Wednesday Comics: DC. July 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 April 14, 1983. 

DC Comics Presents Annual #2: Elliott S. Maggin brings Kristin Wells, a history student from the 29th Century, who appeared in his novel Superman: Miracle Monday, into official DC continuity in this story with art by Pollard/De Carlo. In the 29th Century, Wells, now a history professor, is discussing the enigmatic Superwoman with her class and they debate how many of the heroine's powers could be replicated with "modern" technology. Foreshadowing! Anyway, Wells decides to go back in time to investigate because, I guess, in the 29th Century any history professor is allowed to do that.

Superwoman has appeared yet and Superman doesn't know who she is, but Wells (in a cover identity as a new Daily Planet employee) knows the heroine will show up soon and she has theories. When King Kosmos attacks from space and Superman can't handle him alone, Wells is forced to become Superwoman to help save the Earth, in a twist that might have surprised DC's putative tweener audience, but likely no one else. That isn't to say the story is without a certain charm. 

 

Saga of the Swamp Thing #15: Mishkin and Hampton continue the story from last issue. This may have marked the first time I bought 2 consecutive issues of a series off the spinner rack. Pretty sure I got it at the Suwannee Swifty store in Blakely. After being crystallized last issue, Swamp Thing's regenerative powers restore him to normal, and the Phantom Stranger just reappears, mysteriously back to his old form, playing a synthesizer. The silicon-crystal Nathan Broder plans to take over all the computer networks in the world and as his friends and colleagues discover his plans, he kills them. Swampie helps his wife escape, but they don't know how to stop him until Sally remembers he may be vulnerable to vibration at his resonance frequency and rushes back to her keyboard the Stranger was noodling on earlier. Broder shatters, and Swamp Thing returns to the Swamp.

Batman #361:  Moench and Newton bring us more Man-Bat. He's kidnapped Jason Todd and wants him to be a replacement son for the daughter he thinks (wrongly) that Batman killed. Neither the police or Batman appear able to contain him. Ultimately, Batman tracks him to the Gotham Natural History Museum and uses trickery (with some life-size photos of Langstrom's family, courtesy of Vicki Vale) to get the Man-Bat, but it's help from Jason that allows him to administer the antidote to his condition at last. Also, a new assistant is foisted on Gordon by Mayor Hill: Harvey Bullock.

Flash #323: Barry's and Fiona's rather rushed wedding day is here, by Bates and Infantino sort of tip their hand there, because their focus is on Barry (now tipped off to Zoom's return by the Guardians) frantically plays cat and mouse with the villain. I think I can guess how this one will turn out, but maybe Bates has a surprise up his sleeve.

The Creeper backup by Cuti and Patton/ reaches its conclusion none too soon with the Creeper having a showdown with Cris Kraken, the monstrously mutated drug supplier. There's a coda with art by Giffen that promising the Creeper's return, but I don't know if what was teased here ever actually happened.

 

G.I. Combat #255: The first Haunted Tank piece is a focus on Rick, who's feeling isolated until he has a whirlwind romance with a young Italian woman. After a German sneak attack badly scars her face, Rick decides to marry her, but the woman, fearing he's doing it out of pity, jilts him on their wedding day. The second story, the captain in charge of the tank group is in the spotlight. He resents having to right vague condolences to the families of the men he loses in battle, but after being forced to go into the field himself, he finds the vague condolences better that the gritty reality of war.

There's Kana story which has him doing the sort of thing he does while being the victim of prejudice. In the final story by Drake and Patricio, an infantryman reassigned to supply resents not being involved in the war, oblivious to the harrowing situations he gets into having to deliver supplies under fire.

New Teen Titans #33: When the new villain Trident is found down, the Titans (minus their resident detective, Robin) must find his murderer. Meanwhile, Adrian Chase and Robin break into the home of a crime lord. This issue is well put together, but the key to discovering the clears' identity isn't so much as hinted at early in the story but blared from a loudspeaker. It's probably more surprising to kids, I guess.

