Category: DC Superhero

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Batgirl: The Flood


By Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett, Pere Perez & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3142-2

Batman has gathered young allies about him since the second year of his all-consuming crusade: adopting assorted waifs or strays and training them to be the best that they can be, all for the greater good of his beloved GothamCity.

Stephanie Brown, daughter of C-list bad-guy Cluemaster, began her costumed crime-busting career as the Spoiler, secretly scotching Daddy Dearest’s schemes before graduating to a more general campaign against the city’s underworld.

Eventually, she undertook a disastrous stint as the fourth Robin: a tenure which provoked a brutal gang war which devastated Gotham and ostensibly caused her own demise under torture at the red hands of psychopathic mob boss Black Mask.

When Stephanie returned to Gotham after months in self-imposed exile, she overcame incredible obstacles – the greatest of which was her former Bat-family’s deep mistrust. Thus she inherited the role of Batgirl from Cassandra Cain, a former assassin who had revived the role after her own predecessor was crippled and forced to retire…

Barbara Gordon, the computer crusader known as Oracle, is the daughter of Gotham City’s Police Commissioner. Her own valiant vocation as Batgirl was ended after the Joker blew out her spine during one of his incomprehensible capers. Although trapped in a wheelchair, she still hungered for justice and found new ways to make a difference in a very bad world.

Reinventing herself as a cyber-world information gatherer for Batman, she wound up an invaluable resource for the entire superhero community, before putting together her own fluctuating squad of female fighters – the Birds of Prey.

She also crossed keyboards with her intellectual antithesis: a sociopathic computer hacker and ex-costumed whacko called the Calculator…

Barbara, with grudging acceptance of stand-in Dark Knight Dick Grayson, then decided to mentor Stephanie as the troublesome teen attempted to combine undergraduate studies with her compulsive mission to save lives and help the helpless…

Collecting issues #9-14 of Batgirl volume 3 (from June-November 2010), this full-on action romp scripted by Bryan Q. Miller blends grim urban adventure and deadly Weird Science with infectious wry humour, as perfectly seen in the 4-part ‘Batgirl Rising: The Flood’ (illustrated by Lee Garbett, Pere Perez and inkers Jonathan Glapion, Richard Friend, Rodney Ramos, Walden Wong).

After Batgirl saves a subway train from a crazed suicide bomber, Stephanie is drawn into her mentor’s deadly ongoing cyber-war with the Calculator.

Not only does the digital desperado bear an unhealthy grudge for his past humiliations at the hands of the enigmatic Oracle, but now, since the computer crusader harbours his own estranged and wheelchair-bound daughter Wendy, turning her against him, all bets are off…

His diabolical revenge includes not only a devastating hack-attack on Oracle’s database and systems but also, using stolen alien programming code, mind-controlling thousands of citizens. The Apokolips nanites are everywhere, turning ordinary folk into savage suicide-assassins aimed at Barbara and the new Batgirl.

Either they surrender Wendy or an army of innocents will turn the city into a charnel-house…

Forced to lethal lengths to combat the Calculator’s bloody assault, Babs goes mobile but succumbs to the mind-stealing mechanoid plague, leaving Wendy to act as Stephanie’s new partner and digital quartermaster. However since the villain’s army of thralls now include brain-bound techno-zombies like Man-Bat, Catwoman and The Huntress, the task seems impossible…

Reduced to a last-ditch frontal assault Batgirl spectacularly invades the Calculator’s base, unaware that, despite being a victim of the nanovirus, Barbara has begun her own counterattack from within the vengeful villain’s own mind…

After the main event this delightful Fights ‘n’ Tights fun-fest clears the palate with a brace of one-off yarns beginning with ‘Trust’ (illustrated by Pere Perez) detailing Stephanie’s unique response to a cocked-up bank hostage-situation perpetrated by Clayface.

The grim debacle is made excessively complicated not only because the Teen Tornado’s Person of Potential Romantic Interest (Police Detective Nick Gage) is on scene, but also -since the shape-shifting charlatan is disguised as one of the imperilled customers – because Batgirl is the one holding them all captive until she can deduce who he is…

Manic insanity rounds off this chronicle with ‘Terror in the 3rd Dimension’ (Garbett & Trevor Scott) as a civilian Girl’s Night Out with BFF Supergirl goes crazily wrong when a campus science experiment goes “boink!” and 24 Draculas from an all-night classic movie show are materialised to run riot through the city.

With obviously no peace for the wicked-hot, the World’s Finest Blondes have their work cut out doing a passable imitation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer before things return to any semblance of “normal”…

With a stunning cover gallery by Stanley “artgerm” Lau, this collection offers that rarest of modern delights for comics fans: complication-free, easily accessible thrills, chills, spills and fun, fun, fun!!!

So get some before the next angst-storm drags us all down again…
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Time and the Batman


By Grant Morrison, Fabian Nicieza, Tony S. Daniel, Cliff Richards, Andy Kubert, Frank Quitely, David Finch, Richard Friend, Scott Kolins & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2990-0

At the climax of a harrowing and sustained campaign of terror by insidious cabal The Black Hand, Batman was apparently killed. Although the general public were unaware of their loss, the superhero community secretly mourned whilst a small dedicated army of assistants, protégés and allies (trained over years by the Dark Knight) formed a “Network” to police GothamCity in the catastrophic days and weeks which followed: marking time until a successor could be found…

Most of the Bat-schooled taskforce refused to believe their inspirational mentor dead. On the understanding that he was merely lost, they accepted Dick Grayson – first Robin and latterly Nightwing – as a stand-in until Bruce Wayne could find his way back to them…

This slim, grim volume collects the contents of Batman #700-703 (August-November 2010) and takes an imaginative glimpse into the past and future whilst laying the groundwork for the imminent Return of Bruce Wayne…

The turbulent time-warping terror and tragedy begins in the anniversary #700, written as a detective mystery by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Tony S. Daniel. ‘Yesterday’ sees the Dynamic Duo at the start of their careers, with Batman and Robin saving chronal researcher Carter Nichols from a pack of kidnappers which include Catwoman, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Riddler and the Joker.

The assembled felons and maniacs are using Carter’s “Maybe Machine” discoveries to plunder and muck up the time-stream, but after capturing the Gotham Gangbusters the Harlequin of Hate is getting some particularly dangerous ideas about the nature of reality…

By the time Jim Gordon‘s SWAT team breaks in it’s all over, but Nichols is clearly disturbed. Why else would he want the Joker’s Jokebook as a souvenir…?

‘Today’ (with art from Frank Quitely & Scott Kolins) opens years later as Dark Knight Dick Grayson and Bruce’s assassin-trained son Damian (the latest Boy Wonder) investigate the locked-room murder of Nichols. The bullet-riddled corpse is decades older than it should be…

It’s a busy night: after brutally cleaning up “Crime Alley” the heroes are almost too late to break up an underworld auction where a horde of masked malcontents are bidding on the recently discovered Joker’s Jokebook…

‘Tomorrow’ (Andy Kubert) takes us into a previously established future where Damian is the Batman of a Gotham even more impossibly debased and chaotic, where Joker venom rains from the skies thanks to weather control sabotage by cyborg psycho Max Roboto.

However even with Jokerzombies marauding through the besieged urban jungle and Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon‘s forces ruthlessly hunting the Cowled Crime-crusher, Damian has no time to rest as he searches for the macabre 2-Face-2, who holds hostage innocent toddler Terry McGinnis.

The unpredictable maniac has the infamous Joker’s Jokebook and seems to have a time-traveller named Nichols as his advisor…

The generational saga ends in brief visits with a succession of Future Batmen in ‘And Tomorrow…’ by David Finch & Richard Friend; encompassing the mid 21st century and ADs 3000, 3050 and 85298 (with guest appearances by Batman Beyond, Batman and Robin 3000, Brane Taylor and Batman One Million…)

Issues #701 and 702 revisited a recent Batman crossover with ‘R.I.P. – the Missing Chapter: The Hole in Things’ wherein Morrison & Daniel at last supplied the details of what occurred between the Dark Knight’s nigh-pyrrhic victory over Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove and his apparent demise after New God Darkseid invaded our dimension in Final Crisis.

‘R.I.P. – the Missing Chapter: Batman’s Last Case’ also reveals what bizarre machinations led to Bruce Wayne being alive in the corridors of history whilst apparently rendered into a mouldering corpse in Blackest Night.

Confusing, no?

A measure of narrative normality returned in #703 as ‘The Great Escape’ – scripted by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Cliff Richards – resumed the adventures of Dick and Damian in the now, with the heroes trying to stop second-generation super-thief Getaway Genius, all whilst Red (Tim Drake) Robin carried on his campaign to stop investigative journalist Vicki Vale proving that all Bruce Wayne’s kids were masked vigilantes…

This bombastic collection also includes a host of pretty picture treats: a selection of covers and variants by Daniel, Finch, Scott Williams, Andy Kubert, Mike Mignola & Kevin Nowlan, plus ‘Creatures of the Night: A Batman Gallery’ by Shane Davis, Sandra Hope, Barbara Ciardo, Juan Doe, Dustin Nguyen, Guillem March, Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz & Philip Tan, and detailed and instructive ‘Operational Files: The Batcave’ offering views, schematics and diagrams by Freddie Williams II & Mathew K. Manning to satisfy any rabid Batfan…

Torturous, tumultuous, convoluted and challenging, this action-packed, high-octane Fights ‘n’ Tights drama will deliver all the thrills, spills and chills fans could hope for with impressive punch and panache aplenty. Sadly, though it’s all very pretty to look at and deucedly clever, it’s probably utterly impenetrable to casual consumers.

I’m not saying don’t read it if you qualify as a neophyte, just be prepared… and, perhaps, patient…
© 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives volume 1


By Mort Weisinger, Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel, Mort Meskin, George Papp, Jack Lehti, Hal Sherman, Creig Flessel, Ed Dobrotka & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 978-04012 1-84576-236-3

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read 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: a multitude of popular characters could multiply readership simply by appearing together.

Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one (or one-and-a-half if there are sidekicks involved) …

You can’t say it too often: the creation of the Justice Society of America in 1941 utterly changed the shape of the budding industry. Soon after the team launched, even National/DC – All American Comics’ publishing partner in the landmark venture – wanted to get in on the act and created their own proprietary squad of solo stars, populated with a number of their characters who hadn’t made it onto the roster of that super-successful cooperative coalition of AA and DC stars.

Oddly they never settled on a name and the team of non-super powered mystery men who debuted in Leading Comics #1 in 1941 were retroactively and alternatively dubbed The Law’s Legionnaires or The Seven Soldiers of Victory.

They never even had their own title-logo but only appeared as solo stars grouped together on the 14 spectacular covers – the first four of which, by Mort Meskin and Fred Ray, preface each collaborative epic in this spectacular deluxe hardback.

The full contents of this bombastic barrage of comicbook bravado were originally presented in the quarterly Leading #1-4, spanning Winter 1941/1942 to Fall 1942 and, following a fascinating history lesson and potted biography of the component crusaders in cartoonist, biographer and historian R.C. Harvey’s Foreword, the Golden Age glamour and glory begins with the heroes’ first adventure.

