Category: DC Superhero

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JSA by Geoff Johns Book Two


By Geoff Johns, David S. Goyer, Stephen Sadowski, Michael Bair, Carlos Pacheco, Jesus Merino, Phil Winslade, Mike Perkins, Steve Yeowell, Keith Champagne, Buzz, Rags Morales, Dave Meikis, Paul Neary, Rob Leigh, Javier Saltares, Ray Kryssing, Andrew Pepoy & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8154-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Pure Perfection for Superhero Connoisseurs… 9/10

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read the creation of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre, and indeed industry’s progress, was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and readerships. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created in the third issue of All-Star Comics (Winter 1940/1941), an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications, by the simple expedient of having the heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low-key collaboration, it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all white guys (except the original Red Tornado, who only pretended to be one) until Wonder Woman premiered in the eighth issue – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains and social ills of their generation.

Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And thus, the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comics and, when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, a key moment would come with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine returned. Since then we’ve enjoyed many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful revamping of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fan-base big enough to support them.

It didn’t hurt that the writers – all with strong Hollywood connections – adored the original concept, but also knew what mass-market action audiences liked. And now that the JSA have cracked the large and small screen markets, my cup – at least – truly runneth over…

Their highly successful revival began as the last survivors of the original team reconvened after losing most of their membership to old age, infirmity or enemy action. Following the death of founding comrade Wesley Dodds/The Sandman, Wildcat, Flash and Green Lantern/Sentinel united with youthful inheritors of the old team’s legacy. These included members’ children and former Infinity Inc members Atom Smasher, Obsidian and Hourman, Dodds’ sidekick Sand, Stargirl (then called Star Spangled Kid), the third Dr. Mid-Nite, Starman and Mister Terrific plus new Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders, Black Canary and Wonder Woman (in actuality, her mother Hippolyta who was an active Nazi crusher during WWII).They all united to rescue three babies; one of which became the next incarnation of magical hero Doctor Fate. Once they were successful most of the squad stuck together to continue the traditions and train a new generation of heroes…

Shortly thereafter, as old guard Flash, Sentinel and Wildcat assumed the role of mentors for both current and future champions, the multi-generational unit was attacked by demented super-human (and current Man of the Moment) Black Adam: a magically empowered superman, who usually harassed agents of do-gooding wizard Shazam!. The bombastic battle served to introduce more very far-reaching plot threads and led to a fearsome clash with a new iteration old enemy outfit the Injustice Society…

Officially concentrating on the efforts of Geoff Johns, this second volume re-presents in whole or in part Secret Origins of Super-Villains File 80-Page Giant #1, JSA #16-25, Our Worlds at War #1, JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1 and JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice: bringing the revered, revived and very legendary Justice Society of America into DC’s modern pantheon and continuing the writer’s campaign to restore and re-induct all the classic stars by resurrecting the biggest name and most visually arresting of the originals – Hawkman.

It begins with a prelude from December 1999’s Secret Origins of Super-Villains File 80-Page Giant #1. Crafted by Johns & Goyer and illustrated by Phil Winslade & Mike Perkins, ‘Sorrow Ever More!’ sees demonically-tainted gang boss Johnny Sorrow break veteran villain Cameron Makent – AKA legacy JSA foe The Icicle – out of super penitentiary The Slab. The lachrymose liberator has connections with the original Icicle and expects the successor to join his war on modern heroes. He also knows an awful lot about the Makent family…

Major storyline Injustice be done opens with ‘Divide and Conquer’ (JSA #16, illustrated by Stephen Sadowski & Michael Bair) wherein an expanded Injustice Society – including Black Adam and in possession of the heroes’ most intimate secrets – ambushes them and fellow Golden Age champion Scarab whilst they’re off guard…

The blitz attack meets with significant success, and in ‘Cold Comfort’ mastermind Johnny Sorrow reveals his plans as the heroes begin their fight back, and we see his horrific origins in ‘Sorrow’s Story’ (with additional art Steve Yeowell), before the World goes to Hell with ‘Into the Labyrinth’ (extra inks by Keith Champagne) and the ghostly Spectre returns to save the day from Sorrow’s patron master The King of Tears.

And spectacularly fails…

The saga concludes in cataclysmic fashion with ‘Godspeed’ as Black Adam and Jakeem “J.J.” Thunder (heir of genie-wielding Johnny Thunder) join the team, but not before first Flash Jay Garrick is lost in time and space…

Compelling as it was, that entire saga was just a set-up for the eponymous ‘Return of Hawkman’ which I’ll get to after this necessary diversion…

One of the oldest and most revered heroes in comics, Hawkman premiered right behind Jay Garrick in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). He was created by Gardner Fox & Dennis Neville, although the most celebrated artists to have drawn the Winged Wonder are Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Kubert, whilst young Robert Kanigher was justifiably proud of his later run as writer.

Carter Hall was a playboy archaeologist until he found a crystal knife that unlocked his memories. He knew that once he had been Prince Khufu of ancient Egypt, and that he and his lover Shayera had been murdered by High Priest Hath-Set. Moreover, with returned lives came the knowledge that his love and his killer were also nearby.

Using the restored knowledge of his past life, Hall fashioned a costume and flying harness, hunting his past and future murderer as the Hawkman. Inevitably triumphant, he and modern-day amour Shiera Saunders maintained their “Mystery-Man” roles: warring on modern crime and tyranny with weapons of the past.

Lost as the Golden Age ended, they were revived by Julie Schwartz’s crack creative cohort in the early 1960s (specifically Fox, Joe Kubert & Murphy Anderson) and – after a long career involving numerous revamps and retcons – “died” during the Zero Hour crisis.

Now in JSA #21 after the race of his life, lost Jay Garrick awakens in old Egypt: greeted by a pantheon of that era’s super champions. Nabu, the Lord of Order who created Doctor Fate, the original incarnation of Black Adam and Prince Khufu himself reveal the true origins of Hawkman whilst in the 21st century the JLA’s heavenly hero Zauriel informs the modern Hawkgirl just who and what she really is in ‘Guardian Angels’…

The epic further unfolds as a major connection to the alien Hawkworld of Thanagar is clarified and explored in ‘Lost Friends’ and as Garrick returns to his home era, Hawkgirl is abducted to Thanagar by its last survivors, desperate to thwart the schemes of the insane death-demon Onimar Synn who has reduced the entire planet to a zombie charnel house.

As the JSA frantically follow their abducted member to distant Polaris in ‘Ascension’ Carter Hall makes his dramatic return from beyond and saves the day in ‘Icarus Fell’, before leading the team to magnificent victory in spectacular conclusion ‘Seven Devils…

Illustrated by Buzz, Rags Morales, Sadowski, Bair, David Meikis and Paul Neary, this latest return not only led to Hawkman regaining his own title (more graphic novel magic to review ASAP) but also stands as one of the most cosmic and grand-scaled of all the JSA’s adventures.

The cosmic calamity continued as current DC Crossover Event “Worlds At War” – wherein an alien doomsday device/inimical manifested concept Imperiex almost destroyed the planet and unravelled the universe – tragically impacted the team. JSA: Our Worlds at War #1 saw the embattled planet calling on all its metahuman resources with Society members past, present – 28 in all – and simply affiliated gather as ‘The All-Stars’ (Johns, Javier Saltares & Ray Kryssing). Their mission is to take the war to Imperiex, assaulting its Jupiter-sized base-ship and even American President Lex Luthor is astounded by the result of the raid…

Billy Batson/Captain Marvel makes his troubled debut with the team via an introductory prelude in JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins #1 (January 2003). ‘The Day Before’, by Johns, Goyer, Sadowski & Andrew Pepoy, has the teen hero warned by his wizard mentor that an indiscernible threat menaces both teams of heroes. That conference leads directly into the last item on this agenda: JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice (February 2003).

Once upon a time the Justice Society was Earth’s premiere super-team: formed to crush oppression and injustice while raising morale during World War II. When the Justice League debuted in 1960, their success led to the reintroduction of the originals – albeit now revealed to have worked on the alternate reality dubbed Earth-Two. After many years of annual team-ups, the heroes of both – and indeed other worlds – were merged in mega event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

A reordered history reduced the JSA to the role of elder statesmen of metahumanity and they became an organisation regularly saving the world whilst mentoring the next generation of superheroes.

Their inspired successors, the Justice League of America were currently the World’s Greatest Superheroes – and have all the characters who until very recently appeared on TV and in cartoons and movies. You now have all the background you need to read this superb Original Graphic Novel.

As they have done for years, the JLA and JSA have gotten together to celebrate Thanksgiving when suddenly alien conqueror Despero attacks them and the entire world by releasing the Seven Deadly Sins. These deadly demons promptly possess Batman, Power Girl, Mister Terrific, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Captain Marvel (as today’s Shazam! was called back then)…

Can the remaining heroes defeat the Sins without killing their friends, and save humanity from total destruction at the hands of a hidden malign mastermind?

Of course they can; that’s the point. But seldom have they done it in such a spectacularly, well written and beautifully illustrated manner.

Crafted by Johns, Goyer, the much-missed Carlos Pacheco & Jesús Merino, this is the perfect conclusion to this sublime collection: a pure, iconic genre “Fights ‘n’ Tights bravura action romp that hits every target and pushes every button it should. If you love superhero comics, you will treasure this magnificent tale.

Complex and enthralling, these super shenanigans are the very best of their type: filled with wicked villains and shining, triumphant heroes, cosmic disaster and human tragedies, yet always leavening the doom and destruction with optimism and humour. Enticing, thrilling and stuffed with the biggest and best sort of superhero hijinks, if costume drama is your meat, this JSA compilation should be your prey…
© 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2018 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes Book One


By Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner, Duncan Rouleau, Rafael Albuquerque, Cynthia Martin, Kevin West, Phil Moy, Jack Purcell, Casey Jones & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77951-506-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: All Action Superhero fun and Thrills… 9/10

As the most recent incarnation of the venerable Blue Beetle brand makes the jump from comic book limbo and kids’ animation reruns into live action movie madness, here’s a recent re-release of the first dozen of the superb 36-issue run that began in 2006: one of the most light-hearted and compelling iterations of the Golden Age stalwart and still a pure joy to behold…

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1, published by Fox Comics and cover-dated August 1939. The eponymous lead character was created by Charles Nicholas (AKA Charles Wojtkowski): a pulp-styled mystery man who was a born nomad. Over the years and crafted by a Who’s Who of extremely talented creators, he was also inexplicably popular and hard to kill: surviving the failure of numerous publishers before ending up as a Charlton Comics property in the mid-1950s.