Omega Men #4: Slifer, Giffen, and DeCarlo serve up a pretty visceral issue, making use of their direct only status. There's some body horror as the Greeshagurt absorbs Kallista's body and mind, turning into her and transforming her into protoplasm. Meanwhile, tensions between Primus and Tigorr over leadership (stoked by Demonia) come to a head, and they engage in a struggle that turns savage, again thanks to Demonia's manipulation.

In the end, Kallista is saved by her people and Euphorix's force shield stays intake. Tigorr realizes he's being played before he kills Primus, and confronts Demonia, then kills her in combat. While Primus' wounds are tended to, he leads an assault against the Citadelians.

Superman #385: Bates and Swan/Hunt continue the revitalization of Luthor as a villain, started in Action #544. Luthor is out for revenge for the destruction of Lexor and builds himself an island base and starts recruiting. Superman, meanwhile, is unaware that Luthor survived. He's pre-occupied with guilty over his role in the death of a whole world's inhabitants. He starts hallucinating and sees images of Luthor everywhere. He causes damage at a local suspension bridge and the Superman Museum because he thinks he sees Luthor. Is this madness or some cunning revenge plan of Luthor's? This is a good follow-up to the Action anniversary issue.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 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 April 7, 1983. 

Camelot 3000 #6: Barr and Bolland are back after a couple of months with the wedding of King Arthur and Guinevere. Morgan le Fay and her allies (both alien and on Earth) are working behind the scenes to bring about Arthur's downfall. Morgan tries to turn Tristan with the promise to turn him back into a man. Tristan resists, but then Morgan throws the cover ball of putting the reincarnated Isolde at the wedding. That's after the former fiancé of the woman Tristan was before re-awakening kills Guinevere while trying to assassinate Arthur. Luckily, Guinevere is revived by Lancelot's love or something, which I'm sure has no implications for her marriage to the King. Bolland's art remains the star of the show.

Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld #2: Mishkin/Cohn and Colon spend a lot of time this issue dealing with Amy's lengthy disappearance from our world, giving her parents more to do. We find out how Amy got adopted in the first place and that there was already so unusual stuff about her. Then, in the end of the story her father straight up catches her jumping through a portal to another world. While all this is going on, Citrina is pretty gullibly falling into a trap set by Dark Opal, and Granch is revealed as an exiled son of Dark Opal, and he sets out to save other captive sons.

DC Comics Presents #59: Giffen is still working hard to make Ambush Bug catch on. This story works better than the last one and also features other characters Giffen will return to (to humorous effect) later in the decade: the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Ambush Bug escapes from prison and attacks Superman at exactly the wrong moment only to end up in the 30th Century. With no one else to turn to and other time travel work to do, Superman drops him with the Subs. Ambush Bug plays Daffy to their Porky Pig for the rest of the issue. Reading this in 2024 and knowing where these characters are going, this is sort of fun, but I wonder what I would have made of it in'83?

Arak Son of Thunder #23: Arak, Malagigi, and Johannes go to hell and confront the demon, Baphomet. Johannes answers the demon's riddle correctly and Baphomet grants his wish to release Gog and lets him go. Arak and Malagigi, Baphomet plans to eat. Malagigi makes a play to answer another riddle and release Magog to counter Gog. Baphomet kicks the wizard out of his domain.

Back in White Cathay, Angelica follows Johannes into Hell. Meanwhile, Arak answers the riddle. The demon keeps his bargain by releasing the Magog and not killing them, but he won't let Arak go. He leaves with Arak stranded in hell with Angelica.

Blackhawk #260: Spiegle gets a break, only drawing the framing story this issue, while Evanier teams with other artists for three "Detached Service Diary" solo character shorts. Chaykin draws an Andre story, Rockwell a Hendrickson one, and Toth ends the issue with a Blackhawk tale. All of them are okay, but none are really a standout, though Toth's art looks great with the material, and I wish he had done more.