The sagas all followed a basic but extremely effective formula, established by scripter Mort Weisinger in the first adventure when dying criminal genius The Hand drew up a ‘Blueprint for Crime’ (illustrated by George Papp) to leave a lasting legacy of villainy.

Unable to carry out his perfidious plans in person, he subcontracted a fistful of macabre felons but insisted they warn their particular heroic arch-enemies as part of the triumphal deal…

Following a trail of breadcrumbs, Green Arrow and Speedy, the Shining Knight, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Crimson Avenger and the Vigilante stumbled upon each other, shared their knowledge of the grand scheme and soon separated again to tackle their own particular antagonists…

Papp continued as illustrator whilst the Emerald Archers headed to ‘Death Valley’ to stop the ingenious Professor Merlin using a freeze machine to extort the location of a fabulous gold mine out of a sun-loving old prospector, before heading back to track down the Hand…

Regular creative team Jerry Siegel & Hal Sherman then took the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy south of the border in ‘Peril in Panama’, where ectomorphic assassin the Needle tried to steal a seismic ray gun and shatter the Canal Zone and American trade, whilst Jack Lehti revealed how Crimson Avenger (and oriental sidekick Wing) bagged blue-collar mobster Big Caesar when the thug created a ‘Blackout over Broadway’ to plunder in relative safety…

Arthurian paladin the Shining Knight slept in ice until defrosted in 1941, where his magic sword, armour and winged horse made Sir Justin a formidable foe of injustice. Here he battled ‘The Red Dragon’ (illustrated by Creig Flessel) to free a lost tribe of Indian braves from the sinister slaver whilst undisputed artistic star of the show Mort Meskin revealed in stunning style how Hollywood’s glitterati were saved from being transformed into ‘The Stone People’ by the diabolical Dummy…

With each subordinate subdued, the heroes simultaneously closed on The Hand to end the dying dastard’s depredations in Weisinger & Papp’s explosive finale ‘Blueprint for Crime’…

The valiant crusaders came together again in Leading Comics #2 as ‘The Black Star Shines’ (Weisinger & Flessel) found juvenile genius Sylvester Pemberton and his chauffer Pat Dugan witnesses to a simple bank heist perpetrated by five of the nation’s most infamous criminals and realising that Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy might need a little assistance…

The Pentagram of Perfidy were actually operating under explicit instructions to steal millions for themselves from a cautious and secretive hidden Machiavelli who only required five unobtrusive and mundane objects for himself, but the Law’s Legionnaires had no inkling of such when they split up to track the fiends down…

The cross-country campaign began with Sir Justin who hit New Orleans during Mardi Gras to confront the ‘Mystery of the Clowning Criminals’ (Weisinger & Flessel). The Shining Knight clashed with gang-leader Falseface and his battalion of buffoons, but although victorious was unable to prevent the sneaky Black Star from stealing an old rag doll…

Hal Sherman joined Weisinger to solve the ‘Mystery of the Santa Claus Pirate’ wherein the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy tackled a seaborne scoundrel Captain Bigg in Florida: a jolly jokester who gave away rather than stole loot. Of course the bandit had a bigger game plan in motion which the patriotic pair soon scuttled, but once again the surreptitious Black Star got away with the true prize – an old corncob pipe…

‘Mystery of the One-Man Museum’ (Weisinger & Papp) found Green Arrow and Speedy in glamorous Pleasure City hunting The Hopper, a mobster trying to appropriate valuable objets d’art from an eccentric millionaire. Once the human kangaroo was captured, however, his silent partner delightedly sloped off with a broken pocket watch…

The Crimson Avenger and Wing headed for the Great Lakes to duel with The Brain in ‘The Case of the Twisted Twins’ (Weisinger & Lehti), wherein the criminal genius assaulted attendees at an identical siblings convention whilst Black Star used the subsequent commotion to purloin an old silver dollar.

Bill Finger & Meskin handled the last two chapters and revealed the incredible truth as Vigilante battled venomous villain The Rattler at rich retired folk’s resort ‘The Sixty Kiddie Club’, but couldn’t stop the real menace grabbing an old key. Thus when ‘The Black Star Shines’ – using the gathered bric-a-brac to become an incredible super-menace – it needed the full might of the assembled Seven Soldiers to thwart the menace and end his astounding threat forever.

The scripter of ‘The Tyrants of Time’ in Leading #3 is sadly unknown but the first chapter (with art credited to Meskin) discloses how sinister scientist Dr. Doome built a time machine and recruited five historical tyrants to loot 1942, gathering funds and resources to build an even better device.

Their entire campaign was overheard by Speedy and the temporal thugs were then targeted by the Law’s Legionnaires, beginning with Stripesy and the Star-Spangled Kid who gave Napoleon a taste of ‘Defeat Before Waterloo’ (Sherman art), whilst the Amazing Archers prevented Alexander the Great from turning ‘The Radium Robots’ (Papp) into his most unbeatable army…

Flessel illustrated ‘The Man Who Told a Fish Story’ with the Shining Knight and an inveterate angler scuppering the naval ambitions of time-transplanted Genghis Khan, even as Vigilante teamed with a western legend to smash the schemes of Attila the Hun in ‘The Spirit of Wild Bill Dickson’ (by Meskin as “Mort Morton & Cliff”).

Lehti then delineated the bombastic battle between the Crimson Avenger and piratical Emperor Nero in ‘Fiddler’s Farewell’ before the Septet of Sentinels convened to follow Dr. Doome into the past and end the menace of ‘The Tyrants of Time’ in a stunning conclusion by Meskin, set at the fall of fabled Troy…

‘The Sense Master’ in Leading #4 was completely created by Bill Finger & Ed Dobrotka: a clever compendium of mystery and melodrama which commenced after paralysed mastermind The Sixth Sense used a robot to surgically augment the abilities of a band of brigands, as part of a plan to obtain five unique jewels for his undisclosed but nefarious purposes.

Interrupted by Sir Justin, the hyped-up hoods overcame the crusader before scattering, leaving the Shining Knight no recourse but to call in his crime-busting colleagues…

The Crimson Avenger then intercepted sound sensitive Mickey Gordon as ‘The Crime Concerto’ that the ex-musician conducted deprived a young girl of her precious diamond, but also started an irrevocable process of redemption in the penitent criminal…

In ‘Don Quixote Rides Again’ the Knight followed “Fingers” to the home of a dotty scholar who loved a certain book, but although he saved Don Coty‘s life, the paladin was unable to stop the theft of his golden Topaz, after which the Star-Spangled Kid (and Stripesy) failed to stop the Human Bloodhound from stealing Mrs. Pemberton‘s fabulous emerald in ‘The Man Who Followed His Nose’.

Vigilante and his geriatric sidekick Billy Gunn met a former movie idol who was ‘The Man who was Afraid to Eat’… It was all a cunning campaign by taste-sensitive poisoner “Palate” to purloin the faded star’s gem and, following his success, Green Arrow and Speedy were unable to prevent ‘The Man with the Miracle Eyes’ making off with a circus barker’s garnet.

However “Eagle Eye” didn’t escape, and once the heroes joined forces – assisted by Mickey Gordon – to track down ‘The Sense Master’ behind the whole incredible charade, they saw him briefly obtain ultimate power only to lose everything once the indomitable crusaders waded in…

These raw, wild and excessively engaging capers are actually some of the best but most neglected thrillers of the halcyon Golden Age. Still modern tastes too have moved on and these yarns are probably far more in tune with contemporary mores, making this a truly guilty pleasure for all fans of mystery, mayhem and stylish superteam tussles…
© 1941, 1942, 1949, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Haunted Knight


By Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-273-8

The creative team of Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale have tackled many iconic characters in a number of landmark tales, but their reworkings of early Batman mythology – such as The Long Halloween – certainly rank amongst their most memorable.

Set during the Batman: Year One scenario created by Frank Miller, and originally released as a 13 part miniseries (running from Halloween to Halloween), it detailed the early alliance of Police Captain Jim Gordon, District Attorney Harvey Dent and the mysterious vigilante Batman to destroy the unassailable mob boss who ran Gotham City: Carmine Falcone – “The Roman”.

However, before that epic undertaking the creators worked together on another All Hallows adventure – one that grew like Topsy and eventually became a triptych of Prestige One-Shot Specials under the aegis of Archie Goodwin’s most significant editorial project.

After the continuity-wide reset of Crisis on Infinite Earths, with DC still in the throes of re-jigging its entire narrative history, a new Batman title launched, presenting multi-part epics refining and infilling the history of the post-Crisis hero and his entourage. The added fillip was a fluid cast of prominent and impressively up-and-coming creators.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight was a fascinating experiment, even if the overall quality was a little haphazard.

Most of the early story-arcs were collected as trade paperbacks – helping to jump-start the graphic novel sector of the comics industry – and the re-imagining of the Gotham Guardian’s early career gave fans a wholly modern insight into the ancient yet highly malleable concept.

As explained in Goodwin’s introduction ‘Trick or Treat’ the first Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Special began life as a story-arc for the monthly series before being promoted to a single, stand-alone publication released for October 1993. Its success spawned two sequels – and the aforementioned Long Halloween epic…

Collected in one spooky stripped-down paperback compilation, those three scary stories comprise a raw and visceral examination of an obsessive hero still learning his trade and capable of deadly misjudgements as seen in ‘Fears’ when, after spectacularly capturing terror-obsessed psychopath Jonathan Crane, the neophyte Caped Crusader leaves him to policemen ill-equipped to cope with the particular brand of malicious insanity cultivated by The Scarecrow…

It’s fair to say that the man behind the bat mask is distracted; still attempting to reconcile his nocturnal and diurnal activities, Bruce Wayne is helpless before the seductive and sophisticated blandishments of predatory social butterfly Jillian Maxwell. Faithful major-domo Alfred Pennyworth is not so easily swayed, however…

Left too much to his own devices, Scarecrow has run wild through Gotham, but when he abducts Gordon he at last makes a mistake the Dark Knight can capitalise upon…

A year later another Halloween brought ‘Madness’ as rebellious teenager Barbara Gordon chose exactly the wrong moment to run away from home: a night when her dad’s mysterious caped pal was frantically hunting Jervis Tetch – a certified nutcase abducting runaways to attend decidedly deadly Tea Parties orchestrated by a truly Mad Hatter…

Steeped in personal nostalgia as a maniac rampages through his city, inadvertently trampling upon some of Bruce Wayne’s only happy memories (of his mother’s favourite book), the pursuer almost dies at the hands of the Looking Glass Loon, only to be saved by unlikely angel Leslie Thompkins – another woman who will loom large in the life of the Batman…

The final fable pastiches a Christmas classic by Charles Dickens as ‘Ghosts’ sees a delirious Bruce Wayne uncharacteristically take to his bed early on the night before Halloween.

