Category: DC Superhero

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Superman: Eradication! (The Origin of the Eradicator)


By Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, George Pérez & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-193-9

Once the 1987 John Byrne re-imagining of the Man of Steel had stripped away much of mythology and iconography which had grown up around the Strange Visitor from Another World over fifty glorious years, succeeding creative teams spent a great deal of time and ingenuity putting much of it back, albeit in terms more accessible to a cynical and well-informed young audience far more sophisticated than their grandparents ever were.

This slim but exceedingly effective tome, collecting material from Action Comics #651-652, Adventures of Superman #460, 464-465 and Superman #41-42, provides fascinating insights and fresh revelations into the long-gone world of Krypton as well as introducing new character-concepts which would inform and affect the entire mythology of the World’s Ultimate Superhero.

After a lengthy period of self-impose banishment in deep space (for which see Superman: Exile) the Man of Tomorrow returned to Earth carrying an incredibly powerful artefact which had survived the destruction of Krypton. The Eradicator could reshape matter and was programmed to preserve, or indeed, resurrect and restore the heritage and influence of the lost civilisation at all costs.

After a number of close calls Superman realised the device was too dangerous to leave loose so he buried it in an Antarctic crevasse and assumed that ended the affair…

‘Be it ever So Deadly’ by Dan Jurgens & Andy Kubert, found the Metropolis Marvel hurtling to the South Pole to rescue a survey team transformed into slaves of an automated fortress built by the Eradicator to emulate Krypton on Earth. Investigating the alien citadel, Superman discovered the Eradicator had been built by his own ancestor and was attuned his own genetic structure. A spectacular battle ensued…

‘The Nature of the Beast’ by Jerry Ordway & Dennis Janke saw a far calmer hero adopt the Fortress as his secret base, whilst light years away the infallible bounty hunter Lobo got really drunk and was conned into travelling to Earth to destroy Superman. The Czarnian had no idea it was a betting scam by gamblers who didn’t want to see War World Gladiator Draaga bankrupt them by killing the Man of Steel…

Clark Kent had been made editor of glossy magazine News-time, but the pressure was clearly affecting the once affable and easygoing guy. Lately he’d become a cold, calculating, nitpicking martinet…

Even Superman seemed distant and aloof, especially with loved ones such as Ma and Pa Kent…

Still pickled, Lobo reached Earth before Draaga and promptly started throwing blockbusting punches…

‘Blood Brawl’ (Jurgens & Art Thibert) pulled all the clues together as Lobo and his entourage invaded the Antarctic citadel. When the Action Ace responded his uniform momentarily converted to Kryptonian apparel… As Superman and Lobo cataclysmically clashed, the Eradicator openly continued reprogramming the Man of Steel’s mind converting him into a ruthless, passionless Kryptonian science-warrior, who deemed it more expedient to avoid combat rather than strive against one of the most dangerous killers in the universe…

The tension increased in ‘Not of this Earth’ by Roger Stern, George Pérez, Kerry Gammill & Brett Breeding, as alien warrior queen Maxima returned, determined to make Superman her mate. When he again rejected her, their blistering battle allowed the Eradicator to take full control of the embattled Kryptonian.

Ordway & Janke then described how Kal-El the ‘Krypton Man’ began reshaping the chaotic, emotion-afflicted Earth into a world of cold logic just as Draaga arrived, hungry for a decisive return match…

A catastrophic combat almost decimated Metropolis before scientist Emil Hamilton forcibly moved the fight to the Moon, resulting in a turning point for ‘The Last Son of Krypton’ (Jurgens & Thibert) as Clark Kent’s foster parents, realising the horror their boy has become, risked everything to help him shake off the influence of the alien artefact, culminating in a magnificent victory of love over logic in Stern, Pérez, Gammill & Breeding’s stirring finale ‘Wayward Son’.

When they were first published these tales of the post-Crisis Superman continually confounded old fans (like me) and industry pundits (me again, I suppose) simply by being, against all expectations, the very best in good, old fashioned four-colour fun, crafted by creators who went above and beyond to deliver cracking good reads week after week. These little gems are an absolute must for any lover of Fights ‘n’ Tights wonderment.
© 1989, 1990, 1996 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Wonder Woman volume 2


By Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1373-2

The Amazing Amazon Adventuress was created by polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston – apparently at the behest of his remarkable wife Elizabeth – and illustrated by Harry G. Peter just as the spectre of another world-girdling global Armageddon loomed.