Fury of Firestorm #14: Stein and Ronnie are attacked while separated by the Enforcer who captures Stein.  His ex plays a part in his capture, but it's still unclear who she's working for. Stein manages to escape well enough from the Enforcer to form Firestorm, but that was exactly what their enemies wanted. They're captured again and the mastermind behind this all is revealed as Multiplex. A better issue that the previous Hyena saga, I think, from Conway and Broderick/Rodriquez.

Wonder Woman #305: Mishkin and Colan/McLaughlin have Wonder Woman attacked in D.C. by transformed animal men, which really sort of gives it away that Circe is behind it all. The artwork in this issue looks particular nice, I think, though I can't really say why. Colan just draws a good animal man, I guess.

In the Cavalieri and Bair/Bryant Huntress backup, the Huntress has been captured and whisked off the Arkham which is apparently under the control of the criminal doctors Tarr and Fether. They are using the criminal insane to further their ends. They plan to lockup Huntress for good, but then there's a breakout on their "violent cases" ward.

Justice League #216: Conway and Heck wrap up the Microcosmos saga, and Conway says goodbye to the title. The Sisterhood with its allies and the League rout Kass'andre and her guards, but then the groups have a falling out over the fate of the Atom. Stealing into the city separately, they see there moment to strike when Kass'andre turns against her father and assassinates him. Krystal Kaa and Kass'andre battle and the villainess is killed, while Mother Moon uses her healing power to free the Atom of both Goltha's mind-control and his own madness. The new ruler of L'arra Sha sends the Leaguers home, where Ray and Jean Palmer are happily reunited.

The issue ends with "A Personal Note" from Conway saying he's enjoyed his "five-years and sixty-six issues" on this title, but it's time for him to move on. His run isn't necessarily a lauded one, but I think it's more good than bad, if seldom spectacular. It is also unfortunately under collected. You'd have to buy multiple collections and still not get everything after issue 181. 

Wednesday Comics: Fourth World Omnibus vol 2

Recently DC released The Fourth World Omnibus vol 2. This 1336 page, backbreaking tome is the companion to the equally voluminous volume 1. That volume covered most of Kirby's work on the Fourth World mythos. This volume picks up with the continuation of the characters in concepts by other hands: Gerber's Mister Miracle, Conway's New Gods revival, the Great Darkness Saga in Legion of Super-Heroes, and Kirby's return with Super Powers, and a lot of other stuff. A lot of it is, well, not that great but some things (like the Great Darkness Saga and the Justice League two-parter on Apokolips) are, and others are at least interesting.

Here's the full contents:  Mister Miracle #19-25; The New Gods #12-19; Adventure Comics #459-460; The Brave and the Bold #112, #128, and #138; DC Comics Presents #12; First Issue Special #13; Justice League of America #183-185; Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294; Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #3; Secret Society of Super-Villains #1-5; Super Powers #1-5; Super Powers (vol. 2) #1-6; Super Powers (vol. 3) #1-4; Super Powers Collection #13-23; Super-Team Family #15; and stories from DC Special Series #10 and Legion of Super-Heroes #287.

I'm not a thick omnibus reader myself, but I do like to see these handsome volumes sitting on my shelf while I read digital.

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 1982 (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 March 24, 1983.

Green Arrow #2: Barr and von Eeden/Giordano catchup with Green Arrow trying to uncover the identity of the person who wants to kill the again-wealthy Oliver Queen. He has a lot of suspects, given very few of Abigail Horton's would-be heirs are happy that Ollie inherited instead of them. When Ollie makes himself a target, Ted Horton, Jr. takes the bait and tries to kill him. Green Arrow pursues him, but he's unable to stop Count Vertigo from killing Ted before he can be interrogated. I had this issue as a kid, but I didn't remember much about it other than the distinctive cover.

Action Comics #544: Lex Luthor and Brainiac get their cool new 80s looks that will be short-lived in the comics, but indelibly stamped on the memories of fans of a certain age (like me) thanks to their use in the Garcia-Lopez drawn marketing art used in the DC Heroes rpg, their appearance in plastic in the Kenner Super-Powers toyline, and their use in Crisis. What this issue reveals is that they were part of an attempt to revitalize these villains.