After socialising with young financier Lucius Fox, eating bad shrimp and crushing bird bandit The Penguin, the sick and weary playboy lapses into troubled sleep only to be visited by three spectres…

Looking like Poison Ivy, The Joker and the corpse of Batman and representing Past, Present and inescapable Future, the phantoms prove that only doom awaits unless the overachieving hero strikes a balance – or perhaps truce – between his two divergent identities…

Trenchant with narrative foreboding – long time fans already know the tragedies in store for all the participants, although total neophytes won’t be left wondering – these eerily enthralling Noir thrillers by Loeb perfectly capture the spirit of the modern Batman, supremely graced with startlingly powerful images of Mood, Mystery and rampant Mayhem from the magic pencil and brush of Tim Sale.

One of the very best Batman books you could read.

So, do…
© 1996, 1997 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman & the Monster Men / Batman & the Mad Monk

Batman & the Monster Men
By Matt Wagner, with Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1091-5

Grendel and Mage creator Matt Wagner has had an eclectic but never disappointing relationship with the Dark Knight, and in 2006 undertook an ambitious year-long project to update two of the earliest adventures (from Detective Comics #31-32 and Batman #1 no less), implanting them within the fresh new milieu devised by Frank Miller in Batman: Year 1.

Originally released as a 12-issue limited series, Batman: Dark Moon Rising was divided into matching trade paperback collections with the first, Batman & the Monster Men, expanding on the Golden Age original by Bill Finger, Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson, introducing a welter of psychological and political tensions to boost the already deranged, doom-drenched atmosphere…

Law student Julie is daughter to one of the city’s most forthright and prestigious businessmen, but even Norman Madison is unable to maintain his pristine reputation and stay out of the greedy clutches of criminals like Sal Maroni and over-boss “The Roman” who truly owns Gotham.

The mob’s tendrils run deep into City Hall and the Police Department, and even maverick scientists like Professor Hugo Strange go to Sal when they need cash in a hurry with no questions asked: legitimate inquiries like “where are you getting your illegal medical supplies and chemicals?” and “why are you paying hush-money to attendants at Arkham Asylum?”…

But now a crazy vigilante dressed like a bat is hitting the gangsters hard and fast and often, stirring the entire dark metropolis into a cauldron of deadly nervous tension…

Julie doesn’t care: she’s far more interested in uncovering the intimate secrets of her new and so enigmatic boyfriend Bruce Wayne…

The brilliant Strange has abandoned his chosen field of psychology to improve mankind through genetic manipulation, but his experiments are so costly. Luckily for him, he has never been burdened by ethics or scruples, and Gotham’s streets and asylums are filled with derelicts nobody will ever miss…

He also regularly avails himself of Maroni’s high-end loan-sharking operation, but that is always a process fraught with peril and humiliation…

When a snooty debutante at a High Society shindig mocks the bald, short and myopic Strange – fruitlessly peddling his theories of genetic perfection to the idle rich in hopes of finding more enlightened sponsors than The Mob – she and her escort vanish later that night…

Police Captain Jim Gordon – rumoured to have a secret working relationship with the Bat vigilante – is assigned the case when her arm washes out of a sewer. It’s gnawed and clawed and covered in brutish animal hairs which prove to be human… sort of…

Strange’s frustrations mount when Maroni’s men pay a little social call to remind him his next repayment is due. He uses his latest setbacks, a trio of hulking hyper-thyroidal genetic failures with a taste for human flesh and hides immune to bullets, to avenge his honour and as a means of procuring the funds he’s lacking.

Following the thugs to a high stakes poker game, he and devoted lab assistant Sanjay simply let their manufactured brutes run amok and scoop up all the blood-soaked cash afterwards.

Maroni’s business is booming. Although deeply suspicious of the money Strange paid him back with, the loan-shark has no such problems with high and mighty Norman Madison, whose sudden business reversals have put him in the mobster’s pocket to the tune of 3 million untraceable, dirty dollars…

Elsewhere, Julie is becoming increasingly frustrated by Bruce Wayne’s inability to keep an appointment or even turn up for a date, and Jim Gordon wonders what to do with a car filled with bizarre, exotic bat-motif weaponry left behind after the Bat-Man’s latest explosive clash with criminals in the streets of Gotham…

The Dark Knight doesn’t care: he’s obsessed with this cannibal case which somehow links rich women with slaughtered underworld gamblers and the near-completion of a stupendous, purpose-built automobile that will be the acme of his arsenal against crime…

After Batman pays Maroni a midnight visit the loan-shark bolts for the countryside and The Roman’s private hideaway. Left in charge, his brutish lieutenant puts the screws to Norman Madison and triggers the start of a nervous breakdown in the ashamed, guilt-ridden business leader, even as Batman traces the monster-men to a hidden lab and is ambushed by Strange.

Drugged and thrown to the gargantuan monstrosities, the neophyte avenger faces his first battle with foes more and far less than human…

Battling with Herculean passion and demonic cunning, the Gotham Gangbuster barely escapes with his life and awakens in his own bed with Julie tending him. She clearly does not believe his hastily concocted explanations…

Hard on the heels of his ignominious defeat by the masked madman, Strange is visited by Maroni’s flunkies who wreck the lab but inspire an intriguing thought. The Batman was clearly a perfect genetic specimen, far better than the human detritus he has been working with. Moreover, in his escape the vigilante left plenty of blood and other genetic material for the experimenter to play with…

Gordon is under pressure too. New Police Commissioner Edward Grogan knows of his connection to the vigilante and is leaning on the only incorruptible cop on the force, but the Captain is not prepared to hand over the Batman – yet…

Things come to a head when Sal’s boys put the squeeze on Madison by threatening his daughter Julie whilst Strange, having modified a fourth macabre monster man with Batman’s DNA, sends them after Maroni, still sequestered at the Roman’s fortress-like estate…

By the time the vigilante arrives in his breathtaking new “Bat-mobile” the slaughter is in full swing with Maroni’s army of thugs smashed, scattered or eaten, and the terrified Norman moments from grisly death. However the bat-garbed creature of the night is even more formidable, trouncing the human thugs and bestial colossi with an astounding array of gadgets and devastating martial arts attacks.

With Maroni beaten and the hulking horrors put down, the Batman tells the shell-shocked businessman to go home, where all Madison can recall is that the grim, terrifying agent of justice knew his name…
© 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Batman & the Mad Monk
By Matt Wagner with Dave Stewart (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1281-0

The concluding volume of Matt Wagner’s reinterpretation of two of Batman’s earliest and most iconic triumphs features a classic duel with the Dark Knight’s most obvious antithesis.

A flamboyant, supernatural vampire to combat the grim, steely rationalism of this hero was an obvious conceit when Gardner Fox conceived it in 1939 (Detective Comics #31 and #32 – frequently reprinted as in Batman Chronicles Volume 1) and here Wagner proves that it still has great merit and impressive cachet.

Following on from Batman and the Monster Men with the sub-plot of Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend Julie Madison and her tragically flawed and rapidly destabilising father, this subtle blending of archetypal gothic fantasy and modern Goth sensibility saw a mysterious cult leader moving into the upper and lower echelons of Gotham society, recruiting thugs, seducing the glitterati and killing at a whim.

After losing a tussle with a slinky cat-garbed jewel thief, Batman, still bleeding, thrashes a quartet of cops intent on crippling honest Police Captain Jim Gordon. Elsewhere, former business leader Norman Madison is becoming a paranoid recluse, obsessed with bats and expunging his sins…

The bat vigilante has stumbled upon another bizarre case to distract him from his meticulous campaign to dismantle the criminal empire of Carmine Falcone – “The Roman” who has ruled Gotham for decades.

A serial killer is at work, draining men and women of all their blood…

Unknown to the broken financier, in the aftermath of the monster men attack Batman ordered Sal Maroni to stay away from the Madisons: a fact he neglected to share with the victims. Now when the shattered, repentant businessman tries to pay off the loan-shark, he is forcibly ejected. Dirty money and unexpiated guilt shredding his soul, Madison is driven to even greater acts of desperation…

Batman meanwhile is covertly working with Gotham DA Harvey Dent to bring down Falcone, but soon distracted by another bloodless corpse. His subsequent savage investigations uncover a new phenomenon: a cult called The Brotherhood of the Eternal Night which numbers Gotham’s richest citizens, worst criminals and even street level gang-bangers amongst its scarlet-robed ranks…

Soon Julie too has fallen under its sway. Seeking help for her clearly crazed father, she had consulted the organisation’s founder Niccolai Tepes, who swore he could grant her father peace. By the time she sees boyfriend Bruce again Julie is oddly distant and has two neat puncture marks in her neck…

Maroni is also in deep trouble. When he refused to take Madison’s money, Norman tried to give it directly to Falcone. Three million dollars is nothing to The Roman, but he hates anything that makes ripples or causes undue attention in his town…

Still in the first year of a mission to end evil in his beleaguered city, the keen-but-inexperienced Batman is at last forced to ignore his instincts and prejudices and simply accept the impossible facts. Gotham is threatened by a horror out of fairytales and the Batman must adapt his methodology to purge the insidious fiends sucking Gotham dry in both figurative and a most literal manner…

This is a spectacular, moody yarn; a magnificently illustrated clash between darkness and even greater supernal blackness, blending Batman’s signature iconography with the venerated gothic mythology of vampires, paying proper respect to the triumphs of the past whilst reverently refreshing them for the modern reader: a classic Batman that everybody can enjoy and should.

Solid, stylish story-telling make this and its companion chronicle an irresistible treat for old-timers and new fans alike.
© 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

New Revised Review

By Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0323-8 (hardback)           978-1-4012-0220-0 (paperback)

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the “World’s Finest” team. They were best friends and the pairing made perfect financial sense as National/DC’s most popular heroes could cross-sell their combined readerships.

When the characters were redefined for the post-Crisis 1980s, they were remade as suspiciously respectful co-workers who did the same job but deplored each other’s methods and preferred to avoid contact whenever possible – except when they were in the Justice League (but for the sake of your sanity don’t fret that right now!).

After a few years of this new status quo the irresistible lure of Cape & Cowl Capers inexorably brought them together again with modern emotional intensity derived from their incontestably differing methods and characters.

In this rocket-paced, post-modern take on the relationship, they have reformed as firm friends for the style-over-content 21st century, and this is the story of their first outing together. Outlawed and hunted by their fellow heroes, Superman finds himself accused of directing a continent-sized chunk of Kryptonite to crash into Earth, with Batman accused of aiding and abetting…

To save Superman, the world and their own reputations they are forced to attempt the overthrow of the United States President himself. Of course said President is the unspeakably evil Lex Luthor…

I deeply disliked this tale when I first read it: Plot is reduced to an absolute minimum in favour of showy set-pieces, previously established characterisation often hostage to whatever seems the easiest way to short-cut to action (mortal foes Captain Atom and Major Force work together to capture our heroes because President Luthor tells them to?) but after nearly a decade it’s worth another look and I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve changed my opinion somewhat…

Collecting the first six issues of hip reboot Superman/Batman #1-6 and a vignette from Superman/Batman Secret Files 2003, October 3003-March 2004, it all begins with ‘When Clark met Bruce’ (“A tale from the days of Smallville”) from the latter.