She debuted as an extra feature in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) before catapulting into her own cover-starring series in Sensation Comics a month later. An instant smash-hit she also quickly won her own title in the Spring of that year (cover-dated Summer 1942).

Using the nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston scripted all her many and fabulous adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher took over the writer’s role. The venerable co-creator H. G. Peter continued on as illustrator until his death in 1958. Wonder Woman #97, in April of that year, was his last hurrah and the discrete end of an era.

This second economical monochrome Showcase collection covers issues #118-137 from November 1960-April 1963, a period of increased fantasy frolics and wildly imaginative excess which still divides fans into violently opposing camps…

With the notable exception of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and a few anodyne back-up features, costumed heroes died out at the beginning of the 1950s, replaced by a plethora of merely mortal champions and a welter of anthologised genre titles.

Showcase #4 rekindled the public’s interest in costumed crime-busters with a new iteration of The Flash in 1956 (see Showcase Presents the Flash volume 1 or the first Flash: Archive Edition) the fanciful floodgates opened wide once more…

Whilst re-inventing a section of Golden Age Greats like Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman, National/DC also updated all those hoary survivors who had weathered the backlash especially the Man of Steel, Caped Crusader and the ever-resilient Amazing Amazon…

Artists Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, who illustrated all Kanigher’s scripts in this all-ages compendium, had actually debuted as cover artists from #95, but with Wonder Woman #98 (May 1958) they took over the interiors as the writer/editor reinvented much of the old mythology and tinkered with her origins before letting her loose on an unsuspecting world.

The fanciful blend of girlish whimsy, rampant sexism, untrue romance, alien invasion, monster-mashing and all-out surreal (some would say-stream-of-consciousness) storytelling continues unabated here with ‘Wonder Woman’s Impossible Decision!’ (#118) and found the comely crusader constantly distracted from her mission to wipe out injustice by the antics of her savagely-sparring suitors Colonel Steve Trevor and Manno the mer-man.

Amazon science (and the unfettered imagination of Kanigher, for whom slavish continuity, consistency or rationality were never as important as a strong plot or breathtaking visual) had long enabled readers to share the adventures of Wonder Girl and latterly Wonder Tot – the Princess of Power as teen and toddler – both in their appropriate time-zones and, on occasion, teamed together on “Impossible Days”.

WW #119 opened with an adventure of the Titanic Teenager in ‘Mer-Boy’s Secret Prize!’ wherein the besotted undersea booby repeatedly risked his life to win his inamorata a flashy treasure, whilst in ‘Three Wishes of Doom!’ a capable but arrogant young girl won a competition and claimed Wonder Woman’s Bracelets, Lasso and Tiara, with the disastrous idea of using them to out-do the Amazing Amazon…

‘The Secret of Volcano Mountain!’ in #120 pitted teen and adult Amazon – a decade apart – against the same terrifying threat when an alien elemental twice attempted to conquer the world, after which an Impossible Day event had Wonder Girl, her older self and their mother Queen Hippolyta unite to defeat the monster-packed peril of ‘The Island Eater!’

‘The Skyscraper Wonder Woman’ introduced her pre-schooler incarnation when the Sinister Seer of Saturn sought to invade Earth with a colossal robot facsimile whilst de-aging the Amazon to her younger – but thankfully, no less competent – adolescent and pre-adolescent incarnations…

Wonder Woman #123 opened with a glimpse at the ‘Amazon Magic-Eye Album!’ as Hippolyta reviewed some of the crazy exploits of her daughter as Tot, Teen and adult adventuress, whilst the issue after managed to team them all together against the unfortunately named shape-shifting nuclear threat of the Multiple Man on ‘The Impossible Day!’