After releasing a few issues sporadically, the company eventually shelved him until the superhero revival of the early 1960s when young Roy Thomas revised and revived the character for a 10-issue run (June 1964, February 1966) reinventing cop/adventurer Dan Garrett as an archaeologist, educator and scientist who gained super-powers whenever he activated a magic scarab with the trigger phrase “Kaji Da!”

Later that year, Steve Ditko (with scripter Gary Friedrich) utterly recreated the Blue Beetle. Ted Kord was an earnest and brilliant young researcher who had been a student and friend of Professor Garrett. When his mentor seemingly died in action, Kord trained himself to replace him: a purely human inventor/combat acrobat, bolstered by ingenious technology. This latter version joined DC’s pantheon during Crisis on Infinite Earths, earning his own series and a quirky immortality partnering with Booster Gold in Justice League International and beyond…

Collecting Blue Beetle (volume 7) #1-12 spanning May 2006 – April 2007, this saga follows the hallowed formula of a teenager suddenly gifted with great powers, and reveals how some heroes are remade, not born…

At the height of the Infinite Crisis (Link please, June 18 2008), El Paso high-schooler Jaime Reyes found a strange blue jewel shaped like a bug. That night, as he slept, it attached itself to his back, transforming him into a bizarre insectoid warrior. Almost immediately, he was swept up in the chaos, joining Batman and other heroes in a climactic space battle.

As this series opens on ‘Blue Monday’ (written by Keith Giffen & John Rogers and limned by Cully Hamner), he’s come home to El Paso, Texas; terrified for staying out late on a school night, and is suddenly attacked by Green Lantern Guy Gardner. The situation rapidly escalates as his sentient bug armour reacts instinctively and manically to the emerald energy of the foe…

As the fight builds in intensity, by way of flashbacks we see Jaime’s life before everything changed: meeting best buds and fellow high school inmates Paco and Brenda – who were with him when he found the scarab that messed up his life – and bratty little sister Milagro as well as his wonderfully cool parents…

The battle ends as soon as Gardner realises he’s fighting a child, but as when he flies off, the Lantern drops a shocking bombshell: whatever is empowering the kid and manifesting his talking, weapons-infested bug suit, it ISN’T magic…

The mystery intensifies in ‘Can’t Go Home Again’ as more recovered memories detail early clashes with local super-gangbangers The Posse and hint at big changes in Jaime. In the present, Reyes is slowly making his way back to his house, terrified over how his folks will react to his disappearance last night. It’s far worse than he could have imagined and a real shock when he discovers that he’s actually been missing for a year…

Illustrated by Cynthia Martin & Philip Moy ‘The Past is Another Country’ sees Jaime demonstrate his new powers to his gobsmacked family, only to be (initially) rejected and abandoned. Whilst the Reyes clans come to terms with their “dead” son resurrected as a bug monster, the stunned lad road tests his new powers and tracks down his old friends.

A lot has changed: Paco is now part of the Posse and those outcast teens are locked in a deadly war with the minions of local organised crime-boss La Dama… who just happens to be Brenda’s legal guardian Tia Amparo…

Cully Hamner returns in #4 as Giffen & Rogers detail how Jaime starts looking into previous Blue Beetles and owners of the scarab and becomes a ‘Person of Interest’ to cyber-hero Oracle/Barbara Gordon who tests him with a view to making him one of her Birds of Prey. That doesn’t end well and presages far worse as militaristic mystery man The Peacemaker hits town on the down-low, secretly seeking old comrade and associate “Blue”…

Delivered in two parts over #5 and 6, ‘Secrets’ is illustrated by Duncan Rouleau, Martin, Kevin West, Moy & Jack Purcell. It reveals how The Phantom Stranger arrives, also hoping to clear up the mystery of this new Blue Beetle. Seeking to ascertain the teen’s place in the hierarchy of “the New Age of Magic” is something many factions are working on, from The Posse to La Dama’s pet goon the Diviner. Chaos reigns as all the investigators converge and clash when a baby of great power is stolen and Jaime at last learns that sometimes you just have to step up and do the right thing…

Following a brutal confrontation with plenty of shocking revelations ‘Secrets Pt 1 of 2’ sees a sharp redefinition of allegiances and anew status quo that almost immediately founders when Peacemaker reveals what nobody seemed able to discern – the true nature of Jaime’s scarab…

John Rogers is sole scripter for BB #7 as ‘Brother’s Keeper’ offers a guest-star packed recap of Reyes’ career to date: filling in many blanks since the night the new Beetle helped save the world. Illustrated by Hamner & Casey Jones and with Giffen back on board, ‘Road Trip’ sees Jaime, Brenda and Peacemaker go looking for even more answers: beginning by consulting young cyber-geek Dan Garrett – a self-proclaimed expert on all previous Blue Beetles.

As the original hero’s granddaughter she also has a fair claim to being the rightful owner of the gem, but a potential squabble and their research is interrupted by the return of a monstrous hunchbacked maniac determined to destroy the “demonic” new hero.

Following that Roleau renders ‘Inside Man’, telling why Peacemaker has so-unwillingly involved himself in Jaime’s life just as Brenda finds herself in a world of trouble…

Living with her aunt – the magic-wielding, arch crime boss of El Paso – in a felonious clearing house for stolen super-technology and magical artifacts, it was only a matter of time before Brenda stumbled upon something really dangerous. Whisked to an far-distant world in ‘Should’ve Taken that Left Turn at Albuquerque…’ (with art from Hamner and Rafael Albuquerque!), her disappearance forces an uneasy truce between Jaime and La Dama so that the Beetle can rescue Brenda, consequently encountering a selection of New Gods and hungry aliens before successfully bringing her back in ‘The Guns of Forever’ (by Rogers & Albuquerque, and we end on a thematic cliffhanger with ‘Meet the New Boss’ as Beetle and Peacemaker investigate cattle mutilations, battle a giant bug monster and meet its owner – an extraterrestrial envoy from extragalactic trading empire The Reach. He also claims to be the creator of the scarab…

With a gallery of variant covers, sketches and character designs by Hamner, this is a welcome return for a great series: one of precious few comic books to combine action and adventure, with comedy and suspense perfectly leavened with fun and wit. Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes offers an innovative and wryly engaging saga impossible to resist, especially with the artistic endeavours of Hamner, Martin, Albuquerque, Rouleau and Jones making each page a visual treat. Even 17 years on, Blue Beetle remains a fresh and delightful joy, so why not bug out and Go Read This!
© 2006, 2007, 2022 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman’s Mystery Casebook


By Sholly Fisch, Christopher A. Uminga & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0586-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Wonderfully Watching What’s What… 9/10

In recent years DC has opened up its shared superhero universe: generating Original Graphic Novels featuring its many stars in stand-alone adventures for the demographic so sadly misnamed Young Adult. To date, results have been rather hit or miss, but when they’re good, they are very good indeed…

Another sublime example of the process at its best is this cheery practical class in crimefighting: picking the brains and capitalising on the experience of Gotham’s greatest gangbusters and delivering details in the form of a comics activity book for all ages…

Author Sholly Fisch is no stranger to comics, having splendidly scripted Scooby Doo in various print incarnations and almost every DC superhero in All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold and other animation-based spin-offs, Superman, Star Wars and so much more. When not doing that, he’s a developmental psychologist consulting for companies who make digital games and toys, with clients including Sesame Street, Cyberchase, The Magic School Bus Rides Again and The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. If you love fun superheroics and vintage comics trivia, you should seek out his work.

Cartoonist/designer/visualiser Christopher A. Uminga has worked for many media giants including DC Comics/Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, Foot Locker, Disney’s WonderGround Gallery and more, and is assisted in making this complex and arresting tome work by colourist Silvana Brys and lettering entity Andword Design (Morgan Martinez, Justin Birch & Deron Bennett)…

A quick word to the wise: Although for years DC’s mainstream continuity has depicted the Dark Knight as a driven and tormented borderline sociopath doing good for what seems to be all the wrong reasons, Batman has always been an archetype who works for all ages on vastly differing levels. This version is far more Caped Crimecrusher than Bat out of Hell, and reaffirms his reputation as “the World’s Greatest Detective” in a series of “fair play mystery” vignettes with the reader invited to pay close attention and participate at every moment of each case. Kids can enjoy alone or with the grandparents who watched the 1966 Batman TV phenomenon unfold and the parents who watched the 1990s movies and stunning Batman: The Animated Adventures series they spawned…

It begins in ‘Prologue: Whodunit?’ as Batman, Robin & Batgirl examine a crime scene and talk the readers through the clues left behind that lead to their deduction of the culprit…

With every reader fully briefed ‘Chapter 1: The Case of the Perilous Puzzles’ sees The Riddler running riot, obsessively dropping his verbal hints for us to solve, but don’t get so caught up that you miss the cunning visual clues scattered around since the Dynamic Duo might be too busy escaping death traps to spot them…

Each adventure is augmented by a quick lesson in historical criminology, deduction and data gathering (just like the old Dick Tracy Crime Stoppers feature) beginning with a foundation in forensic science courtesy of ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Crime Scene Investigation’ with Clayface inadvertently assisting enquiries…

Of course Two-Face stars in second chapter ‘The Case of the Dual Identity’ and the hunt offers many chances to study modus operandi before the boom is lowered, after which ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Fingerprints’ reveals the secrets of the ancient system…

World-weary cop Harvey Bullock and Catwoman are involved in third chapter ‘The Case of the Art Attack’ but Batgirl – and the reader! – can’t be rushed to hasty conclusions if they think things through, whilst ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Tracks’ offers a quick refresher on Locard’s Exchange Principle (weren’t you paying attention last chapter?) as we learn to watch where we – and everybody else – steps…

Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth show off their skills in civilian style for ‘The Case of the History Mystery’ which take us back to WWI and an encounter with Enemy Ace Hans von Hammer, augmented by some modern milestones in ‘Batcave Crime Lab: DNA’…

We’re back in supervillain territory for chapter 5 as ‘The Case of the Cold Cash’ seems to prove chilly Mister Freeze is the bad guy… until our heroes take a closer look, complemented by the Terrific Trio taking stock of fraud in ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Fakes and Phonies’…

Batgirl and Robin have their wits truly tested in ‘The Case of the Digital Ghost’ before ‘Batcave Crime Lab: Eyewitness Testimony’ wonderfully tests every reader’s memory and visual acuity – with helpful hints from Commissioner Gordon – as we rush to the conclusion in Chapter 7 as The Joker and Harley Quinn threaten appalling consequences for all in ‘The Case of the Perilous Parade’: a thrilling manhunt that literally demands your full attention…

‘Epilogue’ then provides a summation from Batman and a so-cool poster to declare “Case Closed!” on this vivid and vibrant anticrime primer… for now!