In the bucolic 2-page snippet, Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale effectively tease us with the question of what might have been, had the go happy-go-lucky Kent boy actually got to have a play-date with that morose, recently orphaned rich kid from Gotham City…

The main attraction – illustrated by Ed McGuiness & Dexter Vines – opens years later with ‘World’s Finest’ as the Dark and Light Knights follow telling leads in separate cases back to shape-shifting cyborg John (Metallo) Corben, discovering the ruthless killer might have been the at-large-for-decades shooter in the still unsolved double murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne…

Even that bombshell seems inconsequential after the mechanoid monster shoots Superman in the chest with a kryptonite bullet before burying the stunned duo under tons of Earth in a Gotham graveyard…

Meanwhile at the Pentagon, President Lex is informed that a toxically radioactive lump of Krypton the size of Australia is on a collision course with Earth. Implausibly adopting the line that Superman has summoned it, the Federal Government issues an arrest warrant for the Man of Steel and convenes a metahuman taskforce to bring him in…

Escaping certain doom thanks to Batman’s skill and unflappable nerve, the blithely unaware heroes reach medical help in the Batcave in ‘Early Warning’ only to be attacked by an older version of Superman, determined to prevent them making a mistake that will end life on Earth…

After a massive nuclear strike (somehow augmented by embargoed Boom Tube technology from hell-world Apokolips), Luthor overrules Captain Atom’s qualms about his mission and orders his anti-superman squad to apprehend their target wherever he might be hiding. The President then goes on television to blame the alien for the impending meteor strike and announces a billion dollar Federal bounty on the Action Ace…

Man of Tomorrow and Man of Darknight Detective respond by direct assault in ‘Running Wild’, hurtling towards Washington DC only to be ambushed en route by a greed-crazed army of super-villains and mind-controlled heroes before Atom’s group – Green Lantern John Stewart, Black Lightning, Katana, Starfire, Power Girl and certified quantum psychopath Major Force – join the attack…

As the combatants ‘Battle On’, in the Oval Office even fanatical civil servant Amanda Waller – commander of covert Penal Battalion the Suicide Squad – begins to realise something is wrong with the President. For a start, his behaviour is increasingly erratic, but the real clue is that he is juicing himself with a kryptonite-modified version of super-steroid venom…

The blistering battle between the outlawed heroes and Atom’s unit extends as far as Japan, (where the Cape & Cowl Crusaders are secretly organising a last-ditch solution to the imminent Kryptonite continent crash) before Major Force begins to smell a rat and realises some of his team are actually working with Superman and Batman.

Military-martinet Captain Atom is not one of them, but eventually even he is made to see reason – only moments before the deranged Major goes ballistic and nearly turns Tokyo to ashes…

Using his energy-absorbing powers Atom prevents the holocaust, but the monumental radiation release triggers his “temporal safety-valve” and the silver-skinned soldier materialises in a future where Earth is a barren cinder where only an aged, tragic, broken Superman resides…

Meanwhile in the present, the Presidential Pandemonium has prompted the venerable Justice Society of America to step in; despatching Captain Marvel and Hawkman to apprehend the fugitive Superman and Batman.

Apparently successful, the operation triggers a back-up team (Supergirl, Nightwing, Superboy, Steel, Natasha Irons, Robin, Huntress, Batgirl and even Krypto) who invade the White House only to be defeated by Luthor himself, high on K-venom and utilising Apokolyptian technology in ‘State of Siege’…

With extinction only moments away and a deranged President Luthor on the loose, Superman and Batman prepare to employ their eleventh-hour suicidal salvation machine but are caught off-guard when a most unexpected substitute ambushes them to pilot the crucial mission in ‘Final Countdown’…

This chronicle also includes a dozen covers and variants plus 5 pages of roughs and design sketches by McGuiness & Vines.

In so many ways this compilation is everything I hate about modern comics. The story length is artificially extended to accommodate lots of guest stars and superfluous fighting, whilst large amounts of narrative occur off-camera or between issues, presumably to facilitate a faster, smoother read.

On the plus side however is the fact that I’m an old fart. There is clearly a market for such snazzy-looking, souped-up, stripped down, practically deconstructed comic fare. And if I’m being completely honest, there is a certain fizz and frisson to non-stop, superficial all-out action – especially when it’s so dynamically illustrated.

Public Enemies looks very good indeed and, if much of the scenario is obvious and predictable, it is big and immediate and glossy like a summer blockbuster movie is supposed to be.

Perhaps there’s room enough for those alongside the Hergés, Eisners, Crumbs, Gaimans, assorted Moores and Hernandezes…

© 2003, 2004 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents World’s Finest Comics volume 4


By Cary Bates, Bob Haney, Robert Kanigher, Denny O’Neil, Mike Friedrich, Curt Swan, Ross Andru, Dick Dillin, Mike Esposito & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3736-3

For decades Superman and Batman were quintessential superhero partners: the “World’s Finest team”. The affable champions were best buddies as well as mutually respectful colleagues, and their pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could happily cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.

This fourth mighty monochrome compendium re-presents the cataclysmic collaborations from the dog days of the 1960’s into the turbulent decade beyond (World’s Finest Comics #174-202, spanning March 1968 to May 1971), as radical shifts in America’s tastes and cultural landscape created such a hunger for more mature and socially relevant stories that even the Cape and Cowl Crusaders were affected – so much so in fact, that the partnership was temporarily suspended: sidelined so that Superman could guest-star with other icons of the DC universe.

However, after a couple of years, the relationship was revitalised and renewed with the World’s Finest Heroes fully restored to their bizarrely apt pre-eminence for another lengthy run until the title was cancelled in the build-up to Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986.

The increasingly grim escapades begin with ‘Secret of the Double Death-Wish!’ by Cary Bates, Pete Costanza & Jack Abel from #174 (cover-dated March 1968, so actually the last issue of 1967) wherein mysterious voyeurs seemingly kidnap the indomitable heroes and psychologically crush their spirits such that they beg for death.

Smart and devious, this conundrum was definitely old-school but the New Year saw subtle changes as, post-Batman TV show, the industry experienced superheroes waning in favour of war, western and especially supernatural themes and genres.

Thus 1968 saw radical editorial shifts to National/DC and edgier stories of the costumed Boy Scouts began to appear. Iconoclastic penciller Neal Adams first started turning heads and making waves with his stunning covers and a couple of spectacularly gripping Cape & Cowl capers in WFC beginning with ‘The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads!’, scripted by Leo Dorfman and inked by Dick from World’s Finest Comics #175.

The story detailed how the annual contest of wits between the crimebusters was infiltrated by alien and Terran criminal alliances intent on killing their foes whilst they were off guard.

Issue #176 then featured a beguiling thriller in ‘The Superman-Batman Split!’ by Bates, Adams & Giordano. Ostensibly just another alien mystery yarn, this twisty little gem has a surprise ending for all and guest stars Robin, Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl and Batgirl, with the artists’ hyper-dynamic realism lending an aura of solid credibility to even the most fanciful situations, and ushering in an era of gritty veracity to replace the previously anodyne and frequently frivolous Costumed Dramas.

Jim Shooter, Curt Swan & Mike Esposito also edged (but just slightly) towards constructive realism with #177’s ‘Duel of the Crime Kings!’ as Lex Luthor again joined forces with the Joker. This go-round the dastardly duo used time-busting technology to recruit Benedict Arnold, Baron Hieronymus Carl Friedrich von Munchausen and Leonardo Da Vinci to plan crimes for them, only to then fall foul of the temporally displaced persons’ own unique agendas…

WFC #178 began a 2-part Imaginary Tale with ‘The Has-Been Superman!’ (Bates, Swan & Abel) which saw the Man of Steel lose his Kryptonian powers and subsequently struggle to continue his career as a Batman-style masked crimebuster dubbed Nova. More determined than competent, he soon fell under the influence of criminal mastermind Mr. Socrates and wound up brainwashed and programmed to assassinate the Gotham Guardian…

The moody suspense saga was interrupted by #179 – a regularly scheduled, all-reprint 80-Page Giant featuring early tales of the team’s formative years and represented in this collection by its striking Adams cover – before the alternate epic concluded in #180 with the gripping ‘Superman’s Perfect Crime!’ by Bates and new regular art team Ross Andru & Esposito…

During the late 1950s when the company’s editors cautiously expanded the characters’ continuities, they learned that each new tale was an event which added to a nigh-sacred canon, and that what was printed was deeply important to the readers – but no “ideas man” would let all that aggregated “history” stifle a good plot situation or sales generating cover.

Thus “Imaginary Stories” were conceived as a way of exploring non-continuity plots and scenarios, devised at a time when editors knew that entertainment trumped consistency and fervently believed that every comic read was somebody’s first and – unless they were very careful – potentially their last…

Bates,  Andru & Esposito also crafted #181’s ‘The Hunter and the Hunted’ wherein an impossibly powerful being from far away in space and time relentlessly pursued and then whisked away the heroes to a world where they were revered as the fathers of the race, whilst in the next issue ‘The Mad Manhunter!’ depicted a suspenseful shocker which found Batman routinely rampaging like a madman due to a curse. Naturally, what seemed was far from what actually was…

Another massive con-trick underscored #183’s Dorfman-scripted drama as apes from the future accused the Man of Steel of committing ‘Superman’s Crime of the Ages!’ and Batman and Robin had to arrest their greatest ally…

In WFC #184 Bates, Swan & Abel concocted another bombastic Imaginary Tale which revealed ‘Robin’s Revenge!’, tracing the troubled sidekick’s progress after Batman was murdered and with Superman powerless to assuage the Boy Wonder’s growing obsession with revenge…

Robert Kanigher joined his old collaborators Andru & Esposito from #185 onwards, detailing the bizarre story of the ‘The Galactic Gamblers!’ who press-ganged Superman, Batman, Robin and Jimmy to their distant world to act as living stakes and game-pieces in their gladiatorial games of chance, before taking the heroes on a time-tossed 2-part supernatural thriller.

In #186 stories regarding Batman’s Colonial ancestor “Mad Anthony Wayne” prompted the heroes to travel back to the War of Independence where the Dark Knight was accused of deviltry as ‘The Bat Witch!’ and sentenced to death. Of course, it’s actually the Action Ace who was possessed and became ‘The Demon Superman!’ before all logic and sanity were restored by exorcism and judicious force of arms…

After the cover to World’s Finest #188 – another reprint Giant – Bates returned in #189 with a still shocking 2-parter beginning in ‘The Man with Superman’s Heart!’ as the Caped Kryptonian crashed to Earth from space and was pronounced Dead On Arrival.

As per his wishes many of his organs were harvested (this was 1969 and still speculative fiction then) and bequeathed to worthy recipients.