Steve and Manno resumed their war for the heroine’s hand in marriage in #125’s ‘Wonder Woman… Battle Prize!’ with the improbable trio ending up marooned on a beast and alien amoeba-men infested Blue Lagoon…

‘Wonder Tot and Mister Genie!’ was the first of two tales in WW #126, depicting what might happen when an imaginative super-kid is left on her own, whilst exasperated US Air Force lieutenant Diana Prince got steamed at being her own romantic rival for Steve Trevor in ‘The Unmasking of Wonder Woman!’ The next issue opened with the defeat of another extraterrestrial assault in ‘Invaders of the Topsy-Turvy Planet’ before ‘Wonder Woman’s Surprise Honeymoon!’ gave the usually incorrigible Colonel Trevor a terrifying foretaste of what married life with his Amazon Angel would be like…

WW#128 revealed the astounding and rather charming ‘Origin of the Amazing Robot Plane!’ before things turned a bit more serious when our heroine endured the deadly ‘Vengeance of the Angle Man!’

In #129 another spectacular Impossible Day adventure featured the entire Wonder Woman Family (that would be just her at three different ages with her mum alongside to save the day) in ‘The Vengeance of Multiple Man!’ whilst #130 opened with Wonder Tot discovering the ‘Secret of Mister Genie’s Magic Turban!’ and ended with an outrageous and embarrassing attack by Angle Man on her mature self in ‘The Mirage Mirrors!’

‘The Proving of Wonder Woman!’ in #131 detailed the history of her unique epithets such as “Thunderbolts of Jove”, “Neptune’s Trident” and “Great Hera” whilst the back-up tale ‘Wonder Woman’s Surprise Birthday Gift!’ saw the indefatigable Manno risk all manner of maritime monsters to find her a dazzling bauble whilst the Amazon herself was trying to find her mother a present.

‘Wonder Tot and the Flying Saucer!’ depicted how the adult Amazon turned herself into a toddler to converse with a baby and discover the secret of a devastating alien atomic attack and the second story revealed some ancient romantic encounters which occurred when ‘Wonder Queen Fights Hercules!’

Wonder Woman #133 cover-featured the Impossible Tale of ‘The Amazing Amazon Race!’ wherein Tot, Teen, Woman and Queen competed in a fraught athletic contest with deadly consequences, whilst in Man’s World Diana Prince took centre-stage to become ‘Wonder Woman’s Invincible Rival… Herself!’ when a movie-project went dangerously awry.

‘Menace of the Mirror Wonder Women!’ pitted her and Steve against the Image-Maker; a deadly other-dimensional mastermind who could animate and enslave reflections, and #134 closed with another disastrous sub-sea date for Wonder Girl when she had to prevent ‘The Capture of Mer-boy!’

It was one more time for Multiple Man as he/it returned again to battle the Wonder Woman Family in #135’s Impossible Day drama ‘Attack of the Human Iceberg!’ whilst the next issue had the Female Fury transformed into a ravenous and colossal threat to humanity after alien machine men infected with a growth-agent and she became ‘Wonder Woman… World’s Greatest Menace!’

This fabulous follow-up compendium concludes with #137’s classic duel on an ersatz Earth with mechanical replicas of the world’s populace and metal facsimiles of all the Amazons. Our foremost female defender had to overcome ‘The Robot Wonder Woman!’ if she had any hope of returning with Steve to their own sweet home…

By modern narrative standards these exuberant, effulgent fantasies are usually illogical and occasionally just plain bonkers, but in those days less attention was paid to continuity and shared universes: adventure in the moment was paramount and these utterly infectious romps simply sparkled then and now with fun, thrills and sheer spectacle.

Wonder Woman is rightly revered as a focus of female strength, independence and empowerment, but the welcoming nostalgia and easy familiarity of such innocuous costumed fairytales must be a delight for open-minded readers, whilst the true, incomparable value of these stories is the incredible quality of entertainment they still offer.

© 1960-1963, 2008 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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The Flash: Rogues


By Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Doug Hazlewood & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-950-8

When Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash whose creation ushered in a new and seemingly unstoppable era of costumed crusaders, was killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, he was succeeded by his young sidekick Wally West, a young man who initially struggled to fill the boots of his predecessor, but like a true hero persevered and eventually overcame…

After years in the role West adapted and made a convincing argument for being an even greater hero as he triumphed over both his mentor’s uncanny foes and a whole new Rogue’s Gallery of his own.

This volume, Rogues – which follows directly on from Blood Will Run – is part of a massive continued storyline by scripter Geoff Johns and will be best enjoyed if you can also lay your hands on Crossfire and Blitz – at the very least – and collects issues #177-182 of the long-gone monthly comicbook.

