continue their reshaping of Superman, and in this issue that means writing out Steve Lombard. Some sympathy is cultivated for the generally Flash Thiompson-esque jerky jock, Steve, as he is fired by Morgan Edge after being pummeled by his old college roomie has built a belt to get super-powers. The old roomie comes back to kill Steve, but Superman intervenes. Steve finally lets Clark know that he values his friendship before walking out of the book.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1983 (week 1)

My ongoing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of March 3, 1983. 


Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #2: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon bring Amy Winston back to Gemworld (they've got 11 more issues after all) and right into danger as Amethyst is captured by Dark Opal's son, Carnelian.  In a standoff, he forces Citrina to immobilize her defenders. He takes her cross country on his monochrome mechanical cat mount and again there's the threat of sexual assault, but its more subtle than last issue. Amethyst plans for an escape, but ultimate it takes the intervention of Amy’s dog comes for her to achieve her own rescue. 

The type of fantasy on display here is interesting. It has fairytale-ish elements like trees with faces and the mixing of technology like Carnelian's cat, and focus on princesses and the like, but it's not really kiddified or geared toward romance any more than the S&S comics on the stands. Colon's slightly cartoon art is a great fit for it, too.


Justice League #215: Great Perez cover here, as Conway and Heck continue the Microcosmos saga. The evil despot Goltha unleashes a crazed, amnesiac, and giant Atom against the city, leading Krystal Kaa to tell the JLA how Goltha usurped the throne years earlier by controlling the Atom's mind and using him as a weapon. (The Atom arrived in this world almost a century earlier than the rest of his team despite their having made the trip to the micro-world only hours apart.) The League and the Siren Sisterhood plan to sneak into the city through the sewers and recover Krystal Kaa's power-staff, but are stopped when they encounter Kass'andre, Goltha's daughter, wielding the staff against them.



Blackhawk #259: Nice Chaykin cover on this issue. Evanier's and Spiegle's many story is a sort of Eisner's Spirit riff of telling the story of a regular guy kind of character who happens to cross paths with the protagonists.  Winslow Shirk, a nobody who wants to be a hero, tries to seek out the Blackhawks, and gets too close to the site of their bombed, original island base. Thanks to the radiation, he's turned into an invisible man. He finally does catch up with the Blackhawks and ends up prevents the assassination of Winston Churchill but runs away before the team arrives. The Blackhawks are left with the mystery of just who the Blackhawk was that saved Churchill's life. Shirk's invisibility wears off, and he goes home, feeling better about himself.

There's a Chop Chop solo story with art by Ziegler. Chop Chop investigates a Chinese style villa in the Alps. There he finds Soong Kai-Sen, a formerly vocal Chinese leader against the Japanese. Kai-Sen wants to give up that role. Chop Chop tries to convince him to return home and resume the fight, but a ninja shows up that needs to be dealt with. That sorted, Chop Chop then makes a final plea to Kai-Sen, but the other man counters by questioning why Chop Chop isn't in his homeland. 



Arak Son of Thunder #22: The Thomases and Gonzales/Alcala open with Arak and friends caged in Albracca and awaiting execution. The wiles of the thief Brunello (from an installment of the Valda backup) and the distraction of the guards with the Tartar siege on the city walls gives them a chance to escape.

When they reach the walls, they see that Haakon has finally arrived with Kallinikos, the keeper of the secret of Greek fire. Arak is forced to join with Haakon to fight off the Tartar horde to order to protect Kallinikos. Once they get back over the wall, Arak and the others are recaptured.

Arak is given the chance to fight Haakon in a duel to the death. Their fight is interrupted by a revolt inside the city gates. The priest Johannes has revealed himself as the rightful king of White Cathay who was exiled by Angelica's father. He engages the sorceress in mystic combat, but when Angelica rains snakes on the citizen of the city, Johannes loses his power drawn from their faith in him. In a desperate "Hail Mary" to stop Angelica, Johannes constructs a pentagram to travel into Hell and bargain with the demon Baphomet for a Gog army. Malagigi and Arak impulsively join him on the trip.

 

DC Comics Presents #58: Barr and Swann/Hunt provide a triple team-up with Superman, Robin, and the Elongated Man. The three tangle with the Intangibles, four seemingly phasing crooks who are actually tricking the group to copy the Man of Steel" super-vision powers to use against him. Not bad for a slightly Silver Age-y one off.


Fury of Firestorm #13: I'm over this were-hyena stuff, and thankfully this seems to be the end of the saga. Firestorm flies off to Kenya in the hopes of finding a cure for the curse that is turning him into a were-hyena and now has Stein and Ronnie trapped in composite form. Firestorm meets with the president of Kenya and shows him the diary of Summer Day, hoping to get help. I guess he felt like he needed to go right to the top.

The president has a mystical ceremony set up to cure Firestorm of the curse. Before that can get done, the presiding shaman's former friend who is a guerilla revolutionary shows up and attacks. Firestorm is cured and captures the rebels, but the shaman is killed. Firestorm realizes that the only reason the president agreed to help him was that he wanted to maneuver Firestorm into fighting the revolutionaries on his behalf. Frustrated, Firestorm flies back towards the United States.