The first story is by Bates and Swan and introduces Luthor's powered armor, designed by Perez. It's revealed that there is a world, Luxor, where Luthor retreats when getting beaten by Superman time and time again is too much for him where he is hailed as a hero, and he has a wife and child. Luthor begins to reform and has a change to give up his vendetta against Superman and live a happy life, but he ruins it because he just can't let it go. His last attempt on Superman's life leads to the destruction of Luxor and the death of his family. It's a nice story and would be even better with a modern approach to characterization and more pages.

The second is by Wolfman and Kane and introduces Hannigan's new Brainiac design. In a story perhaps inspired by Star Trek: The Motion Picture or 2001, Brianiac's consciousness is expanded by becoming disembodied then re-assembled in the advanced computer core of an alien prison planet. Reborn in a new body, the villain believes he has seen the Master Programmer, the divine force behind the universe's creation. This story is really all setup, and Kane's art not only may not be the best for the subject matter but also isn't his best in any case.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #8: Continuing from last issue, Arion and his allies attack Atlantis. Garn isn't up to facing Arion magically now and his imperious ways have led to mismanagement by his disgruntled army commander, so his troops aren't up to the task of defending his conquest. With Garn sent running, Arion is acclaimed as a hero and liberator--which may present difficulties for the king and his heir on their way back to their kingdom.

All-Star Squadron #22: Thomas and Ordway/Machlan continue the fight with the Ultra-Humanite, Cyclotron, and Deathbolt from last issue. Ultra is trying to gather artifacts for some reason, and now he also wants to transplant his brain into Robot-Man's body. We get Ultra's background and also some more on the origins of "Thor's hammer" used by the villain a few issues back and now in Ultra's possession.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #16: This issue gets a lot of jokes from references to the career of Steven Spielberg and E.T. in particular, which had been released the year before.  Screeching Tire (a villain like a tire-based Big Wheel or War Wheel) is coming after Steven Spielbird-dog for revenge. Ultimately the two work it out and the guy comes on board for one of his films.

Detective Comics #527: Because comic writers can't leave well enough alone, Man-Bat is back, this time so Moench can take a whack at him. Conway cured him to shuffle him off stage exactly a year ago in issue 348 after Pasko sort of ushered him off stage back in '81. Anyway, Langstrom forgets to take his cure because he's so busy, reverts to Man-Bat form, heads to the Batcave and winds up kidnapping Jason Todd who insists on calling Bruce his "new Dad" when Bruce is Batman, in contrived way. Not Moench's best, but this is only his 2nd Batman issue. Art in this one is by Day and Marcos.

There's a Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and Cullins/Marcos. It introduces the typical for comics "just past the sell date" cultural trend-based character, Ozone, a graffiti artist and super-villain, who employs super-high pressure aerosol cans in his crimes. He accidentally takes an aerosol can loaded with botulinus poison. Green Arrow tries to capture Ozone during a robbery at a men's magazine office but instead gets thrown through a window 30 stories above the ground by a high-pressure can.

Jonah Hex #73: Fleisher is joined this issue by García-López, and it looks great. After a double-cross during an attempted ambush, Hex winds up in double casts. After some crazy wheelchair rides and other improbable events, he still manages to bring in the bounties.  

There's a El Diablo backup by Cohn and Ayers/Rodriguez, but honestly, I can't recall what happened other than-- ghostly vengeance!

New Adventures of Superboy #42: A jerky classmate of Clark's gets super-powers from a meteor and becomes the costumed villain, Dyna-Mind. As is typical with these Superboy stories, he gets the upper hand this issue. Also, Clark manages to damage his burgeoning relationship with the girl he asked out last issue.

In the Dial H backup by Bridwell and Bender/McLaughlin, a super-villain working with the Master pretends to be the devil and agrees to help an old crank in his crusade against immoral pop culture in exchange for old coot's soul. I assume this prank is just for the lolz of the Master because it makes no sense. Anyway, this involves attacking a comics store where Chris and Vicki and friends are doing some cosplay. Chris and Vicki dial up heroic IDs based on their friends' cosplay (X-Rayder and Lavender Skywriter) leading the Master to deduce they draw their identities from the minds of people nearby.