When Batman refused to accept any, Superman’s Eyes, Ears, Lungs, Heart and Hands (yes, I know – just go with it) were simply stored – until Luthor stole them and auctioned them to gangland’s highest bidders…

In the concluding episode, ‘The Final Revenge of Luthor!’ saw a combine of crooks running wild with the transplants bestowing mighty powers Batman and Robin could not combat, but the whole mess had a logical – if astonishingly callous – explanation, and the real Man of Steel soon appeared to save the day…

Bates, Andru & Esposito then explored ‘Execution on Krypton!’ in WFC #191, as impossible events on Earth led Superman (and Batman) back to Krypton before he was born to discover how his sainted parents Jor-El and Lara became radicalised college lecturers, and why they were teaching their students all the subversive tricks revolutionaries needed to know…

Bob Haney then joined Andru & Esposito from #192 for a dark, Cold War suspense thriller as Superman was captured by the Communist rulers of Lubania and held in ‘The Prison of No Escape!’ When Batman tried to bust him out, he too was arrested and charged with spying by sadistic Colonel Koslov, who utilised all his brainwashing techniques to achieve ‘The Breaking of Superman and Batman!’ in the next issue. However, the vile totalitarian’s torturous treatment disguised an insidious master-plan which the World’s Finest almost failed to foil…

The popular public response to Mario Puzo’s phenomenal novel The Godfather most likely influenced Haney, Andru & Esposito’s next convoluted 2-parter. Issue #194 took Superman and Batman undercover ‘Inside the Mafia Gang!’ to dismantle the organisation of “Big Uncle” Alonzo Scarns from within.

Sadly a head wound muddled the Gotham Gangbuster’s memory and Batman began believing he was actually the Capo di Capo Tutti, condemning Robin and Jimmy to ‘Dig Now, Die Later!’ Helplessly watching, Superman was almost relieved when the real Scarns showed up…

An era ended with #196 as ‘The Kryptonite Express!’ (Haney, Swan & George Roussos) detailed how a massive meteor shower bombarded America with tons of the deadly green mineral. After most decent citizens gathered up the Green K, a special train was laid on to collect it all and ship it to a place where it could be safely disposed of, and Superman was ordered to stay well away whilst Batman took charge of the FBI operation.

They had no idea that master racketeer and railway fanatic K.C. Jones had plans for the shipment and a guy on the inside…

After #197 – another all-reprint Superman/Batman Giant – a new era began as the Fastest Man Alive teamed up with the Man of Tomorrow.

DC Editors in the 1960s generally avoided questions like who’s best/strongest/fastest for fear of upsetting some portion of their tenuous and perhaps temporary fan-base, but as the superhero tide turned and the upstart Marvel Comics began making serious inroads into their market, the notion of a definitive race between the almighty Man of Steel and the Scarlet Speedster became an increasingly enticing and sales-worthy proposition.

They had raced twice before (Superman #199 and Flash #175 – August and December 1967) with the result deliberately fudged each time, but when they met for a third round a definitive conclusion was promised – but please remember it’s not about the winning, but only the taking part…

When World’s Finest became a team-up vehicle for Superman, the Flash again found himself in speedy if contrived competition. ‘Race to Save the Universe!’ and its conclusion ‘Race to Save Time!’ (#198-199, November and December 1970, by Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella) upped the stakes as the high-speed heroes were conscripted by the Guardians of the Universe to circumnavigate the cosmos at their greatest velocities to undo the rampage of the mysterious Anachronids, faster-than-light creatures whose pell-mell course throughout creation was actually unwinding time itself.

Little did anybody suspect that Superman’s oldest enemies were behind the entire appalling scheme…

In the anniversary issue #200, Mike Friedrich, Dillin & Giella focussed on brawling brothers on opposite sides of the teen college scene who were abducted with unruly youth icon Robin and “Mr. Establishment” Superman to a distant planet where undying vampiric aliens waged eternal war on each other in ‘Prisoners of the Immortal World!’ Green Lantern then popped in for #201 contesting ‘A Prize of Peril!’ (O’Neil, Dillin & Giella) which would give either Emerald Gladiator or Man of Steel sole jurisdiction of Earth’s skies, and Batman returned for a limited engagement in #202.

The final tale in this compilation, ‘Vengeance of the Tomb-Thing!’ by O’Neil, Dillin & Giella, saw archaeologists unearth something horrific in Egypt as Superman seemingly went mad and attacked his greatest friends and allies. A superb ecological scare-story, this tale changed the Man of Tomorrow’s life forever…

These are gloriously smart, increasingly mature comicbook adventures whose dazzling, timeless style has informed the evolution of two media megastars, and they still have the power and punch to enthral even today’s jaded seen it-all audiences.

The contents of this titanic team-up tome are a veritable feast of witty, gritty, pretty thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have. Utterly entrancing adventure for fans of all ages!
© 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 2012 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 3


By Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein, Jerry Siegel, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, Wayne Boring, Al Plastino, Dick Sprang & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-812-6

When the groundbreaking Man of Steel debuted in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) he was instantly the centre of attention, but even then the need for a solid supporting cast was apparent and wisely tailored for. Glamorous daredevil girl reporter Lois Lane premiered beside Clark Kent and was a constant companion and foil from the outset.

Although unnamed, a plucky red-headed, be-freckled kid started working for Clark and Lois from Action Comics #6 (November 1938) onwards. His first name was disclosed in Superman #13 (November-December 1941), having already been revealed as Jimmy Olsen when he had become a major player in The Adventures of Superman radio show from its debut on April 15th 1940.

As somebody the same age as the target audience for the hero to explain stuff to (all for the listeners’ benefit), he was the closest thing to a sidekick the Action Ace ever needed…

When a similarly titled television show launched in the autumn of 1952 it was another immediate sensation and National Periodicals began cautiously expanding their revitalised franchise with new characters and titles.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, being different in America was a Bad Thing. Conformity was sacrosanct, even in comicbooks, and everybody and thing was meant to keep to its assigned and intended role: for the Superman family and cast, that meant a highly strictured code of conduct and parameters.

Daily Planet Editor Perry White was a stern, shouty elder statesman with a heart of gold, Cub Reporter Jimmy was a brave and impulsive, unseasoned fool – with a heart of gold – and plucky News-hen Lois was brash, nosy, impetuous and unscrupulous in her obsession to marry Superman although she too was – deep down – another possessor of an Auric aorta.

Moreover, although burly Clark Kent was a Man in a Man’s World, his hidden alter ego meant that he must never act like one…

Yet somehow even with these mandates in place the talented writers and artists assigned to produce their wholesomely uncanny exploits managed to craft tales both beguiling and breathtakingly memorable – and usually as funny as they were exciting.

First to fill a solo title were the gloriously charming, light-hearted escapades of that rash, capable but callow photographer and “cub reporter”.  Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #1 launched in 1954 with a September-October cover date, the first spin-off star of the Caped Kryptonian’s rapidly expanding multi-media entourage.

As the decade progressed the oh-so-cautious Editors tentatively extended the franchise in 1957 just as the Silver Age of Comics was getting underway and it seemed that there might be a fresh and sustainable appetite for costumed heroes and their unique brand of spectacular shenanigans.

Try-out title Showcase, which had already launched The Flash (#4) and Challengers of the Unknown (#6), followed up with a brace of issues entitled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane in #9 and 10 before swiftly awarding the “plucky News-hen” a series of her own – in actuality her second, since for a brief while in the mid-1940s she had held a regular solo-spot in Superman.

At this time Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane was one of precious few titles with a female lead and, in the context of today, one that gives many 21st century fans a few uncontrollable qualms of conscience. Within the confines of her series the valiant capable working woman careered crazily from man-hungry, unscrupulous bitch through ditzy simpleton to indomitable and brilliant heroine – often all in the same issue – as the exigencies of entertaining children under the strictures of the Comics Code all too often played up the period’s astonishingly misogynistic attitudes.

The comic was clearly intended to appeal to the family demographic that made I Love Lucy a national phenomenon and Doris Day a ditzy latter day saint, so many stories were played for laughs in that same patriarchal, parochial manner; a “gosh, aren’t women funny?” tone that appals me today – but not as much as the fact that I still love them to bits.

It helps that they’re mostly illustrated by the wonderfully whimsical Kurt Schaffenberger.

Jimmy fared little better: a bright, brave but naïve kid making his own way in the world, he was often the butt of cruel jokes and impossible circumstances; undervalued and humiliatingly tasked in a variety of slapstick adventures and strange transformations.

This third cunningly conjoined chronologically complete compendium collects the affable, all-ages tales from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #35-44, March 1959-April 1960 and Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #8-16, April 1959-April 1960, and commences with the Man of Steel’s Go-To Guy in three tales drawn as (almost) always by the wonderful Curt Swan.

Jimmy’s comic was popular for more than two decades, blending action, adventure, broad, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gently addictive, self-deprecating manner scripter Otto Binder had perfected a decade previously at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent original Captain Marvel.

As the feature progressed, one of the most popular plot-themes (and most fondly remembered and referenced today by most Baby-Boomer fans) was the unlucky lad’s appalling talent for being warped, mutated and physically manipulated by fate, aliens and even his friends…

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #35 (March 1959) opens with ‘The Menace of Superman’s Fan Mail!’, by Binder & Swan with inks by Stan Kaye, wherein the cub reporter undertook to answer the mountain of missives for the Man of Steel and inadvertently supplied a crook with an almost foolproof method of murdering the Metropolis Marvel.

The remaining tales are inked by Ray Burnley and begins with a rather disingenuous yarn which saw the lad repeatedly get into trouble wearing a futuristic suit of mechanised super-armour which only made him look like ‘The Robot Jimmy Olsen!’, whilst in ‘Superman’s Enemy!’ the devoted kid overnight turned into a despicable, hero-hating wretch. However as a veritable plague of altered behaviour afflicted ClarkKent’s friends, the baffled Action Ace began to discern a pattern…

Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #8 (April 1959) opened with ‘The Superwoman of Metropolis’, by Alvin Schwartz & Kurt Schaffenberger, heavy-handedly turning the tables on our heroine when she developed incredible abilities and took on a costumed identity, and was instantly plagued by a suspicious Clark determined to expose her secret.

‘The Ugly Superman!’ dealt with a costumed wrestler who fell for Lois, giving the Caped Kryptonian another chance for some pretty unpleasant Super-teasing. . It was written by the veteran Robert Bernstein, who unlike me can use the tenor of the times as his excuse, and pleasingly ameliorated by Schaffenberger delivering another hilarious dose of OTT comedic drama illustration.

Following is a far less disturbing fantasy romp: ‘Queen for a Day!’ (Bernstein, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye) found Lois and Clark shipwrecked on an island of Amazons with the plucky lady mistaken for their long-prophesied royal saviour…

Jimmy Olsen #36 began with Binder, Swan & Burnley’s ‘Super-Senor’s Pal!’, which found the boy South of the Border in the banana republic of Peccador helping a local rebel fight the dictators by masquerading as a Latino Man of Steel.