The caseload is done-in-one (hopefully only until we get a sequel and series puh-leeeze!) but this tome also offers a tantalising peek at Sara Farizan & Nicoletta Baldari’s Gotham-set tale of bullying and being the new kid My Buddy Killer Croc that’s also worth some of your time and attention…

Smart, compelling, brilliantly entertaining, astoundingly infectious and deliciously addictive, Batman’s Mystery Casebook is a superbly challenging activity and adventure romp packed with charm and wit to captivate fans and nervous neophytes alike: one introducing a new wondrous world with a rousing reminder that all is never as it seems…
© 2022 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Boo$ter Gold: Future Lost


By Dan Jurgens, with John Byrne, Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, Mike DeCarlo, Ty Templeton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: ?978-1-7795-0672-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The Shape of Fun to Come… 8/10

After the cosmos-crunching Crisis on Infinite Earths re-sculpted the DC Universe in 1986, a host of characters got floor-up rebuilds for the tougher, no-nonsense, straight-shooting New American readership of the Reagan era. Simultaneously, a number of corporate buy-outs such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question joined DC’s roster with their own much-hyped solo titles. There were also some all-new launches for the altered sensibilities of the Decade of Excess – the superb Suicide Squad and Shiny, Happy Hero Booster Gold.

The cobalt & yellow paladin debuted amidst heaps of hoopla in his own title (February 1986 – and the first post-Crisis premiere of a freshly integrated superhero line), presenting wholly different approaches to DC’s army of old-school costumed boy-scouts.

Created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, the saga featured a brash, cockily mysterious metahuman golden-boy jock who had set up his stall as a superhero in Metropolis, actively seeking corporate sponsorships, selling endorsements and with a management team in place to maximise the profit potential of his crusading celebrity.

Over fraught, fight-filled months we learned Michael Jon “Booster” Carter had been a rising sports star in the 25th century before falling in with a gambling syndicate and fixing games for cash pay-outs. When he was caught and banned from competition, he could only find menial work as a night-watchman in The Space Museum. Whilst there, he struck up a friendship with automated tour-guide/security-bot Skeets and devised a bold plan to redeem himself.

Stealing a flight ring, force-field belt, energy-rods, alien super-suit and wrist-blasters, Booster used the Museum’s prize exhibit – Rip Hunter’s time machine – to emigrate to the fabled 20th Century Age of Heroes where he might earn all the fame and glory his mistakes had cost him in his own time…

Initial success led him forming a multi-faceted company where Business manager Dirk Davis and company PA Trixie Collins later hired hotshot scientist Jack Soo to construct a second super-suit that would enable Booster to hire a camera-friendly, eye-candy girly sidekick…

Accompanied everywhere by sentient, flying, football-shaped robot Skeets, the glitzy showboat soon encountered high-tech criminal gang The 1000 and a host of super-villains, earning the ire of many sinister masterminds and the shallow approbation of models, actresses, headline-hungry journalists, politicians and the ever-fickle public…

Created, primarily written and drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks usually by Mike DeCarlo, colours from Gene D’Angelo and letters by Steve Haynie, this glittering prize of a compilation covers the end of his early days, in Booster Gold volume 1 #13-25, Millennium #3, 4, 6 & 7 and Action Comics #594, plus material from Secret Origins #35 and Who’s Who Update ’87 #1 (collectively spanning February 1987 to December 1988).

The saga resumes in the aftermath of a conclusive victory. With the threat of the 1000 ended ‘The Tomorrow Run’ (inked by Gary Martin) finds Booster at death’s door, not because of his numerous injuries but because his 25th century body has succumbed to 20th century diseases.

Set during the Legends publishing event – which saw the public turn violently against costumed heroes – the dying Carter is rescued from a mob by Trixie wearing Soo’s completed super-suit. With no other options they take Michael back to the future where he can be properly treated, even though Booster’s offences carry a mandatory death penalty in his home era…

Recruiting young Rip Hunter (destined to become the Master of Time) Trixie and Dr. Soo accompany the distressed hero to a time where ruthless Darwinian capitalism rules and everything Michael Carter once dreamed of has turned to bitter ashes. ‘A Future Lost’ (inked by DeCarlo) follows Booster and Trixie as they search for a cure (and his missing twin sister Michelle) whilst Hunter and Soo seek a means to return them all to 1986.

Booster’s illness is only cured after they are arrested: the authorities believing it barbaric to execute anybody too sick to stand up, before ‘Runback’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) concludes the saga in fine style with the missing Carter twin saving the day and retreating to the 20th century with the time-lost travellers.

Booster’s close call has a salutary effect on his attitudes and character. Inked by Bob Lewis, ‘Fresh Start’ sees a kinder, gentler corporate entrepreneur re-establishing his heroic credentials with the celebrity-crazed public of Metropolis, to the extent that Maxwell Lord offers him membership in the newly re-formed Justice League, just as sultry assassin Cheshire raids a biotech company recently acquired by Booster Gold International…

‘Dream of Terror’ (inked by Arne Starr) reveals all as new owner Booster learns his latest corporate asset has been making bio-toxins to eradicate all “undeserving” individuals (for which read non-white and poor) and that its creator is currently loose in Mexico City with the lethal bug. Moreover, the deranged biochemist has bamboozled militant hero Hawk into acting as bodyguard while his plans to “save humanity from itself” take effect…

DeCarlo returned to ink ‘Showdown’ in #18, as a relentless lawman from Booster’s home-time tracks him down through history, resolved to render final judgement before ‘Revenge of the Rainbow Raider’ (Al Vey inks) pit the Man of Gold against the colour-blind and utterly demented Flash villain in a 2-part thriller that sees our hero rendered sightless and his future-shocked sister go native amongst the 20th century primitives.

The tale concludes with ‘The Colors of Justice’ as Dr. Soo saves Booster even as Michelle is being kidnapped by extra-dimensional invaders…

Up until this moment the art in this volume, whilst always competent, had been suffering an annoying hindrance, designed as it was for high quality, full-colour comic books, not stark, black and white reproduction. Although legible, discernible and adequate, much of the earlier art is fine-lined, lacking contrasting dark areas and often giving the impression that the illustrations lack solidity and definition.

With Booster Gold #21 the marvellous Ty Templeton became regular inker and his bold, luscious brush-strokes brought a reassuring firmness and texture to the proceedings. As if to affirm the artistic redirection the stories became a tad darker too…

‘Invasion From Dimension X’ has Booster’s search for his missing sister impinge on a covert intrusion by belligerent aliens first encountered and defeated by the Teen Titans. To make matters worse these extra-dimensionals are using Michelle as a power-source to fuel their incursion, resulting in ‘Tortured Options’ for Booster who must choose between saving Michelle or the city of Minneapolis when the invaders open their assault with a colossal kaiju attack…

Guest-starring Justice League International, the astounding battle climaxed in public triumph and personal tragedy after which the heart-broken, embittered Booster seemingly attacks Superman in ‘All That Glisters’ (Action Comics #594, November 1987, by John Byrne & Keith Williams): a terse, brutal confrontation that crosses over and concludes in Booster Gold #23, displaying ‘Blind Obsession’ (Jurgens & Roy Richardson) as the real Man of Gold crushes a Kryptonite-powered android doppelganger designed by the world’s most unscrupulous businessman to kill Superman and frame a commercial rival…

If only they had known that at that very moment Booster Gold International was being bankrupted by a traitor at the heart of the company…

After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, DC’s third mega-crossover Millennium saw Steve Englehart, Joe Staton & Ian Gibson depict how robotic Manhunters had infiltrated Earth to abort the next stage in human evolution.

Billions of years ago the Manhunters had rebelled against their creators. The Guardians of the Universe were immortal and worked towards a rational, emotionless cosmos – a view not shared by their own women. The Zamarons had abandoned the Guardians at the inception of their grand scheme but after countless millennia the two factions had reconciled and left our reality together.

Now they had returned with a plan to midwife a new race of immortals on Earth, but Manhunters had infiltrated all aspects of society throughout the universe and were determined to thwart the plan, whether by seduction, connivance or just plain brute force. The heroes of Earth gathered to protect the project and confront the Manhunters in their own private lives… and their own comics.

In its original form each weekly instalment of Millennium acted as a catalyst for events which played out across the rest of the DC Universe titles. In addition to the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic-books. Issues #24 and 25 of Booster Gold were two of them and are supplemented here by pertinent excerpts of the miniseries taken from Millennium #3, 4 & 6 before ‘Betrayal’ reveals that one of Michael Carter’s inner circle has been a Manhunter agent all along. It bankrupted the hero at the most propitious moment simply so that the robots could buy his loyalty during their assault on humanity and led to all-out battle bout ‘Down’ from Millennium #7 before the series came to a shocking climax in ‘The End’ as the scheme succeeds and Booster actually switches sides …or does he?

After the surprisingly satisfying and upbeat denouement, Booster became a perennial star of Justice League International where, with fellow homeless hero Blue Beetle, he became half of the one of funniest double-acts in comics.

As “Blue and Gold” the hapless, cash-strapped odd couple were always at the heart of the action – pecuniary or otherwise – and the final tale here ‘From the Depths’ (by Jurgens & Tim Dzon, as originally seen in Secret Origins #35, December 1988), reprises the early tragic days of Michael Jon Carter in a brief and exceedingly impressive tale played as much to tug the heartstrings as tickle the funny-bone…

This compilation then closes with the entry from Who’s Who Update ‘87 #1.