Back in Manhattan, Harry Carew tries to convince Quentin Quale to give Martin Stein his old job back without any luck. Then, he runs into Martin's ex-wife and maybe there are sparks? Elsewhere, Lorraine Reilly is being held bound to a chair in a small room by unknown captors. Oh, and at Bradley High School, Ed Raymond storms into Principal Hapgood's office demanding to know where Ronnie is, but nobody has any idea.


Wonder Woman #304: Mishkin and Colan/McLaughlin continue the fight with Dr. Polaris from last issue. Wonder Woman manages to save Griggs and Trevor from crashing, but Polaris demands that Green Lantern come fight him or he'll continue his rampage. GL is inconveniently exiled currently, but Polaris is having none of it. He flies off, and Wonder Woman figures that he has gone back to his polar fortress. With Steve disguised as a stand-in Green Lantern, suspended by a rope from the invisible jet, he can act as a decoy while she battles Polaris and Griggs booby-traps Polaris's fortress. The magnetic villain catches on, but too late, and he appears to be caught in the blast that destroys his base. Wonder Woman and friends return home.

In the Huntress backup by Cavalieri and DeCarlo/Marcos, our heroine manages to escape the Undertaker's crematorium deathtrap, and defeats him, but she's injured when the crematorium oven overheats and explodes, and is strapped to a stretcher and whisked off by another villain.  

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Wednesday Comics: DC, May 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we look at the comics hitting the newsstand on February 24, 1983.

This is a big week with 10 comics.


Weird War Tales #123: There is no G.I. Robot or Creature Commandos this issue, which turns out to be an ominous sign. This is the penultimate issue of Weird War Tales as I discovered in (of all places) the letter column of this week's Arion. The cover story by Mishkin/Cohn and Buckler/Giacoia is an homage to the Captain Video tv show (1949-1955) and perhaps to fandom in general. It ends with a thanks to Frank Hodge who played Captain Video from 1950-55 and who passed away in 1979. In the story, Earth is defenseless before an alien invasion, its secret protector who was more than a TV actor having passed away. It's up to the now adult fans of the show with their secret away equipment to rise up and save the day.

Next up, there's a one-pager about dolphins inheriting the Earth after doomsday. Kanigher/Estrada daring present a tale of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that seems to question just whose "Savage Gods Remain." Finally, a star Hitler youth kid grows up to a SS officer adult and gets what he deserves when a statue of Moses holding all the commandments the young sociopath has broken, falls and traps him, leading to his death. 


Green Arrow #1: Barr and von Eeden/Giordano get Ollie out of the backups and into his own, admittedly limited, series. Oliver Queen inherits a fortune from a deceased friend, and elderly woman he had developed an unlikely friendship with in his younger days, but her other would-be heirs aren't happy. Someone is unhappy enough to target him for murder. Much of this issue is given to retelling Green Arrow's origin, which I haven't reviewed for consistence with the standard take, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is at least some streamlining from what was presented before. The next tweaking, I'd guess, would be post-Crisis. Von Eeden pencils under Giordano's inks look nice here and seem a good fit for the character.


Action Comics #543: Wolfman and Swan continue the Vandal Savage storyline, but with Savage being the manipulator of events. Neutron is released from prison, over the objections of the Man of Steel who sounds more like the Dark Knight with his skepticism about Neutron's reform. Then, Savage has set up frankly a really contrived context that manipulates Superman into fighting him when Neutron is not actually committing a crime, making Superman look bad in front of the people of Metropolis. I feel like this is the sort of arc that would be handled better today, but here it's a bit silly.


Arion Lord of Atlantis #7: Moench and Duursema/Mandrake pick up where last issue left off. After a battle with a demon, Arion and Chian have been transported to the Darkworld to the citadel of Caculha. Arion uses his magic to free Grondar from the demon's control. The three adventurers then enter the stronghold to take on the demon that controls it and find a mystic key.

Meanwhile, Wyynde discovers that Mara is a shapeshifter. When she turns into a winged dragon, the two enter the portal to the Darkworld to help Arion.

Ultimately, our heroes are victorious, and Arion then turns the citadel into a giant ship to sail back to Atlantis.  They may have found the weapon they need to defeat Garn.


All-Star Squadron #21: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan bring in the Earth-2 Superman who has the Powerstone with him he has recently taken from Alexei Luthor. He suggests the team makes the Perisphere their new headquarters. Not long after the team votes in Wonder Woman as their newest full member (redressing some Golden Age sexism), they are attacked by two new super-villains, Deathbolt and Cyclotron, and Superman's old foe the Ultra-Humanite (now in a woman's body).


Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #15: The JLA and Zoo Crew team up continues, we the teams trapped in limbo. Alley-Kat-Abra gets them out, but theen they have to do the "split into smaller teams" thing to take on villains gathered by Feline Faust and Doctor Hoot who are currently striking in different parts of the world. Captain Carrot, Wonder Wabbit and Rubber Duck travel to Sowdi Arabia where Digger O'Doom is draining all the oil into diversion tunnels. Yankee Poodle, Fastback and Aquaduck go to the Palomino Canal to stop Armordillo. Batmouse, Green Lambkin and Alley-Kat-Abra head to Cape Carnivore to tangle with Amazoo. Crash, Super-Squirrel and Pig-Iron travel to Mosscow where the Shaggy Dawg is rampaging through the Gremlin.

I felt like whole list was necessary so you could all share in the puns. Anyway, the heroes are victorious, and everybody gets back to their own Earth.


Detective Comics #526: This is an anniversary issue (the 500th appearance of Batman in this magazine) with 56 pages, and Conway, Newton, and Alcala craft a story worthy of the expanded length. Joker has carried together a number of Batman's rogue gallery (including a number of now fairly obscure characters including Captain Stingaree, Signalman, and the Spook). with a plan to kill Batman and check the growing threat of Killer Croc. Catwoman, uninvited, eavesdrops on the proceedings and plans to stop them, while Talia (who was invited) wants no part of killing Batman and fights her way out.

After taking Jason Todd to Wayne Manor, Batgirl and Robin are trying to find the missing Todds. The GCPD bit them to it, discovering their gruesome remains in the reptile area of the Gotham Zoo where Croc had apparently been hiding out.

The Joker contacts Croc, offering a deal to help Croc kill Batman. Is he just double-crossing Croc or Croc and the villains he's supposedly teamed up with?

Anyway, the Bat Family, with the help of Catwoman and Talia, split up and take out the assembled villain before going after Croc and his men and the Joker. After a fight, Croc seems about to beat Batman again, but Robin jumps in at the last second and Croc is knocked unconscious. Jason Todd, who had hidden in the batmobile's trunk, emerges and stars beating the unconscious Croc, but he's restrained by the Bats.

Back at Wayne Manor, Dick takes responsibility for the death of the Todds and wants to adopt Jason.  Bruce doesn't like the idea. Instead, he decides to look after the young orphan, like he did years ago with another kid acrobat whose parents were killed by criminals.


Jonah Hex #71: At the end of last issue, things looked pretty bad for Jonah who had been forced to commit a crime dressed as Papagayo in order to get Emmy Lou back and wound up under the guns of the federales. He gets shot to hell before he can escape--or does he? Obviously, he does not. When Papagayo's thugs go to exhume Jonah's body and get the necklace, the very much alive Jonah ambushes them. It seems he and Col. Sanchez cooked up a little sting operation. Still, Papagayo's got Emmy Lou, so things don't go smooth. Our hero and his girl get tossed into a pit with a basket of tarantulas. 

Still, in the end, Jonah and Emmy Lou and reunited and Papagayo is breaking the fourth wall promising his return from a prison cell.


New Adventures of Superboy #41: Kupperberg and Schaffenberger continue the story from last issue and it's a really convoluted plot with Superboy quitting, Ma Kent blabbing his secret, and an alien invasion that in the end doesn't add up to much, and I honestly can't remember how it all fits together a week after I read it. It turns out the aliens are trying to transform Superboy into a living robot to control him (so none of that other stuff was even in their plan), but naturally Superboy is one step ahead. Aliens are defeated, status quo is restored.

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell and Bender/McLaughlin, the Silhouette takes control of billionaire Hubert Hess’s fortune and incriminates Chris' dad, but Chris and Vicki dial up justice as Glassman and Ms. Muscle.


World's Finest Comics #291: Simonson provides the cover this issue. Superman and Batman are at the mercy of Stalagron, who reveals his secret origin to them (he's a mutated spelunker) and tells them about his plan to revitalize his source of power: a hunk of green kryptonite, responsible for creating him and all his minions. His plan is to create a volcano, which will spew the kryptonite radiation all over, turning a lot more people into creatures like him and his goons. 

They plan to make Yumiko the first female of their kind, but she escapes and helps Batman and Superman to break free before she is recaptured. Stalagron and his crew succeed in creating the volcano and are placing the kryptonite in it, when the heroes arrive for another round. While Batman uses explosives to divert the lava, Superman fight Stalagron. The combatants fall into the lava, but Superman's strength carries the day.

With the kryptonite destroyed, the rest of the stalagmen are destroyed and the volcano collapses. Back at Wayne Manor, Batman and Superman play the switch identities thing once again to throw off Yumiko's suspicions about Bruce being Batman.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Wednesday Comics: May, 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around February 17, 1983.

One thing to notice before the reviews is no Camelot 3000 this week, or indeed this month!