Stan Kaye inked the momentous debut of ‘Lois Lane’s Sister!’, which introduced perky air-hostess Lucy as romantic foil and regularly unattainable inamorata for the kid, in a smart, funny tale of hapless puppy love whilst the final tale (Burnley inks) described the cub reporter’s accidental time-trip to Krypton and ‘How Jimmy Olsen First met Superman!’

Although we all think of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s iconic creation as the epitome of comicbook creation, the truth is that very soon after his launch Superman became a multimedia star and far more people have seen or heard the Man of Steel than have ever read him – and yes, that does include the globally syndicated newspaper strip which ran from 1939 to 1966.

By the time his 20th anniversary rolled around he had been a regular on radio, starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons and two movies, and just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his future were three more (Superboy, Lois & Clark and Smallville), a stage musical, a franchise of stellar movies and an almost seamless succession of TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

It’s no wonder then that the tales from this Silver Age period should be so draped in the gaudily wholesome trappings of Tinseltown – even more so than most of celebrity-obsessed America. It didn’t hurt that editor Whitney Ellsworth was a part-time screenwriter, script editor and producer as well as National/DC’s Hollywood point man.

The Man of Tomorrow’s TV presence influenced much of Lois Lane #9: a celebrity-soaked issue scripted by Bernstein which began with artists Dick Sprang & John Forte detailing how performer Pat Boone (who coincidentally had his own licensed DC comic at that time) almost exposed Earth’s greatest secret with ‘Superman’s Mystery Song!’

The Silver Screen connection continued in the Schaffenberger-illustrated ‘The Most Hated Girl in Metropolis’ wherein Lois was framed for exposing that self-same super-secret as a ruse to get her to Hollywood for her own unsuspected This is Your Life special. The issue ended with return to fantasy/comedy as Schaffenberger introduced a lost valley of leftover dinosaurs and puny caveman Blog – ‘Lois Lane’s Stone-Age Suitor’…

In JO #37 Bill Finger, Swan & John Forte revealed the incredible truth about multi-powered Mysterio in the case of ‘Superman’s Super-Rival’, whilst Binder, Swan & Kaye exposed the difficulties of frivolous Lucy Lane having ‘The Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch!’: a timepiece/communicator which kept the boy on a constant electronic leash…

This issue ended with a cunning caper which saw resident crackpot genius Professor Phineas Potter concoct a serum which allowed Jimmy to reprise his many malleable antics and tangled troublemaking as ‘The Elastic Lad of Metropolis’ (Binder, Swan & George Klein) – almost exposing Superman’s secret identity into the bargain.

Records from the period are sadly incomplete but Bernstein probably wrote each tale in Lois Lane #10, beginning with Schaffenberger-limned classic ‘The Cry-Baby of Metropolis’, wherein Lois – terrified of losing her looks – exposed herself to a youth ray and temporarily turned into a baby, much to the good-natured amusement of Superman and arch rival Lana Lang…

Schaffenberger also illustrated ‘Lois Lane’s Romeo’ as the constantly spurned reporter finally gave up on her extraterrestrial beau and was romanced by a slick, romantic European. Of course he was also a conniving, crooked conman…

She stormed back in formidable crime-busting form for ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Séance!’ (Boring & Kaye), apparently graced with psychic sight, but actually pulling the wool over the eyes of superstitious crooks.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #38 also tapped the TV connection as the lad became ‘The MC of the Midnight Scare Theatre’ (Bernstein, Swan & Forte), uncovering an incredible mystery as his hoary, hokey act apparently scared four viewers to death…

Although by the same creators, the broad humour of ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Wedding’ to Lucy had a far less ingenious explanation, but ‘Olsen’s Super-Supper!’ (Bernstein, Swan & John Giunta) ended things on a high as the impecunious kid entered an eating contest and allowed shady operators to try an experimental appetite-increasing ray on him. Of course the mad scientists had an ulterior, criminal motive…

A plane crash and head wound transformed Lois into a fur-bikinied wild woman in #11 of her own magazine but, even after being rescued by Superman, ‘The Leopard Girl of the Jungle!’ (Bill Finger & Schaffenberger) still had one last task to valiantly undertake, after which the anonymously authored ‘The Tricks of Lois Lane!’ found the restored reporter up to her old schemes to expose Clark as Superman, whilst ‘Lois Lane’s Super-Perfume!’ (possibly Bernstein?) seemed able to turn any man into a love-slave – until the Man of Steel exposed the criminal scammers behind it…

Binder, Swan & Forte crafted all of Jimmy Olsen #39 which began with the lad stuck on another world where he quickly became ‘The Super-Lad of Space!’, after which, back in Metropolis, his ill-considered antics lost and won and lost him a fortune in ‘The Million Dollar Mistakes!’ before ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super-Signals!’ saw him misplace his Superman-summoning watch and forced to spectacularly improvise every time he got into trouble…

Bernstein handled LL #12 beginning with two Schaffenberger specials: ‘The Mermaid of Metropolis’ in which an accident doomed Lois to life underwater beside Sea King Aquaman, until Superman found a cure for her piscoid condition, whilst in ‘The Girl Atlas!’ Lana sneakily turned herself into a super-powerhouse to corral the Man of Steel and learned what sneaky meant when her rival struck back…

Al Plastino illustrated ‘Lois Lane Loves Clark Kent!’ wherein Lois, believing she had incontrovertible proof of Superman’s secret, started a campaign to entrap the unknowing journalist in wedlock…

Swan & Forte illustrated all of JO #40, beginning with ‘The Invisible Life of Jimmy Olsen’ (scripted by Binder) as the hapless lad was enmired in all manner of mischief after a gift from his best pal unexpectedly rendered him unseen but not trouble-free, after which ‘Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl’s Pal!’ saw the reporter temporarily struck blind just as a crook with a grudge tried to kill him.

With Superman out of touch, the hero’s secret weapon Supergirl (a hidden trainee no one except cousin Kal-El knew of) rushed to the rescue, only to have the feisty lad disbelieve and dispute her very existence.

Bernstein then exposed ‘Jimmy Olsen, Juvenile Delinquent!’ as the kid went undercover to break up a prototypical street gang and discovered Perry White’s own son was a member…

Bernstein & Schaffenberger led in the 13th issue of the news-hen’s series, hilariously ‘Introducing… Lois Lane’s Parents!’

Superman had offered the lady reporter a lift home to the farm of Sam and Ella Lane for a family reunion, but thanks to a concatenation of circumstances, local gossip and super-politeness, the Man of Steel quickly found himself press-ganged into a wedding.

Fair Warning: this tale also contains Lois’ first nude scene when proud father Sam got out the baby album…

By the same creative team, and in a brilliant pastiche of My Fair Lady, ‘Alias Lois Lane!’ found the indomitable inquirer undercover as floozie Sadie Blodgett to snap candid shots of a movie star and hired by thugs to impersonate Superman’s girlfriend in an assassination plot bound to fail…

Then, Finger, Boring & Kaye disclosed ‘The Shocking Secret of Lois Lane!’ following a tragically implausible incident which forced the reporter to cover her disfigured head in a lead-lined steel box. Thankfully the Action Ace was around to deduce what was really going on…

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #41 opened with Bernstein, Swan & Forte’s ‘The Human Octopus!’, which highlighted the lad’s negligent idiocy when he impetuously ate alien fruit and apparently grew six more arms. The true effect of the space spud was far more devious…

Binder and Kaye joined Swan for ‘The Robot Reporter!’, as Jimmy used an automaton provided by Superman to do his job whilst he recuperated from a damaged ankle and managed to get into trouble from the comfort of his apartment. Thanks to some stupid showing off the kid was then mistaken for a master fencer and catapulted into a Ruritanian adventure as ‘Jimmy Olsen, the Boy Swordsman!’ (by Binder, Swan & Forte).

Lois Lane #14 led with ‘Three Nights in the Fortress of Solitude!’ (Binder & Schaffenberger) as the conniving journalist contrived to isolate herself with Superman long enough to prove how much he needed a woman in his life, only to suffer one disaster after another whilst the Bernstein scripted ‘Lois Lane’s Soldier Sweetheart!’ alternatively showed her warm and generous side as she helped a lonely GI attain his greatest desire.

Jerry Siegel then returned to the character he created using the still-secret Supergirl to catastrophically play cupid in ‘Lois Lane’s Secret Romance!’

Jimmy Olsen #42 started with the uncredited story of ‘The Big Superman Movie!’ (art by Swan & Forte), wherein the star-struck kid consulted on a major motion picture but would far rather have played himself, much to Lucy’s amusement. Nevertheless the sharp apprentice journalist had the last word – and laugh…

Bernstein scripted ‘Perry White, Cub Reporter!’ which saw the Editor and junior trade places, with power only apparently going straight to Olsen’s head, after which ‘Jimmy the Genie!’ saw the something similar occur when boy reporter and magical sprite exchanged roles in a clever thriller by illustrated by Swan & Giunta.

Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #15 featured a landmark mystery tale in ‘The Super-Family of Steel!’ (Binder & Schaffenberger) which seemingly saw Lois attain her every dream. She and her Kryptonian Crimebuster first became ‘Super-Husband and Wife’, with ‘The Bride Gets Super-Powers’ as a consequence, and they even had a brace of super-kids before the astounding ‘Secret of the Super-Family’ was revealed to a shocked audience…

In Superman’s Pal… #43 TV show 77 Sunset Strip got a name-check as ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Four Fads!’ (Swan & Kaye) found the kid attempting to create a teen trend to impress Lucy, whilst as ‘Phantom Fingers Olsen!’ (Boring & Kaye) he infiltrated a gang of murderous thieves, and was later adopted by ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Private Monster!’ (Siegel, Swan & Forte).

After causing no end of embarrassment in Metropolis, the bizarre beast took Jim to his home dimension where even greater shocks awaited…

The final Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane in this collection is #16 from April 1960 and opens with ‘Lois Lane’s Signal-Watch’ with Schaffenberger art over (possibly) a Siegel script, as the Man of Steel learned to regret ever giving a woman who clearly had no idea what “emergency” meant a device which would summon him at any moment of day or night…

That slice of scurrilous 1950s propaganda is inexplicably balanced by a brilliant murder thriller which showed off all Lois’ resilience and fortitude as she infiltrated and solved ‘The Mystery of Skull Island’, (Bernstein) whilst Siegel authored another cruel dark tragedy wherein Superman tried to cure Lois’ nosy impulses by tricking his own girlfriend into believing she had a death stare in ‘The Kryptonite Girl!’. (Of course, as all married couples know, such a power develops naturally not long after the honeymoon…)

I love these stories, but sometime words just fail me…

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #44 ends this third monochrome monolith, starting with ‘The Wolf-Man of Metropolis!’ (Binder, Swan & Kaye), which blended horror, mystery and heart-warming charm in a mini-classic which saw the boy cursed to hairy moon madness and desperately seeking a willing maiden to cure him with a kiss…

That’s followed by Siegel, Swan & Forte’s ‘Jimmy’s Leprechaun Pal!’, a magical imp who made life hell for the cub until human ingenuity outwitted magical pranksterism, after which Bernstein, Swan & Kaye crafted possibly the strangest and most disturbing yarn in this compilation as the boy went undercover as a sexy showgirl to get close to gangster Big Monte in ‘Miss Jimmy Olsen!’