As a frontrunner of the new DC, Booster Gold was a radical experiment in character that didn’t always work, but which exponentially improved as months rolled by. Early episodes might be a necessary chore but by the time this volume ends it’s a real shame that the now thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride is over. Perhaps not to every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s taste, these formative fictions are absolutely vital to your understanding of the later classics and will make any fan happy and every reader a fan.
© 1987, 1988, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman vs. Shazam!


By Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, Julie Schwartz, Paul Kupperberg, Joey Cavalieri, Mark Waid, Jerry Ordway, Judd Winick, Rich Buckler, Gil Kane, Alex Ross, Ian Churchill & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0909-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Golden Grudge-Match Magic… 8/10

Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in the summer of 1938. Created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, it proved extremely popular across many disparate media and sparked a new kind of hero and story form. You’re here right now because of him…

Another one of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck for Fawcett Publications as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed that successful launch of Superman. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the “Big Red Cheese” moved swiftly and solidly into the area of light entertainment and even broad comedy, whilst as the 1940s progressed the Man of Tomorrow increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice and subsequently granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the wizard’s name – itself an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – Billy would transform from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, Captain Marvel hugely outsold Superman but, as the decade progressed and tastes changed, sales slowed. An infamous court case begun in 1941 by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled and like so many other superheroes, the Captain disappeared, becoming a fond memory for older fans. A big syndication success, he was missed all over the world…

In Britain, where an English reprint line had run for many years, creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product, and transformed Captain Marvel into atomic age hero Marvelman, continuing to thrill readers into the early 1960s.

Decades later, as America lived through another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. National Periodicals/DC Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places.

Since the court settlement with Fawcett in 1953 they had secured the rights to Captain Marvel and his spin-off Family. Now, though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith decided to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in the movies, DC brought back the entire beloved cast of the Captain Marvel crew in their own kinder, weirder universe. To circumvent the intellectual property clash, they named the new title Shazam! (…With One Magic Word…) after the memorable trigger phrase used by myriad Marvels to transform to and from mortal form and a word that had already entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

Although the fortunes of Billy and Co have waxed and waned, one thing never did – the primal joy of all fans everywhere as they asked the eternal question of the golden age sales competitors: “Who would win if…?”

This rather hastily updated and rereleased volume is based on a 2013 edition but has come back presumably because it features so many stories starring surprise modern movie star Black Adam and gathers All-New Collectors’ Edition C-58, DC Comics Presents #33-34 & 49, DC Comics Presents Annual #3, Kingdom Come #4, Superman #216 and Power of Shazam #46 spanning 1978 to 2005. It’s by no means a comprehensive compilation with some notable omissions – such as my personal favourite ‘Make Way for Captain Thunder!’ from Superman # 276 (June 1974) – but there is plenty here to whet appetites and tantalise fading memories if you’re nearer the age of the Wizard than Billy…

The action begins ‘When Earths Collide’ as seen in May 1978’s tabloid-sized special All-New Collectors’ Edition C-58 as crafted by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler & Dick Giordano. At this juncture, prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Shazam Family lived on alternate Earth-S whilst the regular DC pantheon inhabited the universe dubbed Earth-One.

This epic yarn sees ancient Martian sorcerer Karmang the Evil attempt to merge both worlds by harvesting the energy of cataclysmic combat, to which end he resurrects long-dead Shazam-empowered Black Adam and the mystic Quarmer being that haunted Superman as the Sand Thing.

As they stalk and provoke the heroes, Karmang curses the champions with addictive rage, compelling them to attack each other and liberate the super-forces Karmang craves. Thankfully, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl join Mary Marvel and an unsuspected secret ally to sabotage the scheme before the Big Blue Boy Scout and Big Red Cheese pummel each other and the worlds out of existence…

Conway, Roy Thomas, Buckler & Giordano then craft a 2-part epic in DC Comics Presents #33 and 34 (May & June 1981) as ‘Man and Supermarvel’ finds the Action Ace and Good Captain helplessly swapping powers, costumes and Earths, thanks to the mirthlessly manic machinations of Fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk and malevolent alien worm Mr. Mind.

Despite the intervention of Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Junior in the concluding issue, the villains’ sinister manipulations allow antediluvian revenant King Kull to become ‘The Beast-Man that Shouted ‘Hate’ at the Heart of the U.N.’ (Thomas, Buckler & Giordano).

The consequent confrontational clash rumbles across myriad dimensions and only goes the heroes’ way after they stumble upon the garish homeworld of Lepine Legend Hoppy the Captain Marvel Bunny…

Black Adam takes centre stage in DC Comics Presents #49 (September 1982) as Thomas, Paul Kupperberg, Buckler & John Calnan detail how the troubled Billy Batson of Earth One is targeted by the immortal wizard in ‘Superman and Shazam!’

From his citadel in the Rock of Eternity, the mage seeks to empower a child and create a Marvel on Superman’s adopted homeworld. However, when he tries to enlist the Man of Steel’s assistance to create another Captain Marvel, everything goes badly wrong and the Earth-S original has to step in from his own world to stop the opportunistic depredations of his devil-hearted predecessor Teth Adam…

Captain Marvel’s blend of charm, drama and whimsy made and remade many fans, even prompting a live action TV series, but never quite enough to keep the series going in such economically trying times. Despite cancellation, however, the series persevered in back-up slots in other magazines and the character still made the occasional bombastic guest-appearance such as 1984’s DC Comics Presents Annual #3.

As delivered by Thomas, Julie Schwartz, Joey Cavalieri and illustrator Gil Kane, ‘With One Magic Word’ is a cracking and witty 40-page romp which sees the Earth-S Doctor Sivana appropriate the mystic lightning that empowers Billy, leading to a monolithic multidimensional melee involving not just the Marvel Family but also the Supermen of both Earths One and Two (this was mere months before Crisis on Infinite Earths lumped all these heroes onto one terribly beleaguered and crowded world) before peace, sanity and the status quo was restored…

Envisaged and designed by artist Alex Ross, Kingdom Come was originally released as a 4-issue Prestige Format miniseries in 1996 to rapturous acclaim and numerous awards and accolades. Although set in the future and an “imaginary story” released under the Elseworlds imprint, it almost immediately began to affect the company’s mainstream continuity.

Set approximately twenty years ahead, the grandiose saga detailed a tragic failure and subsequent loss of Faith for Superman and how his attempt to redeem himself almost caused an even greater and ultimate apocalypse.

Scripted by Mark Waid, the events are seen through the eyes and actions of Dantean witness Norman McCay, an aging cleric co-opted by Divine Agent of Wrath The Spectre after the pastor officiated at the last rites of dying superhero Wesley Dodds. As The Sandman, Dodds had been cursed with precognitive dreams which compelled him to act as an agent of justice.

This is a world where metahumans have proliferated: spawning a sub-culture of constant, violent clashes between the latest generation of costumed villains and vigilantes, all uncaring of collateral damage they daily inflict on mere mortals around and in all ways beneath them.

The preacher sees a final crisis coming… but feels helpless until the Spectre takes him on a bewildering voyage of unfolding events, McCay must act as the ghost’s human perspective as the Spirit of Vengeance prepares to pass judgement on Humanity…

Seen here is the concluding chapter: a staggering battle of superpowers, one last moment of salvation and a second chance for humanity during a calamitous ‘Never-Ending Battle’…

At first Superman’s plans seemed blessed to succeed, with many erstwhile threats flocking to his banner and doctrinaire rules of discipline, but as ever there are self-serving villains with their own agendas. Lex Luthor had organised a cabal of like-minded compatriots such as Vandal Savage, Catwoman and Kobra – a “Mankind Liberation Front”. With Captain Marvel as their utterly corrupted slave, this group is determined the super-freaks will not win, but salvation hinges on the outcome of their tool’s clash with a despondent, embittered Man of Steel…

The emotional trauma is heaped on Billy in Power of Shazam #46 (February 1999) as he reels from his failure to stop an atomic atrocity that killed many of his friends. Deeply traumatised, he at first ignores the depredations of Black Adam and allows Superman to fight his foe in Fawcett City, but when turns when pushed to far unleashing his ‘Absolute Power’ and lashing out at family, friends and foes alike in a powerful and disturbing tale by Jerry Ordway & Giordano…

The Fights ‘n’ Tights furore ends here with another single chapter from a greater epic as Superman #216 (June 2005, by Judd Winick, Ian Churchill & Norm Rapmund) sees the heir of Shazam battling a Man of Steel controlled by rage-filled Demon of Darkness Eclipso in ‘Lightning Strikes Twice Part Three’ which was part of the build up to the Acts of Vengeance storyline…

Comics are such an interconnected, overlapping and entwined medium these days that I suppose my crusty old git reservations against incomplete stories can be ignored by most readers. That said, the material here is spectacular and thrilling and should gratify and satisfy new readers generated by movies or even word of mouth. With covers by Buckler, Giordano, Kane, Ross, Churchill & Dave Stewart and Ordway, this tome offers a quick glimpse of what’s great and topical, and for those in need of more there are entire worlds waiting for you to find them…
© 1978, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1996, 1999, 2005, 2013, 2018, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice


By Len Strazewski, John Broome, Paul Levitz, Rick Burchett, Grant Miehm, Mike Parobeck, Tom Artis, Frank McLaughlin, Frank Giacoia, Arthur Peddy, Bernard Sachs, Joe Staton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0744-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Golden Ageist Evergreen Enjoyment… 8/10

Released in 2021 to celebrate their 80th anniversary, here’s yet another DC core concept given fresh wings by a modern movie. If you can find it, this hardback/digital delight is good old fashioned fun and will make a perfect present for you or yours…

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – the Action Comics debut of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s history was the combination of individual sales-points into a group.

Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: consumers couldn’t get enough of garishly-hued mystery men, and combining many characters inevitably increased readership. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one – or one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick involved…

The creation of the Justice Society of America utterly changed the shape of the budding business and – technically – All Star Comics #3 (cover-dated Winter 1940-1941, released in December 1940) was the kick-off. However, in that landmark, the assembled heroes merely had dinner whilst recounting recent cases and didn’t actually go on a mission together until #4 (cover-dated April 1941).