Sgt. Rock #376: Great Kubert cover here. The main story is "The Dummy--Part 2." It's a follow-up to the story of one of those "red shirt" Easy Company casualties with a ventriloquist's dummy from issue 349 back in 1980. What's funny is it could easily be a horror story in basic outline: a dummy from a dead man gets returned to the guy's unit, and every soldier who carries it dies. The sergeant means to hear it talking to him, or at least imagines it's thoughts. Here it isn't, though, except in the sense of a lot of Kanigher's stories touching on the small horrors of war. In the end, the dummy is lost in the depths of a frozen river and Easy goes on.

The other stories include a story of Ancient Rome based on the Battle of Verona, and futuristic yarn by Truman where a human raider on an alien-controlled world fights and dies for a prize symbolic of his lost innocence: a teddy bear. 


Brave and the Bold #198: Barr and Patton/Hoberg tie up some loose ends from the Karate Kid series from 1978. Karate Kid comes back in time to tell his old 20th Century girlfriend, "hey sorry I never called. I met someone in the 30th Century, and I'm married now" but through an improbable coincident she's unknowingly let the wanted criminal Katy, who leads the terrorist group Black Heart, crash with her. So, Karate Kid gets to team-up with Batman and fight Pulsar (also from that Karate Kid series) who dies in this issue. This tying up of continuity loose ends is something the Marvel team-up books were fond of, and it looks like DC got in on the game too.


Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7: Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner pickup from last month with Supergirl busting into the Council's underwater installation, while Lester Adams is tried by his fellow Council members via a teleconference hookup and executed for his part of the failure to steal components for a communications-controlling satellite. Supergirl ultimately defeats the Council minions, Matrix-Prime, and Brains, and finds Adams's body, but doesn't know who killed him. Later, while at a concert in Grant Park, Linda Danvers sees a bolt of energy blast a figure in a trench coat, revealing her as Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol.


Green Lantern #164: Barr and Pollard/Adkins open with Hal forced to play Haljor the Barbarian, weilder of the Powersword. He's sent on a quest to find King Caarl's daughter, Princess Caarol, accompanied by Dorinda. Haljor follows the trail to Castle Oan, where the wizard Guardon holds the princess hostage. It turns out the Myrwhydden, a Mxyzptlk wannabe wizard, who is trapped inside the power ring. He's behind all the nonsense over the past two issues. It's all been a ploy for the wizard to escape, but Hal threatens to kill himself which would bring the Guardians' attention, so Myrwhydden releases is forced to release him.

Meanwhile, on Earth, a crystalline entity consumes the man who previously found the strange crystal on the floor. It keeps feeding on the carbon of the people around, growing larger. On Oa, the Guardians are watching, and they need to send a Green Lantern, but they can't un-exile Hal, so they decide to send John Stewart.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons, Green Man must find a way to help a tribe of space [alternate name for the Romani people now often considered a slur] avoid destruction by antimatter, but they will only accept help from one of their own. So, he temporarily deputizes one of their young men as a Green Lantern so together they can save the caravan.


Night Force #10: Wolfman and Colan bring the "Beast" storyline to a close. The criminal, Brooks, that Winters sent into the brownstone is still desperate to find a way out. A doctor living in the building claims to have found a way, but the beast changes his behavior and starts attacking with some of the trapped people not wanting the Beast destroyed--one even suggesting that would be blasphemous. In the end, the door is opened, but none of them are brave enough to leave--except Brooks, when he hesitates, the Beast grabs him, and he most used the deceased doctor's poison-filled syringe to poison himself to kill the Beast. The now freed tenants don't know what to do. Overall, this was a good arc, but as an allegory for dictatorship, it's a bit strained and it probably could have been shorter with what story it had.


House of Mystery #316: In "I...Vampire," it's off to Moscow, where Bennett and Deborah go to find Mishkin, who they believe has been kidnapped. At the airport they are detained by the KGB, who have solar-powered, anti-vampire energy weapons.It turns out their boss, Col. Yuri Rashnikov. is a vampire and leader of a cabal slowly replacing the Russian high command with vampires, using a powder that removes a number of vampiric weaknesses. The Blood Red Moon, not to be left out of the issue, storm the compound led by Dunya Mishkin. Bennett and Deborah are cornered by werebeasts, but Dmitri arrives to save his friends, revealing that he has become a vampire!

Mishkin/Cohn and Tuska/Celardo present a tale of a 19th Century boxer challenged to match by an alien. The last story is about a puppeteer whose family isn't what he thinks it is. It's written by Fleming, and it's made creepy (and a bit confusing) by von Eeden's art. 


Legion of Super-Heroes #299: Karlak doesn't let up with Blok, White Witch, and Dawnstar. Things aren't looking good, but then White Witch unleashes on him. Meanwhile, Invisible Kid passes into a strange, dream-like dimension and encounters what seems to be his predecessor, and also finds Wildfire, who has somehow transformed back into Drake Burroughs, and is living it up. Invisible Kid hauls him back to the reality. A nice issue from Levitz, Giffen, and Mahlstedt, if nothing special.