The twin cities of Keystone and Central City are in economic turmoil. In an atmosphere of job-cuts and financial woe, ostensibly-reformed super-villain Keith Kenyon AKA Goldface is causing (mostly legal) trouble promoting his militant blue-collar union, whilst on the crime front a new conglomeration of Rogues is being formed by a sinister mastermind…

The action in this particular tome, all pencilled and mostly inked by Doug Hazlewood, begins with ‘Event Horizon’ when Flash’s oldest ally and human Black Hole Chester Runk, gifted with incredible teleportation and gravity-warping powers, is shot by an assassin. Although Chunk survives the bullet, the wound causes his powers to spiral out of control and subsequently endangers the entire planet until Wally can find a typically fast-paced fix.

Meanwhile in Keystone City, a new, non-union manufacturer of detention units falls foul of Kenyon’s pickets, allowing the lethally destructive super-gorilla Grodd to escape in ‘Caged’…

Immensely strong, carnivorous and possessing staggering psionic abilities, the savage simian goes on an earth-shattering rampage through the city until the hard-pressed hyper-fast hero finally stops him. Across town at that moment, another Flash-friend is arrested for murder…

‘Smile for the Camera’ incorporates a DC braided crossover event which spanned the entire DC pantheon (for more details and murderous high jinks see Batman: The Joker’s Last Laugh) which can be summed up by saying the Joker thought he was dying and infected hundreds of villains with his looks and madness before setting them loose to hilariously wreck civilisation and kill millions.

By the time the Pied Piper is remanded to super-penitentiary Iron Heights, the Jokerising plague is in full effect and chaos ensues. Even with Flash on hand the situation only gets more difficult as the Piper also succumbs to the contagious insanity…

A new villain is introduced in ‘Peek-a-boo’ when a desperate medical student uses her teleporting powers to steal harvested organs for her dying dad. Unfortunately, whenever young Lashawn Baez triggers her power, the air explodes with the force of a detonating missile. Happily for Wally, his old Teen Titans pal Cyborg has moved to town and is able to lend a detachable hand…

‘Fallout’ was a radioactive minor player illegally exploited to power Iron Heights until the Flash liberated him; but the walking atomic reactor was finding life on the outside increasingly hazardous. However, whilst the Scarlet Speedster struggled to find an ethical solution to his dilemma his oldest friends and mentors were falling victim to terrible personal tragedy…

The Rogues and their new boss Blacksmith are happily celebrating their carefully laid plans as Flash’s police contact Detective Jared Morillo becomes their latest victim, but the villains have no idea what trouble is waiting them as this tense tome concludes with ‘Absolute Zero’ (inked by Dan Panosian) when Captain Cold goes renegade to avenge the murder of his sister and affords us all a look at the early life which made him such a cold-hearted killer…

Fast, furious and fantastic, The Flash has always epitomised the very best of Fight ‘n’ Tights fiction. This impressive slice of top-speed, high-octane action can happily be read as is, but as part of the intended, extended epic these tales become vital parts of an overwhelming whole.

The Geoff Johns years are slick and absolutely addictive: engrossing, suspenseful and often genuinely scary comics you simply have to read. If you haven’t seen them yet, run – don’t walk – to your nearest purveyor of graphic magnificence and snag all the breathless excitement you could ever withstand.

© 2000, 2001, 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 1


By Edmond Hamilton, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1697-9

Some things were just meant to be: Bacon & Eggs, Rhubarb & Custard, Chalk & Cheese…

For many years Superman and Batman worked together as the “World’s Finest” team. They were friends as well as colleagues and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes (in effect the company’s only costumed stars) could cross-pollinate and, more importantly, cross-sell their combined readerships.

This most inevitable of Paladin Pairings first occurred on the Superman radio show in the early 1940s, whilst in comics the pair had only briefly met whilst on a Justice Society of America adventure in All-Star Comics #36 (August-September 1947) – and perhaps even there they missed each other in the gaudy hubbub…

Of course they had shared the covers on World’s Finest Comics from the outset, but never crossed paths inside; sticking firmly to their specified solo adventures within. So for us pictorial continuity buffs, the climactic first time was in the pages of Superman’s own bi-monthly comic (issue #76, May/June 1952).