With the simple notion that mighty mystery men hung out together, history was made and it wasn’t long before they started working together…

However, when WWII ended, superheroes gradually declined, and most companies had shelved them by 1950. The plunge in popularity led to a revival in genre-themed titles and characters, and it was a stripped-down team (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, Black Canary, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wonder Woman) who battled on in contemporarily tailored crime and science fiction sagas before the title abruptly changed into All Star Western with #58.

It would take a second age of superheroes to revive them, this time as the champions of a parallel universe dubbed Earth Two…

Gathered here is a near-forgotten limited series concerning the latter days of the team’s Golden Age that originally ran in Justice Society of America #1-8 (April to November 1991), augmented by the last tale of the original era as seen in All-Star Comics #57, (February/March 1951), plus a turning point tale from Adventures Comics #466 (December 1979). They are preceded a sparkling, informative and appreciative Foreword by Golden Age aficionado and super scripter Mark Waid.

The miniseries – subtitled Vengeance from the Stars! – that comprises the majority of this tome was scripted by journalist and educator Len Strazewski (Speed Racer, The Flash, Phantom Lady, Starman, The Fly, The Web, Prime, Prototype, Elven) and illustrated by a rotating team of artists, opening as Rick Burchett illustrates ‘Beware the Savage Skies’. Here recently-retired mystery man Ted Knight – AKA Starman – is attacked in his private New Mexico observatory by incredible astral energy beings. Broken and dispirited, he is then enslaved by an old enemy who purloins his wondrous gravity rod before luring Jay (Flash) Garrick into a deathtrap that results in power outages across America…

The plot thickens with ‘The Sack of Gotham’ (art by Grant Miehm) as radio and television executive Alan Scott seeks to keep the lights on in his city whilst Black Canary prowls the darkened streets deterring looters and career criminals. Distracted by a museum break-in, she finds herself punching way, way up as undead monster/moron Solomon Grundy and a gang of determined bandits help themselves to ancient Egyptian artefacts at the behest of a hidden client. By the time Scott arrives as Green Lantern, the Canary has been thrashed and captured, leaving him to battle an animated star constellation dubbed Sagittarius…

Burchett inks the astoundingly talented Mike Parobeck in #3’s ‘Dead Air’, as the star thing blacks out Gotham and Scott struggles to stop it. Complications occur when Grundy – afflicted with an obsessive hatred of Green Lantern – forgets the orders from the mystery Machiavelli to attack his emerald enemy. Far away, Ted Knight learns that his gleeful foe intends to conquer Earth by eradicating modern technologies and attitudes and replace them with primordial magic and tyranny…

Tom Artis & Frank McLaughlin limn #4 as ‘Evil of the Ancients’ sees reincarnating Egyptian warrior Hawkman uncovering star-themed neolithic treasures in his day job as archaeologist Carter Hall. These findings expose the history and provenance of the constellation creatures, but also trigger the arrival of another…

Despite aerial valour and the US Army’s best efforts, deadly colossus Andromeda storms off with a clutch of atom bombs and only the sudden arrival of The Flash prevents utter disaster. The clash resumes in ‘Double Star Rising!’ by Parobeck & Burchett, as arcane knowledge and modern tech savvy combine to trace the stellar plunderer and the incredible pyramid of power it is constructing. When the heroes try to destroy it they are confronted with a second energy horror but find a way to defeat both at once, compelling the man behind the plot to finally take a personal hand in the fight…

Far across the country the Lantern and the Canary escape captivity in ‘Danger Flies the Skies’ (Artis & McLaughlin), thanks to some timely aid from valiant sidekick Doiby Dickles, and track west after the museum artefacts in time to reinforce Flash and Hawkman in ‘The Return of the Justice Society’ (art by Miehm & Burchett). Redeemed and reinspired, Knight once more takes up his costumed identity to end the villain’s plot in ‘Battle of the Stars!’

In the heady aftermath, the JSA ponder what the next decade will bring, unaware that political conspiracies, public paranoia and a wave of intolerance masquerading as social conformity was waiting to change the world in ways no one could anticipate…

In continuity terms, this was technically the antepenultimate adventure of the JSA, with the rousing romp slyly heralding mood swings in the heartland of Democracy. It is thus smartly supplemented by the team’s final appearance of the Golden Age (in All-Star Comics #57) and a chilling, thematically-aligned codicil from Adventures Comics #466.

Written by John Broome and illustrated by Frank Giacoia, Arthur Peddy & Bernard Sachs, All-Star Comics #57 was the JSA’s last hurrah as ‘The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives!’ pitted them against criminal mastermind The Key. When he abducted Earth’s greatest criminologists in advance of a spectacular robbery spree, the superheroes were called in to solve the case and prevent an impending catastrophe. It took a lot of time and effort, but the JSA never fail…

The fallow period and gradual return of the JSA was a major success of fan power in the 1960s, but that decade too ended with superheroes on the wane. During the torrid and turbulent 1970s, many of the comics industry’s oldest publishing ideas were finally laid to rest. The belief that characters could be “over-exposed” was one of the most pernicious and long-lasting (although it never hurt Superman, Batman or the original Captain Marvel), garnered from years of experience in an industry which lived or died on that fractional portion of pennies derived each month from the pocket-money and allowances of children which wasn’t spent on candy, toys or movies.

By the end of the 1960s, comic book costs and retail prices were inexorably rising and a proportion of titles – especially the newly revived horror stories – were consciously being produced for older readerships. Nearly a decade of organised fan publications and letter writing crusades had finally convinced publishing bean-counters what editors already knew: grown-ups avidly read comics too. Moreover, they happily spent more than kids and craved more, more, more of what they loved.

Explicitly: If one appearance per month was popular, extras, specials and second series would be more so. By the time Marvel Comics Wunderkind Gerry Conway left The House of Ideas, DC was willing and ready to expand its variegated line-up with some oft-requested fan-favourite characters. Paramount among these was the Justice Society of America, the first comic book super-team and a perennial gem whose annual guest-appearances in the Justice League of America and other superhero titles had become a beloved tradition and treat.

Thus in 1976 writer/editor Conway marked his second DC tenure (he had first broken into the game writing horror shorts for Joe Orlando) by reviving All Star Comics with #58.

In 1951, the original title transformed overnight into All Star Western with the numbering running for a further decade for the home of cowboy crusaders like Strong Bow, The Trigger Twins, Johnny Thunder and Super-Chief. Now, set on Earth-Two, and in keeping with the editorial sense of ensuring a series be relevant to young readers too, Conway reintroduced the veteran team, leavened with a smattering of teen heroes forming a contentious, generation gap-fuelled “Super Squad”…

Augmented by Robin (a JSA-er since the mid-1960s in Justice League of America #55), Sylvester Pemberton/Star-Spangled Kid and a busty young thing who rapidly became the feisty favourite of a generation of growing boys: Kara Zor-L – Power Girl. Closing this collection is a short piece as she and fellow newcomer Huntress discuss how the Golden Age ended…

Taken from massive 68-page anthology title Adventure Comics 466 where Paul Levitz & Joe Staton delivered a pithy history lesson exposing the reason why the team vanished at the beginning of the 1950s, ‘The Defeat of the Justice Society!’ shows how the American Government cravenly betrayed their greatest champions. Set during early days of the McCarthy era anti-communist witch-hunts, a sham trial provoked the mystery men into voluntarily withdrawing from public, heroic life. There they stayed until the costumed stalwarts of Earth-One started the whole Fights ‘n’ Tights scene all over again…

These exuberant, rapid-paced and imaginative yarns perfectly blend the naive charm of Golden Age derring-do with cynically hopeful modern sensibilities. Here you will be reassured that no matter what, in the end our heroes will always find a way to save the day. These are classic tales from simpler times and a glorious example of traditional superhero storytelling at its finest: fun, furious and ferociously engaging, excitingly written and beguilingly illustrated. No Fights ‘n’ Tights fan should miss these marvellous sagas.
© 1951, 1979,1991, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: Strange Attractors


By Gail Simone, Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, John Byrne & Nelson (DC Comics)
ISBN 978-1-4012-0917-9 (TPB)

Here’s a Superman collection tailored to the fight fan, as the mighty Man of Steel takes on a bevy of baddies in terse tales designed as an antidote to an over-abundance of multi-chapter epics. I’m focussing on it here primarily because it’s also a complication- and continuity-light compendium featuring movie Man of the Moment Black Adam…

Created by Otto Binder & C.C. Beck, Black Adam/Teth Adam debuted in The Marvel Family #1, cover-dated December 1945. There he was revealed as the power-corrupted predecessor of current magical superhero (the Original…) Captain Marvel. The Egyptian relic’s reign of evil ended with his death at the end of the story…

You can’t keep a good villain down though, and when the Golden Age Marvel was revived in the 1970s as Shazam!, the ancient antithesis eventually returned to bedevil the heroes. He even survived the continuity changing chaos of Crisis on Infinite Earths and numerous subsequent reboots.

For present purposes, the following is the backstory new readers should access…

Once upon a time Billy Batson was a little boy living on the streets of Fawcett City. His archaeologist parents had left him with an uncle when they went on a dig to Egypt. They never returned, his little sister vanished and Billy was thrown out so his guardian could steal his inheritance.

Sleeping in a storm drain and selling newspapers for cash, the indomitable lad grew street-smart and resilient, but when a shadowy stranger bade him follow into an eerie subway, the boy somehow knew it was all okay. Soon after, he met the wizard Shazam, who bestowed upon him the powers of six ancient Gods and Heroes.

Thus began an astounding career as wholesome powerhouse hero Captain Marvel. Billy eventually found lost sister Mary and shared his nigh-infinite power with her, as they both subsequently did with disabled friend Freddy Freeman.

They fought and eventually reached an accommodation with militant progenitor Black Adam, who was the wizard’s first superhuman champion, reborn in the body of Theo Adam – a distant descendant who had murdered the Batson’s parents. When a succession of crises arose, everything changed.

Immortal Shazam was murdered, Billy was exiled to the transcendent Rock of Eternity as his replacement and Freddy became a new Captain Marvel; his mighty gifts supplied by a completely different pantheon of patrons.