Weird War Tales #124: So here we are at the final issue. The Creature Commandos and G.I. Robot (he's mentioned in the text though very hard to actually see in the panels) appear (barely) in a one-page story where they are court martialed for showing too much humanity and sentenced to death by General (Paul) Levitz. They're put into a modified V2 aimed at Hitler. Instead, the missile becomes erratic and heads off into outer space. This will be the last appearance of the Pre-Crisis version of these characters. It's hard to read this as anything but Kanigher expressing some displeasure with editorial. Whether it was resentment over cancellation or being mandated to write a story to tie it all up, I don't know.

The cover story is typical Kanigher Weird War fare about a struggle being carried out between combatants resurrected across the ages. The other two stories written by Robin Snyder (who also answers the letter column in this issue) are war tales but not at all weird and seem like inventory stories.

World's Finest Comics #292: Moench's last issue as writer teams him up with Jerome Moore and Frank Giacola on art. Superman and Batman appear on a radio talk show (Susan LaSalle, The Siren) and say some not really very well-thought-out things about crime before we're spared their weird musings by some guy calling in an anthrax threat. The two have to work together to discover the bomb and the crook, though the whole time it feels like something Superman's powers would have easily dealt with solo in his own book.

In interesting aside: General Zod appears in a flashback as Superman is talking about Krypton, but his he looks like General Zod from Superman II instead of how Earth-One General Zod is usually portrayed.

Wednesday Comics: DC, June 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 March 17, 1983.

Legion of Super-Heroes #300: It's an anniversary issue, so Giffen and Mahlstedt share art duties with a number of Legion artists from the past: Schaffenberger, Staton, Bender, Swan, Sherman, and Cockrum. The whole Legion of Super-Heroes assembles for an anniversary ceremony, but there are some other things going on as they do. Mon-El and Shadow Lass (with a new look) destroy a giant Khund spaceship in humanoid form. Much of the issue is taken up by Brainiac 5 and Rond Vidar working to cure the psychosis of Douglas Nolan, brother of the late Ferro Lad. He experiences a number of alternate timelines (providing the stories for the guest artists to illustrate). Ultimately, they allow the tortured Nolan to physically escape into an alternate timeline in which he replaces his dead brother in the Legion.

I suspect this is an issue that is more enjoyable the more you are steeped in Legion history.

Night Force #11: Wolfman and Colan start a new storyline. In a mansion in Maine in the 1930s, a cabal of occultists uses their power to help bring Hitler to power, only to be betrayed and murdered by him (also sealing his own fate). Decades later, a wealthy couple buys the house and finds it haunted. They are assaulted by the spirits who brand "666" on the husband's head. The couple turns to Baron Winter for help and for a large sum, he agrees. He and Vanessa prepare in open a door in his home and step out into the 1930s. After a stop in a soda shop to have an egg cream (priorities I guess) the Baron contrives to set up a meeting with the cabal.

This seems a bit more standard fare than the last two arcs, but it's just the first installment so there may be twists to come.

Brave and the Bold #199: Barr and Andru/Hoberg team up Batman and the (Earth-One) Spectre in the penultimate issue of this title. It's got a nice setup: Jim Corrigan (the Spectre's host) disappears while a moving train while the Spectre is out of his body, so the ghost goes to the Dark Knight Detective to solve the crime. It turns out the sorceress Kalindra is trying to get a bad for spirit of her lover, banished to the Astral Plane by a cruel and vengeful wizard centuries ago.  Batman tries to deal with the powerful Kalindra, while Spectre and the lover's spirit fight to the Astral Plane. Spectre wins quickly and then helps Batman by releasing Kalindra of her spell, ending her life. In the aftermath, Batman is angry at the unnecessary death, but the Spectre explains that the lovers' souls were due in the afterlife long ago, and now they are reunited there.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #8: Kupperberg brings in his creation from 1977 (though they were last seen in '82), the new Doom Patrol. Reactron, an atomic-powered foe of the Doom Patrol, is lured into the open by the Patrol's gambit of offering Negative Woman as bait--and Linda Danvers happens to be a bystander! She's shooed away from the scene by Tempest, who doesn't know she's Supergirl. Cheryl and Daryll, who have accompanied her to the park, take her back home, and Linda has to watch the battle with her super-vision. Reactron escapes and later appears on the university campus, drawn by the emanations of a secret, experimental nuclear reactor, and Supergirl gets her chance to confront him.