Science fiction author Edmond Hamilton was tasked with revealing how Man of Steel and Caped Crusader first met – and accidentally discovered each other’s identities – whilst sharing a cabin on an over-booked cruise liner. Although an average crime-stopper yarn, it was the start of a phenomenon. The art for ‘The Mightiest Team in the World’ was by the superb Curt Swan and inkers John Fischetti & Stan Kaye with that keynote caper the opening inclusion in this first magnificent monochrome compendium (which thereafter re-presents their first 41 collaborations from World’s Finest Comics #71-111).

With dwindling page counts, rising costs but a proven readership and years of co-starring but never mingling, World’s Finest Comics #71 (July-August 1954) presented the Man of Tomorrow and the Gotham Gangbuster in the first of their official shared cases as the Caped Crusader became ‘Batman – Double For Superman!’ (by scripter Alvin Schwartz with Swan & Kaye providing the pictures) as the merely mortal hero traded identities to preserve his comrade’s alter ego and latterly, his life…

‘Fort Crime!’ (Schwartz, Swan & Kaye) saw them unite to crush a highly organised mob with a seemingly impregnable hideout, after which Hamilton returned to script ‘Superman and Batman, Swamis Inc’, a clever sting-operation that almost went tragically awry before an alien invader prompted an insane rivalry which resulted in ‘The Contest of Heroes’ by Bill Finger, Swan & Kaye, from World’s Finest #74.

The same creative team produced ‘Superman and Robin!’ wherein a disabled Batman could only fret and fume as his erstwhile assistant seemingly dumped him for a better man, whereas ‘When Gotham City Challenged Metropolis’ (Hamilton, Swan & Charles Paris) saw the champions at odds as their hometowns over-aggressively vied for a multi-million dollar electronics convention before a landmark tale by Hamilton, Swan & Kaye invented a new sub-genre when a mad scientist’s accident temporarily removed the Caped Kryptonian’s powers and created ‘The Super-Batman!’ in WF #77.

Arguably Batman’s greatest artist joined the creative crew ‘When Superman’s Identity is Exposed!’ (by Hamilton, Dick Sprang & Kaye) as a mysterious source kept revealing the Man of Steel’s greatest secret, only to be revealed as a well-intentioned disinformation stunt, whereas the accent was on high adventure when the trio became ‘The Three Musicians of Bagdad’ – a stunning time-travel romp from Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye.

When the Gotham Gazette faced closure days before a spectacular crime-expose, Clark Kent and Lois Lane joined dilettante Bruce Wayne as pinch-hitting reporters on ‘The Super-Newspaper of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Charles Paris) after which ‘The True History of Superman and Batman’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye, #81) saw a future historian blackmail the heroes into restaging their greatest exploits so his erroneous treatise on them would be accurate…

Hamilton also produced a magnificent and classy costumed drama when ‘The Three Super-Musketeers!’ visited 17th century France to solve the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask whilst Bill Finger wrote a brilliant and delightful caper-without-a-crime in ‘The Case of the Mother Goose Mystery! before Hamilton provided insight on a much earlier meeting of the World’s Finest Team with ‘The Super-Mystery of Metropolis!’ in #84, all for Sprang & Kaye to enticingly illustrate.

Hamilton, Swan, Sprang & Kaye demonstrated how a comely Ruritanian Princess inadvertently turned the level-headed heroes into ‘The Super-Rivals’ (or did she?), before a monolithic charity-event ‘The Super-Show of Gotham City’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) was almost turned into a mammoth pay-day for unscrupulous con-men whilst ‘The Reversed Heroes’ (Finger, Sprang & Ray Burnley) once again saw the costumed champions swap roles when Batman and Robin gained powers thanks to Kryptonian pep-pills found by criminal Elton Craig, just as Superman’s powers faded…

World’s Finest #87 presented ‘Superman and Batman’s Greatest Foes!’ (Hamilton, Sprang, Kaye) and found “reformed” villains Lex Luthor and the Joker ostensibly setting up in the commercial robot business – which nobody really believed – after which seminal sequel ‘The Club of Heroes’ by Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye, reprised a meeting of Batmen from many nations (Detective Comics #215, January 1955 or Batman: the Black Casebook and a key plank of Grant Morrison’s epic Batman: the Black Glove serial) but added the intriguing sub-plot of an amnesiac Superman and a brand-new costumed champion…