Meanwhile, Black Adam had found peace and redemption in the love of ascendant nature goddess Isis …until she was cruelly taken from him. The worst tragedies befell poor Mary. Deprived of her intoxicating powers she became an addict without a fix… until soul-sick Adam shared his dark energies with her. His corrupted spirit fatally tainted the once-vibrant innocent…

During his lost phase, the Egyptian warrior vacillated between hard-line hero and outright menace: joining the Justice Society of America but also arbitrarily administering his old testament brand of judgement whenever he felt the need…

This selection of Superman stories comes from Action Comics #827-828, and #830-835 (spanning July 2005 through March 2006). The run of was originally interrupted for the “Sacrifice” storyline (and collected as a graphic novel of the same name), so the volume reconvenes with the episode after…

First up is eponymous 2-part saga ‘Strange Attractors’ and Strange Attractors part 2 – Positive Reinforcement’: a battle against the incredibly bad and quite mad Master of Magnetism Dr Polaris, aided, if not abetted, by the resurrected reprobate Black Adam, currently holding a high position in supervillain army The Society…

Following the aforementioned Sacrifice pause, we reconvene with #830’s ‘The Great Society’ as the Man of Tomorrow tackles Dr. Psycho. The old Wonder Woman villain is a physically stunted, sadistic psychologist with the power to control minds. When he arrives in Metropolis intent on mischief, Superman finds that every citizen is a foe and hostage at the same time.

Once again, Black Adam is on hand to render ambivalent assistance as ‘Black & Blue’ (a Villains United tie-in) sees Adam reassess his role before it all devolves into the obligatory fist fight.

Scripted by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning ‘Old Ghosts’ sees Devil-surrogate Lord Satanus and the Spectre use the city as a phantasmal Ground Zero next, and, after refereeing that little cataclysm, Superman finds himself the target of a psychic and spiritual assault from old JLA foe The Queen of Fables in ‘Depths’ and ‘Awake in the Dark’ – with Norm Rapmund, Larry Stucker, Marc Campos, & Oclair Albert joining Nelson in applying inks to John Byrne’s pencils..

The furious ferocious fun concludes in a duel with Livewire, that perky punkette with absolute control of all things electrical who contracts ‘A Contagion of Madness’ with Gail Simone, John Byrne and inker Nelson delivering potent, punchy and self-contained mini-classics.

Not overly complicated, concentrating on exhilaration and excitement, but still managing to sustain some tense sub-plots involving Lois Lane-Kent and the rest of the venerable supporting cast, these stories are just plain fun. It’s a shame that the experiment doesn’t seem to have caught on …
© 2005, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore


By Dennis O’Neil, Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0755 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Total Entertainment Perfection… 10/10

Superman is the comic book crusader who started the whole genre and, in the decades since his 1938 debut, has probably undertaken every kind of adventure imaginable. With that in mind it’s tempting and very rewarding to gather up whole swathes of his inventory and periodically re-present them in specific themed collections, such as this hardback celebrating one his greatest extended adventures. The episodes contained within were originally released just as comics fandom was becoming a powerful – if headless – lobbying force reshaping the industry to its own specialised desires and remains a true landmark of the superhero genre.

When Julie Schwartz took over editorial responsibility for the Man of Steel in 1970, he was expected to shake things up with nothing less than spectacular results. To that end, he sagely incorporated many key characters and events that were simultaneously developing as part of fellow iconoclast Jack Kirby’s freshly unfolding “Fourth World”.

That bold experiment was a breathtaking tour de force of cosmic wonderment which brought a staggering new universe to fans: instantly and permanently changing the way comics were perceived and how the entire medium could be received.

Schwartz, meanwhile, was again breathing fresh life into a powerful but moribund icon – a job he had been excelling at since he more-or-less singlehandedly kickstarted the Silver Age of Comics. Superman had been a mega-media star since his launch, with internationally syndicated comics, books, newspaper strips, movie and cinema serials plus hugely successful radio and TV shows (live action and animated) making the franchise globally recognizable. Whenever that happens, inevitably overkill and overexposure inescapably set in and the core property needs to be carefully overhauled or vanish forever. I’ll bet you can think of plenty of really famous and ubiquitous things from your childhood that one day you simply stopped noticing. Happily, sometimes they can be reborn…

Schwartz knew his market and was open to new ideas, and his creative changes were just appearing in 1971. The new direction was also vanguard and trigger for a wealth of controversial and socially-challenging story content unheard of since the feature’s earliest days: a wave of tales ultimately described as “Relevant”…

The era itself and those vital changes are described and contextualised in Paul Levitz’s Introduction, after which the crucial radical shift in Superman’s vast mythology starts to unfold.

With iconic covers by Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson, this titanic tome collects Superman #233-238 and #240-242, originally running from January to September 1971.

The groundbreaking epic was crafted by scripter Dennis J. “Denny” O’Neil, and veteran illustrators Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson – although stand-in Dick Giordano inked #240. A deliberate and very public abandonment of super-villains, fanciful Kryptonian scenarios and otherworldly paraphernalia instantly revitalised the Man of Tomorrow, attracting new readers and began a period of engagingly human-scaled stories which made Superman a “must-buy” character all over again.

The innovations began in ‘Superman Breaks Loose’ (Superman #233) when a government experiment to harness Kryptonite as an energy source goes explosively wrong. Closely monitoring the test, the Action Ace is blasted across the desert surrounding the isolated lab, but somehow survives a supposedly fatal radiation-bath. Then, reports begin filtering in from all over Earth: every piece of the deadly mineral has been transformed to harmless, common iron…

As he goes about his protective, preventative patrols, the liberated hero experiences an emotional high at the prospect of all the good he can now accomplish. He isn’t even phased when the Daily Planet‘s new owner Morgan Edge (a key Kirby character) shakes up his civilian life: summarily ejecting Clark Kent from the print game to remaking him as a roving TV journalist…

Meanwhile, the desert site of his recent crashlanding offers a moment of deep foreboding as Superman’s irradiated imprint in the sand shockingly grows solid and shambles away in ghastly parody of life…

The suspense resumes in #234’s ‘How to Tame a Wild Volcano!’ as an out-of-control plantation owner refuses to let his indentured native workforce flee an imminent eruption on the island of Boki. Handicapped by misused international laws, the Man of Tomorrow can only fume helplessly as the UN rushes towards a diplomatic solution. His anxiety intensifies when a sinister sand-thing inadvertently passes him and agonisingly drains him of his powers.

Crashing to Earth in a turbulent squall, the de-powered hero is attacked by work boss Boysie Harker‘s thugs and instantly responds to the foolish provocation, relying for a change on determination rather than overwhelming might to save the day…

The ‘Sinister Scream of the Devil’s Harp’ in #235 gave way to weirder ways – the industry was enjoying a periodic revival of interest in supernatural themes and stories – as mystery musician and apparent polymath Ferlin Nyxly reveals the secret of his ever-growing aptitudes and gifts is an archaic artefact which steals from living beings knowledge, talents and even Superman’s alien abilities.

The Man of Steel is initially unaware of the drain, as he’s trying to communicate with his eerily silent doppelganger, but once Nyxly graduates to a full-on raving super-menace self-dubbed Pan, the taciturn homunculus unexpectedly joins its living template to trounce the power thief…

Issue #236 offered a Batman cameo and a science fictional morality play as cherubic aliens seek Superman’s assistance to defeat a band of devils and rescue Kent’s friends from Hell. However, the ‘Planet of the Angels’ is nothing of the kind, and the Metropolis Marvel must pull out all the stops to save Earth from a very real Armageddon, after which Superman #237 sees him save an orbiting astronaut only to see him succumb to madness-inducing mutative disease. After another savage confrontation with the sand-thing further debilitates him, the harried hero is present as more mortals fall to the contagion.

Believing himself the cause, the ‘Enemy of Earth’ considers quarantining in space. As he decides, Lois Lane stumbles into another lethal predicament and the hero’s instinctive intervention seemingly confirms his earlier diagnosis, but another clash with the ever-present sandy simulacrum on the edge of space presents an incredible truth. Painfully debilitated, Superman nevertheless saves Lois and again meets the evermore human creature. Now able to speak, it offers a chilling warning and the Man of Steel realises exactly what it is taking from him and what it might become…

A mere shadow of his former self, the Man of Tomorrow is unable to prevent a band of terrorists taking over a magma-tapping drilling rig and endangering the entire Earth in #238’s ‘Menace at 1000 Degrees’. With Lois among their hostages and the madmen threatening to detonate a nuke in the pipeline, the Action Ace desperately begs his doppelganger to assist him, but its cold rejection forces the depleted hero to take the biggest gamble of his life…

Superman #239 was an all-reprint giant featuring the hero in his incalculably all-powerful days – so not included here – but the diminished Caped Kryptonian returned in #240 (with Giordano inks) to confront his own lessened state and seek a solution in ‘To Save a Superman’. The trigger is his inability to extinguish a tenement fire and the wider world’s realisation that their unconquerable champion is now vulnerable and fallible…

Especially interested are the Anti-Superman Gang who immediately allocate all resources to destroying their nemesis. After one particularly close call, Clark is visited by an ancient Asian sage who somehow knows his other identity and offers an unconventional solution…

From 1968 superhero comics began to decline – just as they had at the end of the 1940s – so publishers sought fresh ways to keep audience as tastes changed. Back then, the industry depended on newsstand sales, and if you weren’t popular, you died. Editor Jack Miller, innovating illustrator Mike Sekowsky and relatively new scripter Denny O’Neil came up with a radical proposal and made history by depowering the only female superhero then in the marketplace. They had the mystical Amazons leave our dimension, taking with them all their magic – including Wonder Woman‘s powers and all her weapons…

Reduced to mere humanity she chose to stay on Earth, assuming and legitimising her own secret identity of Diana Prince: resolved to fighting injustice as a mortal. Tutored by blind Buddhist monk I Ching, she trained as a martial artist, and quickly became a formidable enemy of contemporary evil.