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling, deeply peculiar and yes, often potentially offensive stories also perfectly capture the changing tone and tastes which reshaped comics from the safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – “keep them entertained and keep them wanting more”.

Despite my good-natured cavils from my high horse here in the 21st century, I think these stories have a huge amount to offer funnybook fun-seekers. I strongly urge you to check them out.
© 1959, 1960, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: Nightwing and Flamebird volume 1


By Greg Rucka, Eddy Barrows, Sidney Teles, Diego Olmos, Pere Pérez & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2639-8

“The Dynamic Duo of Kandor” were first envisioned by pulp author Edmond Hamilton and artists Curt Swan & George Klein in Superman #158 (January 1963, ‘Superman in Kandor!’) which saw raiders from the preserved Kryptonian enclave attacking the Man of Steel and describing him as a traitor to his people.

Back then, the baffled Superman infiltrated the Bottle City with Jimmy Olsen where they created the Batman and Robin-inspired masked identities of Nightwing and Flamebird to ferret out the answer…

Over intervening decades the roles have been played by a number of others in Kandor and elsewhere, before eventually being appropriated for regular Earthbound characters when the original Robin became Nightwing and first Batgirl Bette Kane re-branded herself as Flamebird.

In this iteration, part of the recent overarching Superman publishing event “World of New Krypton/World Without Superman”, the 100,000 preserved Kandorians have escaped imprisonment in the Bottle City and, gaining superpowers under Sol’s light, built themselves a planet in our solar system.

With the Man of Steel’s arch-nemesis General Zod prominent and pre-eminent in the newly re-established society and most of Earth crazy-scared about a world full of belligerent supermen flying around in their backyard, Kal-El has abandoned his adopted homeworld to keep an eye on the system’s newest immigrants…

Earth is not completely defenceless, however. As well as the Justice League and Superman’s hand-picked replacement Mon-El of Daxam, Supergirl and a mysterious “Superwoman” still fly our skies and top-secret, sinister paramilitary, anti-alien task force Project 7734 is watching, certain that there are other ET insurgents just waiting in hiding…

Collecting Action Comics #875-879, Action Comics Annual #12 (from May to September 2009) and excerpts from Superman Secret Files 2009, this tense suspense thriller introduces a brace of apparently familiar new players to the cosmic drama of World Without Superman…

Written throughout by Greg Rucka, 5-part saga ‘The Sleepers’ (illustrated by Eddy Barrows, Ruy José & Julio Ferreira) begins in Australia with a masked and armoured duo attacking a media mogul and revealing that he is in fact Kryptonian agent Tor-An; placed in deep cover by Zod to infiltrate Earth’s echelons of power prior to invasion.

His cover spectacularly blown by Nightwing and Flamebird – Kryptonians masquerading as earthling heroes during these times of xenophobic hysteria – the alien infiltrator battles manically but is soon overcome and transported to Superman’s vacant Fortress of Solitude as, in Metropolis, Lois Lane ponders the implications of the televised battle.

Also considering the state of affairs is the fanatical leader of Project 7734. General Sam Lane is Lois’ father and a global war hero thought long-perished in service of humanity. However the severely off-reservation zealot is actually running his own covert agenda of rendition and murder under the noses of family and government, secure in his conviction that only he knows what’s best for Earth.

What he doesn’t know is who these newcomers are – although he does have some suspicions…

On New Krypton military martinet – and Zod’s former lover – Ursa is investigating the disappearance of security officer Thara Ak-Var, unaware as yet that the young woman is AWOL on Earth, hunting down six Kryptonian sleepers the General and Ursa so assiduously trained. The twisted, sadistic soldier-fanatic has no idea how closely the mysterious Flamebird is to one she thought lost forever…

And in the Fortress Thara, having locked up Tor-An, is horrified to see her teenaged companion Lor-Zod age ten years in agonising seconds…

Part 2 (with additional pencils from Sidney Teles) opens with the distraught pair ambushed and overwhelmed by the deranged, unstoppable Ursa, who seems to know all the bewildered boy-man’s secrets. So she should: Ursa is his mother…

Unfortunately, bringing him into the world doesn’t prevent the Kryptonian killer savagely beating Nightwing to the brink of death and stabbing Flamebird with a lethal Kryptonite knife. Only a desperate rally and sheer luck allows the tormented young man to fend her off and escape the Fortress with his dying partner.

In Metropolis some time later, Lois Lane looks out her window and sees the son she thought lost forever floating in mid-air with a dead woman in his arms……

Part 3 (illustrated by Teles & Sandro Ribeiro) opens with a furious and frustrated Ursa discovering the Fortress empty except for the incarcerated failure Tor-An as, in distant America, Lois is reunited with the strangely altered boy who was briefly adopted by her and husband Clark Kent…

It all began when Superman intercepted a spaceship crashing to Earth. Catching the blazing capsule he discovered a young boy within, apparently from Krypton…

Claimed by the US government, the boy nearly disappeared into the nebulous miasma of US covert agencies until the Man of Tomorrow rescued him. Determined the boy should have a normal childhood he then closeted him with his own foster parents. Jonathan and Martha Kent were the only humans with any experience of raising super-kids…

Thereafter the Action Ace decided to keep the authorities involved but at arms length, even after Lex Luthor sent the unstable juggernaut Bizarro to steal the boy, but was eventually forced to admit that only total anonymity could save the youngster from becoming somebody’s ultimate weapon.

He and Lois adopted the boy, naming him Christopher, just as three Kryptonian villains smashed free of the Phantom Zone (a stark and silent realm of nullity; formless and intangible, it was a time-proof, timeless prison for the worst villains of lost planet Krypton) and attacked Earth.

Challenging the Man of Steel, they claimed to know the boy’s true origins. Christopher – nee Lor-Zod – had been born in an aberrant, solid sector of the ghostly plane; impossible fruit of a union between disgraced Zod and psychotic killer Ursa. Subjected to constant torture and abuse at the hands of the twisted prison population the unearthly child finally escaped, but his uncanny genesis had made him a creature of disruptive potential.

His mere presence on Earth threatened to break down the walls to the Phantom Zone, and Lois last saw her adopted son when the brave little boy voluntarily returned to his birth dimension to save the world from invasion by an army of Kryptonian convicts…

Now only months later he is back, full grown and carrying a wounded woman he clearly loved deeply. Possibly the greatest human expert on Kryptonians, Lois promptly calls on Justice Leaguer Kimiyo Hoshi who – as Dr. Light – bombards Thara with yellow solar radiation to kickstart super-healing.

Unfortunately the spectacular radiance is picked up by covert 7734 surveillance. General Lane turns his paranoid attentions upon his daughter and discovers “Enemy Hostile” Thara Ak-Var sunbathing on his little girl’s roof…

Christopher, assured that Thara is on the mend, returns to the Fortress. Once there though, he only finds Tor-An’s corpse and his own maniac birth-mother alternatively itching for another fight and beseeching him to come home.

Disgusted and distracted Nightwing flees but is ambushed over the icy wastes by Lane’s souped-up drone planes.

Now, in Nevada, a young Kryptonian couple begin a lethal rampage: hot, horny and obsessed with becoming the new Bonnie and Clyde in their own gory remake of “Badlands”…

Part 4 (art by Diego Olmos) finds former sleeper agents Az-Rel and Nadira in New Mexico, having gouged a bloody swathe through the Southwest, completely rejecting Zod’s schemes, preferring a life of murderous, sex-fuelled self-indulgence…

Chris had been wounded in 7734’s attack and DNA has been gathered and processed by the covert xenophobes. The results confirm General Lane’s theory that Nightwing is the same child Superman prevented the US Government from confiscating and it also proves his own daughter is a traitor to humanity, consorting with and giving comfort to aliens…

Nightwing returns to Metropolis just as the recuperating Thara finishes telling Lois how she and the boy first hooked up, but no sooner are they all reunited than news of the spree-killers catapults the heroes into amother battle…

The furious fight against power-drunk Az-Rel and Nadira in Part 5 (Olmos art) is only interrupted when 7734’s top agent and an army of bizarre monsters join the melee.

Codename: Assassin is a powerful telepathic fanatic more concerned with capturing Nightwing and Flamebird than saving lives and his interference allows the Kryptonian thrill-killers opportunity to escape. Nightwing pursues, but the telepath remains, preferring to extract all the enigmatic crusaders’ secrets from Thara’s mind.

With Nightwing obliviously chasing the fugitive sleepers, all Flamebird’s memories are being sampled by the rapacious Assassin until he inadvertently triggers a terrifying explosive transformation and his captive manifests as a chaotic creature of blazing destructive energy…

In the aftermath Az-Rel and Nadira elude Chris and the shaken but restored Thara (but not 7734’s other metahuman assets) whilst at a distant grave Mon-El confirms Lois’ worst suspicions: her driven, duplicitous, obsessive father is still alive…

Action Comics Annual #12 then provides ‘The Origin of Nightwing and Flamebird’ (illustrated by Pere Pérez); disclosing how Kandor’s abduction by Brainiac set in motion a series of tragic events which orphaned Thara and led to her becoming a security officer in Kandor, protecting the parents of the girl who would one day become Supergirl.

We also learn how her life was further changed when, moved by an irresistible inpulse, she joined the city’s Spiritual Guild and somehow, impossibly, connected with a little boy lost in the Phantom Zone and constantly tortured by his own parents and all the ghostly inmates of the penal plane.

And then one day, prompted by urgings from a mythical deity, Thara broke into the Zone and spectacularly rescued Lor-Zod, battling demons in human form to bring them both into the light…

To Be Continued…

With a cover gallery by Andrew Robinson and Renato Guedes and including full fact file pages on both Nightwing and Flamebird, this slim exotic tome is fast paced, action-packed, pretty and engaging but as an opening shot in only a sidebar sequence to a major story arc, probably offers more bewilderment than wonderment to any reader not intimately aware with the ever-changing minutiae of the continuity.

Definitely worth a look, but perhaps only after reading the main event first…
© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 5


By Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Marty Pasko, Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin, Frank McLaughlin & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-195-9

After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read 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: a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one (…or even one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick in situ…).

The Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comicbooks and when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, it was inevitable that there would be a new banding together of the latest reconfigured mystery men.

That moment came with The Brave and the Bold #28, a classical adventure title that had recently transformed into a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just before Christmas 1959 the ads began running. “Just Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our time… have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!”

The rest was history: the JLA captivated the youth of a nation, further reinvigorated an industry and even inspired a small family publishing concern to create the Fantastic Four, inspiring a whole new way of telling comics stories.

Following a meteoric rise, TV spin-offs brought trendy international awareness of costumed crusaders which in turn led to catastrophic overexposure. By 1968 the superhero boom looked to be dying just as its predecessor had at the end of the 1940s.