Warlord #69: I reviewed the main story in this issue here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Skinner and Jinal arrive at the Harashashan camp, where they are taken captive and forced to reveal Jinal's crazy scheme to kidnap the leaders of both factions and make them negotiate. Surprisingly, the reader of the reptilian clade admires her moxie or something and agrees to meet with the kidnapped leader from the city.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Wednesday Comics: May, 1983 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I've got the comics at newsstands the week of February 10, 1983. 


Batman #359:  Conway and Jurgens continue Croc's rise in the Underworld as he murders Boss Falco in prison and proclaims himself "King Croc" in this issue. (Interestingly, Batman and Gordon call him "Killer Croc" but that's not a name Croc himself ever uses.) The cover is misleading as no costumed villains show up. It's all part of Conway building the pre-fab menace.

We get Croc's origin this issue (he's from Tampa FL and apparently born in 1948), some digs at the criminal justice system in the South, and a view of a more reactionary asshole Batman emerging after years of the nice that will take inner city kids out to clean up a park. He's dismissive of Croc's trauma-filled childhood (or at least Gordon's mild empathy over it), and chews Robin out when he suggests maybe having the Todds investigate these murderous criminals isn't a good idea. He says he's tired of "citizens" waiting for someone else to save them, and that the Todds made a commitment, and they should stick to it. Some of this may be Conway signaling Bruce is stinging from getting beaten (again) in this issue by Croc, but it's still a shift--and will have in-story consequences.

Against Robin's instructions, Joe and Trina Todd follow Croc's minion extorting money from the circus. At the Gotham Zoo, they walk into a trap.


Flash #321: Infantino's art comes off different this issue, likely due to the mysterious inker credited as "Taurus S." Anyway, Sabre Tooth, the assassin from previous issues, escapes from jail and is going to kill Barry Allen. He almost does so as Barry and Fiona visit Creed's grave. Barry's Flash abilities save him, but Sabre Tooth gets away. Meanwhile, Tomar Re has pancakes with a family, and the Reverse Flash makes a last page escape from whatever extradimensional realm he was stuck in. Even beyond, the new inker, Infantino seems to stretch himself on the depiction of that place.

The Creeper backup trudges along with Gafford joined by a new art team: Patton and DeCarlo. Patton took over last issue, but I think I forgot to comment. Anyway, the Creeper traces the source of the tainted cocaine that seems to be turning users into monsters.
 

G.I. Combat #253: After D-Day, the Haunted Tank and crew are on their way to Paris. When their captain is killed before they reach the city and Notre Dame, which he had dreamed of seeing, Jeb vows to take his body there, despite orders from Eisenhower that they are to hang back and give General Leclerc and his French 1st Armored Division the honor of retaking the capital. Racing ahead, Jeb and his win find the city still very much in German hands and have to evade death until help arrives.

The second Haunted Tank story is one of those with a mildly humorous premise Kanigher does from time to time. Rick sees a little French girl eyeing a doll in a shop window and vows to buy it for her, but he and the rest of the crew are pulled out of the pay line to be sent on a mission to recover a fortune in stolen gold. Their way back is made more difficult by country folk constantly demanding payment from the "rich Americans" to help them, but the crew has no money except the gold they are carrying and can't spend. In the end, the girl gets her doll, but only after the crew has a shoot out with Germans on a bridge with stacks of gold bars as cover.

Kanigher and Catan have the Mercenaries in the Middle East tangling with an Arab leader whose men executed some Western missionaries.  
 
The other tales are by Boltinoff/Trinidad and Kashdan with Talaoc and Ayers and are (mostly more serious). A kid dreams of firing a machine gun, and gets put on a crew, but dies in the bitter cold on a frozen river before ever firing a shot. His lifeless fingers, frozen to the trigger, manage to kill some Germans, though. A French dog saves a G.I. from a German soldier, and a G.I. is saved from the Japanese by Truk Islanders and tries to return the favor by rushing to warn them so they can escape a U.S. bombing. 


Omega Men #2: Slifer, Giffen, and DeCarlo pick up from last issue with the team in trouble. After the nuclear attack, Primus is badly injured, and their "bio-systems" are nearly depleted. Tigorr disobeys Primus to go get supplies and barely makes it back. We get more of Broot's tragic backstory and discover that while most Changralynians blame him for the destruction, there is a cultish group that idolize his resistance.

Meanwhile on the Omega Men's ship, Kalista forces a captured Citadelian to send false reports to his commander. Treacherous Demonia begins sowing seeds of mistrust within rank and file, scaring some with a tale of Primus' apparent mind-control capabilities.
 

Saga of the Swamp Thing #13: This storyline comes to an end, and I am sorry to say, Pasko and Yeates do not stick the landing, which honestly is a result telegraphed for a few issues now. I lot of things happen at the last minute and the ending seems sort of arbitrary. In the Fortress of the Beast, Swamp Thing, Liz, Dennis, and Dr. Kripptmann are each tricked by hallucinations of their most painful memories that disguise death traps. Once they make it through, it is revealed that Grasp has been the Anti-Christ all along. Or maybe he's just the Herald of the Beast? Is there a difference? Anyway, the Golem's back, and there's stuff with the locket, and then Swampie gets powered up enough to defeat Karen and Grasp.