I Ching claims he can repair Superman’s difficulties and dwindling might, but evil eyes are watching. Arriving clandestinely, Superman allows the adept to remove his Kryptonian powers as a precursor to restoring them, allowing the A-S Gang opportunity to strike. In the resultant brutal melee, the all-too-human hero triumphs in the hardest fight of his life…

The saga continues with “Swan-derson” back on art in #241 as Superman overcomes momentary but almost overwhelming temptation to surrender his oppressive burden and lead a normal life. Admonished and resolved, he then submits to Ching’s resumed remedy ritual and finds his spirit soaring to where the sand-being lurks before explosively reclaiming the stolen powers. Leaving the gritty golem a shattered husk, the phantom brings the awesome energies back to their true owner and a triumphant hero returns to saving the world…

Over the next few days, however, it becomes clear that something has gone wrong. The Man of Tomorrow has become arrogant, erratic and unpredictable, acting rashly, overreacting and even making stupid mistakes. In her boutique Diana Prince discusses the problem with Ching and the sagacious teacher deduces that whilst merely mortal and fighting AS gangsters, Superman received punishing blows to the head which have caused a brain injury that did not heal after his powers returned…

When the hero refuses to listen, Diana and Ching track down the dying sand-thing and beg its aid. The elderly savant recognises it as a formless creature from other-dimensional Quarrm and listens to the amazing story of its entrance into our world. He also suggests a way for it to regain some of what it recently lost…

Superman, meanwhile, has blithely gone about his deranged business until savagely attacked by a statue of a Chinese war-demon. Also able to steal his power, it has been possessed by a second fugitive from Quarrm. It has no conscience and wears ‘The Shape of Fear!…

The shocking saga concludes in ‘The Ultimate Battle’ as the second Quarrmer falls under the sway of two petty thugs who use it to put the again de-powered Superman into hospital…

Rushed into emergency surgery, the Kryptonian fights for his life as sand-thing confronts war-demon in the streets, but events take an even more bizarre turn once the latter drives off its foe and turns towards the hospital to finish off the flesh-&-blood Superman. Regaining consciousness – and a portion of his power – the Metropolis Marvel battles the beast to a standstill but needs the aid of his silicon stand-in to drive the thing back beyond the pale. With the immediate threat ended, Man of Steel and Man of Sand face off one last time, each determined to ensure his own existence no matter the cost…

The stunning conclusion was a brilliant stroke on the part of the creators, one which left Superman approximately half the man he used to be. Of course, all too soon he returned to his unassailable, god-like power levels but never quite regained the tension-free smug assurance of his 1950s-1960s self.

A fresh approach, snappy dialogue and more human-scaled concerns to balance outrageous implausible fantasy elements all wedded to gripping plots and sublime art make Kryptonite Nevermore one of the very best Superman sagas ever created. Also included are creator biographies, the iconic ‘House Ad’ by Swan & Vince Colletta which proclaimed the big change throughout the DC Universe, plus a thoughtful ‘Afterword by Dennis O’Neil’ to wraps things up with some insights and reminiscences every lover of the medium will appreciate.

A must-have graphic novel to sit on the same shelf as Watchmen, Batman: Year One, Segar’s Popeye, Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse, Kirby & Lee’s Galactus Trilogy and Chaykin’s American Flagg!: a shining exemplar of action- adventure comics captured at their most perfect moment. Why don’t you have this yet?
© 1971, 2009, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Newsboy Legion Volume One


By Joe Simon & Jack Kirby with Arturo Cazeneuve, Gil Kane, John Daly, Harry Tschida & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2593-3 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Never Too Early for Classic Comic Kid Capers… 9/10

Just as the Golden Age of Comics was beginning, two young men with big dreams met and began a decades-long association that was uniquely, intensely creative, immensely productive and spectacularly in tune with popular tastes. As kids both had sold newspapers on street-corners to help their families survive the Great Depression…

Joe Simon was sharp, smart, talented and studious, with 5 years’ experience in “real” publishing: working from the bottom up to become art director on a succession of small paper like the Rochester Journal American, Syracuse Herald and Syracuse Journal American.

He moved to New York City and a life of freelancing as an illustrator, art & photo retoucher. Encouraged and recommended by his boss, Simon joined Lloyd Jacquet’s pioneering Funnies Inc.: a production “shop” generating strips and characters for numerous publishers, all eager to cash in on the success of Action Comics and its stellar attraction Superman. Within days, Simon devised The Fiery Mask for Martin Goodman of Timely Comics (AKA Marvel), where he became acquainted with young Jacob Kurtzberg, a cartoonist and animator just hitting his stride with The Blue Beetle for the Fox Features Syndicate.

Together Simon & Kurtzberg (who went through many pen-names before settling on Jack Kirby) built a creative empathy and synergy that galvanized an already electric neo-industry with a vast catalogue of features and even sub-genres. They produced influential monthly periodical Blue Bolt, sub-contracted and dashed out Captain Marvel Adventures (#1) for Fawcett and, once Martin Goodman appointed Simon his editor at Timely, created a host of iconic characters like Red Raven, the first Marvel Boy, Hurricane, The Vision, proto-Kid Gang The Young Allies and, of course, million-selling megahit Captain America.

Famed for his larger-than-life characters and colossal cosmic imaginings, “King” Kirby was an astute, spiritual, hard-working family man who lived through poverty, gangsterism and the Depression. He loved his work, hated chicanery of every sort and foresaw a big future for the comics industry…

When Goodman failed to make good on his financial obligations, Simon & Kirby jumped ship to National/DC, who welcomed them with open arms and a fat chequebook. Bursting with ideas the staid company were not comfortable with, the hypercreative duo were initially an uneasy fit, and given two strips that were in the doldrums until they could find their creative feet: Sandman and Manhunter.

They turned both around virtually overnight before, ensconced, established and left to their own devices, launching the aforementioned Kid Gang genre (technically “recreating” as the notion was one of their last Timely innovations in 1941s bombastic, jingoistic Young Allies #1). Their DC star fully rose with a unique juvenile Foreign Legion dubbed The Boy Commandos.

The little warriors began by sharing the spotlight with Batman and Robin in flagship title Detective Comics, but they rapidly won their own solo title. It promptly became one of the company’s top three sellers.

Boy Commandos was such a success – frequently cited as the biggest-selling US comic book in the world at that time – that the editors and Publisher Jack Liebowitz, knowing the Draft was imminent, greenlit completion of a wealth of extra material to lay away for when their stars were called up. S&K consequently assembled a creative team which generated so much material in a phenomenally short time that Liebowitz suggested they retool some of it into adventures of a second juvenile team. Thus was born The Newsboy Legion (and superheroic mentor The Guardian)…

Based on the Our Gang/Little Rascals film shorts (1922-1944) and Angels With Dirty Faces (1938, directed by Michael Curtiz), the Newsboy Legion was pitched halfway between a surly bunch of comedy grotesques and charmingly naive ragamuffins, and comprised four ferociously independent orphans living together on the streets, peddling papers to survive. There was earnest, good-looking Tommy Tompkins, garrulous genius Big Words, diminutive, hyper-active chatterbox Gabby and feisty, pugnacious Scrapper, whose Brooklyn-based patois and gutsy belligerence usually stole the show. They were headed for a bad end until somebody extraordinary entered their lives…

Their exploits generally offered a bombastic blend of crime thriller and comedy caper, leavened with dynamic superhero action and usually seen from a kid’s point of view. The series debuted in Star-Spangled Comics #7, forcing the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy off the cover slot and lead position. The youngsters remained opening feature until the end of 1946, when – without fanfare or warning – #65 found them gone: ousted and replaced by Robin, the Boy Wonder. His own youth-oriented solo series subsequently ran all the way to SSC #130 in 1952, by which time superhero romps had largely been supplanted throughout the industry by general genre tales.

This collection reprints the first 26 episodes, spanning Star-Spangled Comics #7 to 32 (April 1942-May 1944), and includes stunning covers by Kirby, inker Arturo Cazeneuve, Fred Ray and teenage debutante Gil Kane. It opens with a lyrical and revelatory reminiscence from Joe Simon himself. His invaluable Introduction ‘Birth of the Legion’ leads directly into a potent tale of poverty and skulduggery pitted against idealism to create optimism in the darkest of urban outposts as ‘The Story of the Newsboy Legion’ introduces rookie cop Jim Harper walking a beat in the inner city hellscape dubbed “Suicide Slum”.

When he’s jumped by a gang of thugs and severely beaten, Harper responds in an unlikely manner: raiding a costume store and cobbling together an outfit to obscure his identity. Donning a blue bodystocking, hooded mask, crash-helmet and shield, he hunts down his assailants and gives them the thrashing they so richly deserve…

Happily, his illegal actions accidentally result in the arrest of an infamous kidnap ring. The mysterious figure is dubbed the Guardian of Society by the newspapers selling like hotcakes on street corners. Harper has no intention of repeating his foray into vigilantism, but when he catches Tommy, Big Words, Gabby & Scrapper shoplifting, their lives are all forever changed…

The tough little monkeys are destined for reform school until the cop makes an earnest plea for clemency on their behalf. In response, the judge appoints him their legal guardian. The lads are far from grateful and send him packing, but when their next get-rich-scheme involves them with armed bandits, they realise the mettle of the man they’re saddled with…

Witnesses to the crimes of murderous mobster Frankie the Fence and hopelessly implicated in them, the boys are about to die when a human thunderbolt in a mask and helmet comes to their rescue.

In actual fact it’s unclear who saves whom, but at the end the Newsboy Legion are finally set on a righteous path, but with their suspicions aroused. Frustratingly, no matter how hard they try, the boys can’t prove that their two Guardians are the same guy…

And thus the scene was set: the lads constantly looking for broadly legal ways to make a living, whilst Harper hovered over them as a guide and his alter ego worked tirelessly behind the scene to keep them alive and extricate from the trouble that always found them on the streets and alleys of the most-crime-infested slum in America…

The very next month Tommy stumbles onto the hideout of fugitive killer Black Leo Lucas and his abduction to ‘Last Mile Alley’ leads the fighting-mad Guardian to a confrontation with the latest Big Boss who thought himself untouchable. ‘The Rookie Takes the Rap’ then sees Harper framed by devious gambler Sure Thing Kelly and only cleared by the actions of his now-devoted foster-kids…

To be frank, the relationship between Jim and the boys was never properly defined. Although he was responsible for keeping them out of trouble, they never lived with him and generally provided for themselves whilst – presumably – still sleeping on the streets…

Having now made some headlines of their own, the boys are offered the chance to be ‘Kings for a Day’ in Star-Spangled Comics #10: running various municipal departments in a grand civic publicity stunt. Sadly, the event is hijacked by mobster The Mark, whose plans to plunder the entire city would have succeeded had he not underestimated those pesky kids temporarily in charge of the emergency services…

Many episodes worked powerfully against the pervasive backdrop of crushing poverty and social injustice. SSC #11 saw the boys arrested by a heartbroken Jim for burglary and sent to the State Reformatory. What he doesn’t know is that the boys have learned of corruption at ‘Paradise Prison’ and seek to expose unctuous, sanctimonious Warden Goodley for the sadistic grafter he truly is…

With little kids starving in their hovels and resorting to petty theft, the boys decide to make a documentary with borrowed film equipment. Naturally the hunt for perfect locations drops them right in the laps of bank bandits resulting in a ‘Prevue of Peril’, and requiring another last-minute save by the blockbusting blue-&-gold mystery man with the pot on his head…

With the clue in the name, the Legion still made most of their living hawking newspapers. Whenever tabloids weren’t selling, things got tough, and in SSC #13 falling sales spur the lads to create their own local periodical. With Harper’s assistance, the premier issue of the Slum Sentinel proves a huge success but ‘The Scoop of Suicide Slums!’ makes the area too hot for crooks in their warrens. However, in seeking to crush the little newsmakers, the city’s biggest racketeer only exposes himself to Legion scrutiny …and the Guardian’s furious fists!