Sales were down generally and production costs beginning to spiral. More importantly “free” entertainments, such as television, were now found in even the poorest household. If you were a kid in the sixties, think just how many brilliant cartoon shows were created during that decade, when comics artists such as Alex Toth and Doug Wildey moved into West Coast animation studios.

Moreover, many comicbook heroes were now appearing on that ubiquitous small screen. As well as wholly original characters, the Marvel heroes, Superman, Aquaman, Batman, and even the JLA were there every Saturday in your own living room – even after that global bubble had burst…

It was also a time of great political and social upheaval. Change was everywhere and unrest even reached the corridors of DC. When a number of creators agitated for increased work benefits the request was not looked upon kindly. Many left the company – not always voluntarily – for other outfits. Some quit the business altogether.

Of course the greatest threat was the insatiable appetite for supernatural themes which decimated the industry’s pantheons of gaudily-clad mystery men…

This fifth monochrome Justice League Showcase volume compellingly reflects the signs of the times as the next generation of writers fostered a “new wave” and saw the title’s lowest ebb. Publication slowed to six issues a year before the tide slowly turned and the World’s Greatest Superheroes began climbing again to the top of the gradually recovering, tried-and-tested Fights ‘n’ Tights arena…

Collecting Justice League of America #107-132 from the era when superheroes were in the direst doldrums and looked like disappearing forever, this tome covers the period September/October 1973 to June 1976, during which the market changed forever from mass market to niche-industry and comicbooks stopped being casual, cheap or disposable entertainment.

By the end of this book the stories reflected the harsh facts, and publishers had accepted the conceptual and commercial transition from a broad-appeal medium slavishly following outside trends and fashions to increasingly become a targeted service making only what their most dedicated fans wanted…

The dramas begin here with Justice League of America #107 and ‘Crisis on Earth-X’ by Len Wein, Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano, the first chapter of another landmark crossover with their Earth-2 counterparts and antecedents in the JSA.

Following the popular revival of a forgotten team during their previous get-together (The Seven Soldiers of Victory as seen in Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 4), this time the annual team-up reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors – from corporate acquisition Quality Comics and newly rechristened The Freedom Fighters…

It began when a recreational trip across the dimensional barrier was accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow and Elongated Man from Earth-1 and Superman, Sandman and Doctor Fate from Earth-2 into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II.

Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor and the Human Bomb the newcomers ended the Nazi threat forever in the sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’…

With everybody returned to their home planes #109 then brought back a cultish guest star as ‘The Doom of the Divided Man!’ revived the dormant career of 1960’s hero/villain Eclipso, who harboured another cunning plan to conquer the world. However the real focus of this tale was the unexpected resignation of Hawkman following his recall to home planet Thanagar…

Wein, Dillin & Giordano then got to deliver a delightful and potent seasonal present in #110 as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Red Tornado had to adapt to abrasive substitute Green Lantern John Stewart (a controversial “angry black man” conceived at a time when non-Caucasian heroes could be counted on the fingers of one hand) mid-mission, when the League gathered to hunt down ‘The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!’

Murderous psychopath The Key had set up the heroes for ambush with the callous assassination of an actor hired to cheer orphaned kids, but his horrific deeper scheme was only foiled thanks to the supernatural intervention of an almost forgotten League member…

JLA #111 introduced a seminal villain who became, decades later, a pivotal player in The Final Crisis. Here however the enigmatic Libra merely used his incredible abilities to revive the dormant Injustice Gang of the World.

Although his stated goal was to imbue Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Shadow Thief and Tattooed Man with energies stolen from Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Elongated Man and the fully recovered GL Hal Jordan, the ‘Balance of Power!’ he was really seeking meant keeping all the purloined might for his own unimaginable use…

Those stolen super-powers featured in #112’s follow-up ‘War with the One-Man Justice League!’ as the entire team gathered to help restore their diminished comrades. The high risk solution was to resurrect power-stealing android Amazo to collect the stolen energies and abilities – but nobody considered what the mechanoid might do after it absorbed Batman’s vast intellect and suspicious mind…

Justice League of America #113 (September/October 1974) proved how desperate were the times for the spandex set as the epic annual collaboration with the JSA was restricted to a single issue. Nevertheless ‘The Creature in the Velvet Cage!’ proved to be one of the very best team-up tales as a JLA visiting party to Earth-2 (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Elongated Man) shared the shame and horror of The Sandman, when his greatest secret was catastrophically revealed.

Years ago the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed his sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster and been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend.

Now after three decades the beast was awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash and Wonder Woman believed when they joined their old comrade on his tragic manhunt…

Wein, with the plotting assistance of Mark Hanerfeld, ended his run as scripter with a smart and decidedly effective little thriller in #114 – ‘The Return of Anakronus!’ During a League-sponsored telethon an enigmatic time-bending villain took disgraced old team mascot Snapper Carr and his family hostage. Although definitely dangerous, the crazed felon’s ranting didn’t make much sense: after all, why would a man who had repeatedly defeated the JLA stoop to demanding a mere cash ransom…?

The tone turned cosmic in #115 as Denny O’Neil provided a fill-in script which brought back retired hero J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars who begged his former comrades to save the dying remnants of his people from ‘The Last Angry God!’ who had imprisoned them on a far-distant world.

Cary Bates then contributed ‘The Kid Who Won Hawkman’s Wings!’ in #116 as sightings of Hawkman in Midway City led Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash and Batman into a deadly duel against the Matter Master. Closer inspection revealed the Pinioned Paladin to be a baffled kid named Charley Parker who had no idea why he changed into a Golden Eagle, whilst the actual mastermind behind the plot was a shock to everybody concerned…

After just over a year’s absence the true winged Wonder returned in JLA #117. ‘I Have No Wings and I Must Fly!’ – scripted by Elliot S! Maggin and with Giordano’s protégé Frank McLaughlin assuming the role of regular inker over Dick Dillin’s sleek and effective pencils – saw alien cop Katar Hol resurface to warn Earth of a deadly extraterrestrial menace dubbed The Equalizer.

This ineffable menace was driven to achieve pure balance in the universe, and to achieve this he somehow homogenised entire civilisations, making life forms exactly identical to each other.

His Equalizer plague weapon was overwhelmingly contagious and – after reducing the population of Thanagar to imbecilic, four foot tall clones of each other, including Hol’s beloved wife Shayera – the unfathomable voyager had turned his single eye upon Earth…

With his homeworld quarantined and after defeating the appalling threat beside the JLA, Hawkman had no other refuge than our planet and promptly joined Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash Red Tornado and Superman in resisting the ‘Takeover of the Earth-Masters!’ (#118 by Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin). This saw a misguided attempt by trans-dimensional beings who sought to save our world from super beings by despatching eerie hyper-evolving Adaptoid organisms.

With even the Man of Steel unable to face the ghastly invaders, Hawkman devised a risky strategy involving his Equalization-infected wife, which fortunately turned out in Humanity’s favour in #119’s ‘Winner Takes the Earth!’

Another old friend reappeared in #120 as ‘The Parallel Perils of Adam Strange!’ (written by Bates) saw the Earth-born champion of Planet Rann forced to re-fight his greatest battles after despotic Kanjar Ro murdered his fiancée Alanna.

Even though Ro had cruelly stacked the deck, Strange – and his newly arrived Justice League allies – triumphed and even pulled a rabbit out of the hat to restore the Rannian heroine in time for her own magical wedding in the blistering conclusion ‘The Hero Who Jinxed the Justice League!’

In issue #122 Marty Pasko delved into the team’s private lives and revealed why the JLA shared their civilian secrets with each other in ‘The Great Identity Crisis!’ as old enemy Dr. Light used photonic super-science and the too-good-to-be-true mineral Amnesium (guess what it causes?) to mess with the heroes’ minds and lure them into what should have been inescapable death-traps…

Another year gone, it was then time for the annual JLA/JSA yarn and Bates, Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ and ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ from issues #123 and 124.

In Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?, May 1968) Bates and Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in “our” Reality of Earth-Prime, where the Sultan of Speed was just a comic-book character.

Here Bates and co-scripter Maggin returned to the idea as a story conference in Editor Julie Schwartz’s office led to the oafish goons playing with the Flash’s hastily-constructed Cosmic Treadmill, sending one of them hurtling between dimensions.

Transformed and empowered by the journey, Cary Bates became the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-2 criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle and The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite.

Maggin, meanwhile, had followed his friend but ended up on Earth-1. Undaunted, he recruited Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Flash to save three imperilled universes but it took the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set every thing back to its assigned place and time…

Gerry Conway began his long association with the Justice League in #125 with a clever 2-parter concerning the dumping of toxic energy from an outer dimension onto Earth. ‘The Men Who Sold Destruction!’ craftily employed schizophrenic villain Two-Face as their wily broker to expend the deadly forces, but the super-minds of Dronndar completely underestimated the double-dealing Harvey Dent‘s capacity for betrayal. Almost as bad was that the opportunistic Weaponers of Qward and the JLA were as easily fooled by the Machiavellian maniac in #126’s Byzantine conclusion ‘The Evil Connection!’

JLA #127 confirmed that ‘The Command is “Chaos”!’ when new menace The Anarchist discovered a means of tapping Green Lantern’s power battery and desperate Hal Jordan begged his fellow champions to stop him recharging his ring at any cost, after which Pasko popped back to author a sharp, smart reintroduction for the Earth-1 Amazing Amazon in #128’s ‘Death-Visions of the Justice League!’

For a period “our” Wonder Woman had lost her powers and fought crime as a martial artist (see Diana Prince: Wonder Woman volumes 1-4), but once her supernatural gifts returned she underwent a self-imposed set of trials before rejoining the team.

Sadly her readmission coincided with the team disbanding following a cataclysmic, psychologically punishing assault by alien fear-eater Nekron, and even the Princess of Power seemed unable to galvanise the Leaguers before ‘The Earth Dies Screaming!’ in #129.

The next issue explored the revelatory early days of the team’s orbiting satellite headquarters as ‘Skyjack at 22,300 Miles!’ (scripted by Pasko) disclosed how an intergalactic interloper attempted to turn the space base into a spawning ground and put the nonplussed heroes through a gamut of ghastly trials before order and equilibrium were unconventionally restored.

This mammoth tome ends with a clever mystery double-bill from Conway, Dillin & McLaughlin. Issue #131 featured ‘The Beasts Who Thought Like Men!’ wherein a new credit card currency for America somehow enhanced the minds of animals and insects, simultaneously decreasing human brainpower to such a low point that bugs could enslave deadly villains like Sonar and Queen Bee…

The tale took a strange turn in #132 as Superman vanished and Supergirl stepped in to help against animals organised enough to conquer the country. Even then there was still one more tangled twist in the tale of ‘The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!…’

The Justice League of America has become a keystone of American comics and these tales are still among the most thought-provoking, controversial and purely entertaining episodes in their half-century history.

With captivating covers provided by Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, Giordano, Ernie Chan (née Chua) & José Luis García-López, this captivating transition tome shows the unalloyed appeal of the Fights ‘n’ Tights Crowd at their most innovative and inspiring.

Just Imagine…
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