Swamp Thing with the help of Liz, Dennis and Kripptmann, returns to his home swamp in Louisiana to restore and heal himself from his infection. General Sunderland still has plans to get Swamp Thing, though.

In the Cuti/Carrillo Phantom Stranger backup, Yehudi Jones has the knack for never being seen and makes a living pilfering from people. The Phantom Stranger forces him start living in the world and be somebody to save a beautiful girl from corruption by the hands of the drug pusher, Dan D. Candy.


New Teen Titans #31: After their defeat last issue, the Titans aren't in a good place when they get back to the Tower. Kid Flash is still convinced Raven is evil and frustrated the other Titans aren't listening to him. Cyborg is still ruminating over finding out the girl he is into has a fiancé, and Robin is still being distant from Starfire for reasons. Oh, and Raven's been kidnapped. But hey, Donna show's up and tells them Terry proposed. None of this goes anywhere, but it's simmering in the background as they head to Zandia to get Raven back.

In Zandia, we learn the Brotherhood is after Brother Blood's secrets. The Brain has deduced that Raven likely discovered these unconsciously. When all of his teammates attempt at coercion and torture fail, Brain tries a gentler approach, and Raven agrees to help. Trailing the bad guys to the site of Brother Blood's secret "Regeneration Chamber," the Titans come on strong, but the Brain is able to turn the tide against them. Believing her teammates have been killed, Raven goes berserk and almost kills the Brotherhood before Wonder Girl manages to bring her to her senses.


Superman #383: Bates and Swan/Hunt give us another one of those "puzzle stories" so common to Superman comics of the Bronze Age. First off, Bates lays out a lot of character business in the Daily Planet, presumably to pay off in later issues, including the big one of Lois questioning her relationship with Superman given that he won't commit--and perhaps realistically can't. 

In the main storyline, an ancient robot is unearthed, and it immediately attacks Superman. All is not as it seems, however! It turns out that Robrox, the ancient alien robot, is here to prevent some catastrophe foreseen by his makers that would destroy life on Earth. They catastrophe will be triggered by Superman's heat vision thanks to the machinations of the Superman Revenge Squad. Robrox prevents Superman from unleashing his heat-vision on Earth, then explains everything to him once Superman has safely deployed it on the lifeless Moon.

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Wednesday Comics: DC, May 1983 (week 1)

My ongoing mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of February 3, 1983. 


Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #1: Following up on last month's preview, Mishkin/Cohn and Colon debut their new fantasy 12 issue "maxi-series." Amy Winston is a 13 year-old regular kid on Earth but an 18 year-old princess named Amethyst in the magical realm of Gemworld. She was sent to Earth to keep her safe as her family was imperiled by the conquests of the villainous Dark Opal and his allies. Largely this issue is a lot of setup and exposition, but it manages to move pretty well. The intended audience for this seems to be pre-teen/tween girls, but there's at least one jarring note in that regard: there's a scene with some troll troops of Lord Sardonyx who seem to threaten sexual assault against the princess. Anyway, Colon's art looks good with this sort of material.


Blackhawk #258: We get another Chaykin cover on this issue, though not as good as last issues. Evanier and Spiegle have the Blackhawks chasing down the plans for yet another German super-weapon, but this one isn't as fanciful as the War Wheel. It's the atomic bomb. They manage to steal the plans from the Germans and those with knowledge of them are killed, but not before a prototype missile is launched toward Blackhawk Island. They evacuate but forget a nurse that had been tending Stanislaus in the rush. That watch their home destroyed and a life lost in horror. Throughout the issue there is discussion and disagreement among the Blackhawks about the use or desirability of anyone having such a weapon. It's perhaps simplistic or trite by adult standards in 2023, but it would have a given a 10 year-old in 1983 a lot to think about.
 

DC Comics Presents #57: Mishkin and Saviuk/McLaughlin present a sort of Marvel-esque update of the Atomic Knights that will be the version we get in Who's Who, not the more fanciful version of Strange Adeventures. A series nuclear weapons system computer glitches throughout the world leads Superman and S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Marene Herald to the isolation tank of Gardner Grayle, a volunteer in an experiment to assess post-nuclear war survival scenarios. Instead, Grayle's mind has been manufacturing adventures of for himself leading a group of Atomic Knights in a fantasy, post-holocaust world. The computer, unconsciously urged by Grayle, has been inching toward bringing a nuclear apocalypse to a more horrible reality. Superman has to go into the dream world and convince Grayle to give it up.


Fury of Firestorm #12: Conway, Broderick, and Rodriquez have two Hyenas on the loose and Firestorm has been "infected" himself--though it only seems to progress when he is in Firestorm form, not split Ronnie and Stein. The Dr. Shi Hyena goes after Dr. Gleason, the chief resident of the hospital (the age and demeanor of the "chief resident" seem to suggest that Conway believes a chief resident is the "chief of staff" and not just the most senior of the junior physicians in a specialty), but the Summer Hyena tries to stop him, and Firestorm manages to capture them both. In the end though, Firestorm seems trapped in combined form.