Philanthropist Wilbur Whilling is a man with a plan. Using the Legion as his unwitting shills, he convinces slum residents to donate everything they have to build a modern apartment project to house everyone. Sadly, ‘The Meanest Man on Earth!’ never expected the kids to uncover his fraudulent alliance with lawyers and planners to repossess the snazzy new complex upon completion, and certainly isn’t ready for the personal retribution doled out by Scrapper and the man in the mask.

Arturo Cazeneuve became prime inker with #15’s ‘Playmates of Peril!’ as Patrolman Harper’s frequent absences lead to his being partnered with a supervising sergeant. It doesn’t stop his trouble-magnet wards falling into another criminal caper and being taken hostage: necessitating a storm of frantic improvisation to save them, his job and his secret identity…

When Tommy saves a child from being run over, the hero is eagerly adopted by rich banker Willis Thornton. He doesn’t want to go but his pals force him to take his shot at escaping the ghetto. All too soon, though, ‘The Playboy of Suicide Slum!’ is framed for robbery at the Thornton mansion and needs his true brothers to clear his name, after which ‘The Newsboy Legion versus the Rafferty Mob’ finds the kids in a turf-war with rival street toughs led by the toughest girl they have ever encountered.

Hostilities cease as soon as a gang of gunsels use the distraction as a way of trapping the Guardian…

‘The Education of Iron-Fist Gookin’ sees the slum’s most brutal thug taking elocution lessons from Big Words, and picking up a few morals – plus a pardon and new start – along the way, before ‘The Fuehrer of Suicide Slum’ focuses on Scrapper and takes the odd narrative liberty, depicting the boys battling Nazis after a sneak attack and invasion of New York City…

Steve Brodie inked the return to comic book reality in Star-Spangled Comics #20’s ‘The Newsboys and the Champ!’ as the boys help hillbilly boxer Zeke Potts navigate the lethally crooked big city fight game before ‘The House Where Time Stood Still’ (Cazeneuve inks) finds the kids selling war bonds. To do so they explore a derelict house and discover two be-whiskered hermits who have shunned the world for decades. The belligerent Presby brothers change their isolationist attitudes once Nazi spies move into their home, so it’s a good thing the Legion didn’t take that first “no” for an answer…

Gabby wrecks an automobile and incurs dubious yet huge debt in the Cazeneuve-inked ‘Brains for Sale!’ and his proposed payment solution leads the entire team into deadly danger from an underworld surgeon, after which ‘Art for Scrapper’s Sake’ (John Daly inks) sees that bellicose boy discovering his extremely profitable creative side. Typically, he’s far from happy after realising he’s just the patsy for a high-end art fraud…

Cazeneuve returns as regular inker with ‘Death Strikes a Bargain’ in SSC #24, as a crime crackdown in Suicide Slum leads to the kids being parachuted into a luxurious new life as part of a bold social experiment. Of course, the reformer in charge has a murderous ulterior motive for his seeming benevolence…

A vacation growing vegetables on a farm in ‘Victuals for Victory’ lands the lads in more trouble as their nearest neighbours turn out to be bucolic bandits hiding out after a big city crime spree, whilst ‘Louie the Lug Goes Literary’ sees the Guardian bust a major felon and inadvertently spark a massive hunt for the racketeer’s favourite tome… and the incredible secrets it holds…

Star-Spangled Comics #27 has the lads as volunteer firefighters encountering an insurance inspector-turned-arsonist eager to ‘Turn on the Heat’, whilst #28’s ‘Poor Man’s Rich Man’ sees kindly night watchman Pop O’Leary inherit a fortune. Immediately lavishing largesse on all the other unfortunates in Suicide Slum, Pop only starts to worry after his unpaid bills mount up and his lines of credit dry up, until the Newsboys discover the generous geezer is victim of a cruel plot by saboteurs. They furiously take appropriate action, with the hammer-fisted Guardian charging along for the ride…

Always seeking solid investments, the kids hop on the publishing bandwagon in ‘Cabbages and Comics’: hoping to make millions peddling their own strip magazine. Their big mistake is incorporating local hoods’ likenesses and overheard snippets of gossip in the final mix…

Naturally, their masked protector is on hand to prevent them perishing from the indignation – and guns – of the plunderers they inadvertently expose and plagiarize…

In SSC #30, a reformed crook is framed and ‘The Lady of Linden Lane’ suddenly abandons her miserly ways and starts acting very strangely, leading the lads to devilish fraud, after which neophyte superstar Gil Kane illustrates ‘Questions, Please?’ with brilliant Big Words and even his less cerebral comrades becoming radio quiz sensations on the very night the dread Purple Mask gang raid the studio.

This stunning assemblage of astounding articles concludes with Star-Spangled Comics #32 as the boys act as ‘The Good Samaritans!’ (by Kane & Harry Tschida), unknowingly sheltering a gang of desperate, starving thieves holding millions in hot cash they can’t spend… yet…

After years of neglect, the glorious wealth of Jack Kirby material available these days is a true testament to his influence and legacy, and this magnificent, initial collection of his collaborations with fellow pioneer Joe Simon is a gigantic box of delights perfectly illustrating the depth, scope and sheer thundering joy of the early days of comics.
© 1942, 1943, 1944, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Other History of the DC Universe


By John Ridley, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, José Villarrubia & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1197-3 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Hard-Hitting, Strong Medicine… 9/10

The evolution and assimilation of non-white, non-standard characters – defined and othered by skin colour, religion, ethnicity and who loves whom – has been in most mass media what author and screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years a Slave; Future State: The Next Batman) has described as “measured progressiveness”.

That’s especially true in comics, where incremental firsts have been applauded – and rightly so, as the industry has always been at the forefront of progressive thinking and action – but has also suffered from a tickbox mentality where true change has been slow to materialise and hard to sustain. We can say “first black superhero”, “first gay hero”, “first interracial marriage” or “first same-sex kiss” , but other than offering a glimmer of acceptance, and recognition, what has changed?

It’s certainly better than an all-white, all-male milieu where “different” equates to “lesser than”, where more than 50% of the populace and who knows how much of the readership doesn’t conform to proposed norms and are reduced to eye-candy, plot props and useless bystanders (not even competent villains who at least have agency!). For the longest time these attitudes were tacitly enshrined on funnybook pages – and not even for sinister reasons – but what appears to simply be an unconscious acceptance of an unchallenged status quo…

You can read other books or even some previous posts here from the last month for background, if you want, but here and now, I’m pointing you towards a fascinating and gripping series recently collected as an answer to that situation.

Here Ridley – with illustrators Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, José Villarrubia and letterer Steve Wands – re-examines and deconstructs DC’s record of Diversity progress via all those slow incremental steps and breakthroughs: interpreting through the eyes and attitudes of the revolutionary characters the company added but with modern sensibilities and opinions in play…

Filtered from a socio-political perspective and assessment of those times – but not in the comfortably parochial “everything’s basically fine” tones of a white, male middle class parental audience-placator – you’ll learn a different history: one told not under Comics Code Restrictions, or commercial interests sanitising culture and attitude to keep (covertly and actively) racist authorities from embargoing titles but as heroic individuals finally telling their sides of a well-known story.

Published under DC’s Black Label mature reader imprint it begins with the story of Black Lighting in Book One – 1972-1995: Jefferson Pierce. Here we see the inner workings of an African American former Olympian who became a school teacher and vigilante to save lives and how it destroyed and damaged his family, after which Book Two – 1970-1989: Karen Beecher-Duncan & Mal Duncan recounts in their words how being the tokens on a team of white privileged teen super do-gooders shaped their lives and relationship.

A far darker divergence is applied to Japanese warrior/assassin Katana in Book Three – 1983-1996: (plus the kanji for Yamashiro Tatsu), exploring the tragic Japanese widow’s reinventions from faithful wife/widow to murderous killer and lethal weapon to nurturing superhero and beyond…

The lecture continues with the tale of a Gay Latinx cop who inherited the role of DC’s most mysterious avenger in Book Four – 1992-2007: Renee Montoya, before The Question resolves into second generation angst and answers for Book Five – 1981-2010: Anissa Pierce. Here Black Lightning’s actual legacy and effect on DC continuity is reappraised through the eyes of his superhero children Thunder and Lightning, with religion and sexual orientation also coming under fire.

All we’ve seen before is summed up with no obfuscations or confusions, but you might want to reread or acquaint yourself with the original material as seen in various volumes of Black Lightning, Teen Titans, The Outsiders as well as selected continuity highpoints of Green Lantern, Batman, Cosmic Odyssey, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Death of Superman. Don’t let the reading list deter you though: you could simply plunge right in and wing it. The material, its tone and reinterpretation are carefully orchestrated and fully approachable for any level of fan from veteran adept to casual film watcher…

Ridley enacts a miraculous slice of sleight of hand here, examining simultaneously the actual published comics as accepted DC lore but also the redefining times they were created in and filling out the characters in modern terms – quite a feat of meta-realism…

The covers are by Camuncoli & Marco Mastrazzo with Jamal Campbell producing some stunning variants, but the true attraction of The Other History of the DC Universe is the knowledge that times and attitudes have changed enough that this book is even possible. Read it and see…
© 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.