Green Lantern #165: Barr and Pollard/Adkins bring back John Stewart to team-up with Green Arrow. The Guardians contact Stewart to deal with the threat of the alien warrior, Krystayl. The creature was a weapon created on the planet destroyed millennia ago by the combined willpower of the Green Lantern Corps, shattering the monster to shards. This also killed all the people he had absorbed, something the Guardians deemed as acceptable losses. The fragments drifted through space, until one of those shards arrived on Earth and awakened, continuing his lethal orders.

The first encounter between the heroes and the monster doesn't go so well. Some civilians are absorbed, and Ollie's arm gets encased in crystal. Freeing Ollie's arm gives them the idea of finding the crystal's weak point, and they use that trick to shatter Krystayl, freeing the people he absorbed. Green Arrow invites John to get some chili.

In the epilogue, Green Lantern Galius Zed confronts the supposed traitor Eddore and takes his Globe of Power. However, when looks into the globe, he instead joins with Eddore and declares they must tell their fellow Green Lanterns about the Guardians' betrayal.

The Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Klein and Gibbons continues the story from issue 163. After showing Hollika Rahn a vision of what might happen if she shirks her responsibilities as a Green Lantern, a Guardian reveals that her friend Mikkin has strayed into Scientist and gets captured by some taken to the Ministry of Science. The Guardian shows Hollika Mikki's location, and she heads to the rescue.

House of Mystery #317: In "I...Vampire," Mishkin and Cullins/Sutton have Bennett, Deborah, and the fictional Mishkin (Dmitri) battling the forces of the Blood Red Moon led by Mishkin's mother, Dunya. They are trapped in the former Mishkin family home as the sun comes up. While the vampires sleep, Deborah tries to find the hiding places of the Blood Red Moon forces laying siege and kill them to even the odds. When night falls, Dunya's vampires attack. Deborah is about to shoot Dunya with a solar gun, but Dmitri leaps in front of the blast to save his mother. He begs her to finally love him, but she scorns him once again. As Dunya is about to bite Deborah, Dmitri stakes his mother from behind, killing her. He dies of his injuries in Bennett's arms, realizing at last that his mother was long dead.

The other story by Mayer and Zamora is sort of clever. In a magic-based analog to the 20th Century, a couple is aghast to learn their son has been practicing science in the basement. They are visited by the magical authorities, but the son uses his renegade science to save his family, then casts a powerful spell that transforms the world in our technological one, with only him remembering how things were and retaining magical power.

Sgt. Rock #377: The main story, "The Worry-Wart," is one of those introduce a new Easy Company member with a distinct (usually eccentric) trait yarns that forms a significant part of Kanigher's repertoire. This is the variant where the newbie learns something that makes them a better soldier and doesn't die. 

The two backup stories are weird and feel like maybe they were rush jobs or inventory pieces. Both are about the ironies of war, even in the future. The first is a space opera-ish text piece illustrated by Sid Wright. The second is a post-apocalyptic tale with amateurish or underground-looking art (or both) by Brian Bilby, who's only credit are short's (2 of them humor) in 3 issues of Sgt. Rock.

Warlord #70:  In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, The Harashashan and humans are cooperating on setting up a serious of aqueducts, but the prejudices run deep and it isn't easy. It gets even harder when the fungoid Mulge attack. They are repelled, but not before they kidnap Skinner. I reviewed the main story in this issue here.

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 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 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 #72: 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.