Also this issue: Stein loses his job. Carew admits to having a tape (one where Stein probably admits he's Firestorm, but Carew did listen) except that now it's disappeared, and Stein's ex-wife seems to be running some nefarious plan against him. She reports to a mysterious stranger who refers to her as Operative Nine.


Justice League #214: The Justice Leaguers begin to remember who they are, but they are taken captive by the Devil Guards of Goltha. They are rescued by the Wanderer, who is revealed as Krystal Kaa, rightful ruler to the throne, and her friends the Siren Sisterhood, an all-female underground resistance. Black Canary is seemingly killed by their captor, Princess Kass'andre but Mother Moon, a mystic healer and leader of the Sisterhood, resurrects her, and the two groups join forces. There is some indication, though, that they Sisterhood might not be everything they seem, and a figure watches the League's doings from the shadows of a cave.


Wonder Woman #303: Mishkin and Colan bring back the Green Lantern foe, Dr. Polaris. After an incident in which a USAF plane is destroyed by a mysterious magnetism, both Steve Trevor and the newly arrived Maj. Keith Griggs make a dual test flight over the area. A gigantic apparition materializing before them. Wonder Woman comes to the rescue, recognizing the apparition as Polaris. Wonder Woman is unable to prevent the villain from putting the two jets on a collision course.

In the Huntress backup by Cavalieri and DeCarlo/DeZuniga  we seem to be getting a plot very like the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse." Amos Tarr is helping villains fake their death to escape justice (and blame Huntress for killing them!) in exchange for part of their take--or their whole take as he seems to be killing them, himself. Huntress discovers the plot but falls into his clutches and winds up in a death trap.


Arak Son of Thunder #21: Arak and his companions cross a sea of sand, then a river and cataract of boulders, but they finally get to the castle where Angelica is holding Maligigi.

Arak and Valda rush to the top of Angelica's tower, leaving Satyricus and Johannes behind. The two surprise the sorceress and quickly overpower her. Arak hesitates in delivering her the coup de grace, so she is able to turn the tables and capture the heroes in a net. 

In the Valda backup, Pip encounters a phantom that appears to be his grandfather. Somethings not right, so Valda fights the spirit and discovers that it is under the control of Baron Ovis. She destroys it, but Ovis's men take Pip hostage. Valda takes Ovis leading to a standoff. Luckily, Charlemagne and his men arrive. Ovis dies of his own sorcery. Pip and then king reconcile.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Wednesday Comics: DC, April 1983 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we look at the comics hitting the newsstand on January 27, 1983.


Weird War Tales #122: Kanigher brought us a Robo-Samurai and a Robo-Geisha before, so I guess the arrival of a Robo-Sumo was inevitable. George Tuska draws this one.

The second story is a gimmicky one, but pretty good. Roger Baker is bitter because he hasn't been given a chance to live up to his brother's example as a pilot but in New York in 1933 he gets more than he bargained for when he's called out to deal with a certain (unnamed) primate's rampage. In the last story by Mishkin/Cohn and Newton, a submarine commander hears of the attack of a mysterious submariner, and an old submariner from World War I tells him of an encounter with a vessel flying that same flag all those years ago.


Brave and the Bold #197: This issue by Brennert and Staton/Freeman has been reprinted in several collections, including Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. It's the Earth-2 Batman, a few months prior to his death, writing down in his memoir the story of how he fell in with one of his former enemies, Catwoman. As the cover indicates, it involves a plot by the Scarecrow, though the most interesting part of the issue (and the thing that leads to Batman being able to have a lasting relationship with Catwoman) is his realization that Bruce Wayne has really been the mask. The events of the story allow him to find both Bruce Wayne and the love of his life. It's a good story that DC can really only tell because it has the "spare Batman" on Earth-2.


Action Comics #542: Wolfman and Swan bring back Vandal Savage (last seen in #516), and he's got a cunning plan which somehow involves creating Superman robots to perform heroic deeds for Metropolis and then tricking the Man of Steel into destroying them. I feel like Savage could have come up with a simpler plan with a similar chance of success, but I guess we'll see how things play out. I'm also not sure how this will lead up to the "exciting new era" promised on the cover.


Arion Lord of Atlantis #6: Moench and Duursema/Mandrake have the Atlantean refugees looking for safety, so Arion and his friends make their way south guided by magic. General Balar has a different direction in mind, so he and D'Tilluh part ways with the group, while Arion leads Chian, Wyynde, and Mara on a quest.

They find a sort of lost valley with sub-men and dinosaurs. They're captured, but after Arion helps the sub-men with the dinosaurs, they become friends. Meanwhile, Garn breaks into Arion's tower to steal his magic. He summons a demon from the Dark World that possesses Chian. When her will proves to be too powerful, the demon takes control of sub-man chief, Grondar. During the battle, Arion and Chian are transported to Dark World.


All-Star Squadron #20: After standing around last issue and watching the JSA members fall to Brain Wave's power, the Squadron rushes in and, well, joins the fallen JSA on Brain Wave’s illusionary, psychic battlefield. 

Green Lantern finally arrives at the New York World’s Fairgrounds. He also enters Brain Wave’s mental environment, but his superior willpower allows him to overmatch Brain Wave. He manages to free his friends but the devastation wrought by his rage in the illusionary world leaves him shaken and quoting the Bhagavad Gita, "prefiguring" Oppenheimer and the Trinity test. And so the point of this sideline is revealed: to get in a reference to the horror of the atomic bombs that will end the war.


Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #14: Bridwell/Shaw and Gordon fallen get to the crossover with the Just 'A Lotta Animals promised in previous issues. These are the characters Roger Rabbit has been writing and drawing in his comics. We get a Silver Age-y brief on alternate Earths and then the traditional style of these crossovers, though it's continued next issue. There is some mildly amusing rivalry between Super-Squirrel and Captain Carrot.


Detective Comics #525: We get a new penciler this issue in the form of Dan Jurgens. My friend Chad Bowers had previously put forward a concept he called the "prefab villain." This is a villain created to be a big deal in contrast to a villain who is created for a story, then later evolves over time into a big deal. A prefab villain isn't bad--Galactus is sort of a prefab villain. But many of them are a bit "try hard." Killer Croc is clearly a prefab villain, but while Conway's intentions are evident, it's worked okay so far. In this issue, Batman tracks him into the sewers, and Croc gets the better of him forcing Batman to allow himself to be washed away from the fight which leads Croc to assume Batman is utterly beaten and a coward, when in actuality Batman's actions are more strategic.

Bruce also has a falling out with Vicki after he kind of implies their relationship is not serious. At the Sloan Circus, Robin makes a decision that may well have serious consequences, as he asks the Todds for their help in capturing Croc.

In the Green Arrow backup, Arrow manages to outshoot the crooks and get out of the situation he found himself in last installment, but Machiavelli beats a retreat. He shows up again at a Teamsters meeting late, but before he can talk them into a city-paralyzing strike, GA fakes a fire with his smoke arrow and shows the audience how they should depend on each other--rather than on "number one"--to get to safety. Worker solidarity over crooked demagogues.  


Jonah Hex #71: This is a weirdly paced issue in that Fleisher dispenses with what has been a multi-issue storyline in the middle of the issue with Tim Daniels heroically sacrificing himself to thwart the plans of the cult leader, Manitou. His conniving son goes to his reward courtesy of Jonah, who shoots a stalactite down so it stabs the younger Daniels through. That done, we move to the next story with El Papagayo kidnapping Emmy, and Jonah forced to steal a Queen Isabella necklace from the Mexican government while disguised as Papagayo. Of course, he walks right into a trap.


New Adventures of Superboy #40: Aliens appear in orbit and convince Superboy they are friendly when they really want to get him out of the way. There's a school dance coming up and Clark doesn't have luck getting a date. Ma Kent strangely reveals his identity to her friends, but no one believes her and when a kid at school makes fun of him and his mother, Clark loses it and slugs him. Clark decides decides to stop being Superboy. Not sure where Kupperberg and Schaffenberger are going with all of this!

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell/Rozakis and Bender/Adkins, a new villain called the Coil (not unlike Coil-Man from the Impossibles) stills the car of a wealthy man that Chris' dad happens to be driving for a security test. The kids dial up the identities of Kinetic Kid and Genesis to pursue him.


World's Finest Comics #290: Cool Hannigan/Janson cover. On the inside, Moench and Gonzales deliver another odd one. Bruce Wayne is enjoying a shiatsu massage from a woman named Yumiko, but before things can get more romantic, there's Bat-Signal in the sky and Bruce has got to go. He leaves Yumiko in his bedroom while he races down to the Batcave.

Meanwhile, Superman is dealing with a giant worm attacking a ship in the Atlantic. Unbeknownst to Supes, the worm takes the ship underwater to a cave near Gotham where a stalagmite humanoid commands its worm "brother" to drop the ship in a pit of magma. The creature then somehow siphons the energy from the oil inside and calls forth more of its kind.

Yumiko sees a green glow coming from a cave near Wayne Manor and investigates, getting captured by the stalagmite creatures. In the meantime, Batman is on his way home but is swarmed by bats and nearly driven off the road. Using a special sonar from the Batcave, Batman manages to wrangle the bats, and he contacts Superman for help.

Superman relocates the bats to elsewhere, and the heroes investigate what caused this. They go into the cave in where Yumiko was taken. As they get closer to the source of the green glow, Superman gets weaker until the heroes finally find the central chamber, filled with stalagmite creatures and Yumiko as prisoner of the leader of the monsters: Stalagron! Finally, Superman realizes what should have been clear from the beginning: the source of the creatures' power is Kryptonite.