That evergreen power-swap plot was revisited in #90’s ‘The Super-Batwoman’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) when the headstrong heroine defied Batman by restarting her costumed career and was quickly compelled to swallow Elton Craig’s last Krypton pill to prevent criminals getting it, after which the stirring time-busting saga of ‘The Three Super-Sleepers’ (Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) saw our heroes fall into a trap which caused them to slumber for 1000 years and awaken in a fantastic world they could never escape…

But of course they could and once back where they belonged ‘The Boy From Outer Space!’ by Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye detailed how a super-powered amnesiac lad crashed to Earth and briefly became Superman’s sidekick Skyboy, whilst ‘The Boss of Superman and Batman’ (author unknown, Sprang & Kaye) revealed how a brain-amplifying machine turned Robin into a super-genius more than qualified to lead the trio in their battle against insidious rogue scientist Victor Danning.

When the Man of Tomorrow replaced the Caped Crusader with a new partner it led to a review of ‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team’ by Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye after which Dave Wood, Sprang & Ray Burnley pitted the now equally multi-powered and alien-entranced champions against each other in ‘The Battle of the Super-Heroes’ from WF #95.

A magical succession of magnificent and whacky classics began in #96 with Hamilton’s ‘The Super-Foes From Planet X’ as indolent and effete aliens dispatched fantastic monsters to battle the titanic trio for the best possible reasons, before Bill Finger took over scripting and turned the Man of Steel on his greatest friends in ‘The Day Superman Betrayed Batman’ after which ‘The Menace of the Moonman!’ pitted the heroes against a deranged hyper-powered astronaut, ‘Batman’s Super-Spending Spree!’ baffled all his close friends and Luthor then trapped Superman in the newly recovered Bottle City of Kandor and became ‘The Dictator of Krypton City’ – all astounding epics beautifully limned by Sprang & Kaye.

Sprang inked himself in the rocket-paced super-crime thriller ‘The Menace of the Atom-Master’ whilst it took Swan, Burnley, Sprang & Paris to properly unveil the titanic tragedy of ‘The Caveman from Krypton’ in #102.

‘The Secret of the Sorcerer’s Treasure’ (art by Sprang & Paris) found two treasure hunters driven mad by the tempting power unearthed magical artefacts and Luthor quickly regretted used a hostage Batwoman to facilitate ‘The Plot to Destroy Superman’ whereas the metamorphosis which turned Clark Kent into ‘The Alien Superman’ proved not at all what it seemed.

‘The Duplicate Man’ in WF #106 had developed an almost unbeatable crime tool – whereas ‘The Secret of the Time-Creature’ spanned centuries and produced one of Finger’s very best detective thrillers to baffle but never stump the Terrific Team.

Jerry Coleman took over scripting with ‘The Star Creatures’, (art by Sprang & Paris), the tale of an extraterrestrial moviemaker whose deadly props were stolen by Earth crooks, whilst ‘The Bewitched Batman’ drawn by Swan & Kaye, was a tense race to save the Gotham Guardian from an ancient curse and ‘The Alien who Doomed Robin’ (Sprang & Sheldon Moldoff) saw a symbiotic link between monster marauder and Boy Wonder leave the senior heroes apparently helpless… at least for a little while…

This inaugural black and white chronicle concludes with ‘Superman’s Secret Kingdom’ by Finger, Sprang & Moldoff from World’s Finest #111 (August 1960): a compelling lost world yarn wherein a cataclysmic holocaust deprives the Man of Steel of his memory and Batman and Robin have to find and cure him at all costs…

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: the Brave and the Bold series – and the contents of this tome are a veritable feast of witty, charming thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.
© 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Black Glove


By Grant Morrison, J.H. Williams, Tony S. Daniel & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-962-8

In all the furore and hype surrounding the death and inevitable resurrection of Batman by Grant Morrison everybody seemed so concerned with what was going to happen next that they appeared to sideline what was actually occurring in the monthly comicbooks they were holding in their hands.

Now with the dust long settled let’s take a look at one of the collected volumes comprising the extended campaign of psychological warfare the Dark Knight faced on the complex and rocky road to his demise and disappearance at the conclusion of Batman R.I.P. (and Final Crisis, if you’re of a nitpicky nature like all us true comics fans…)

In the build-up to that epochal event a sustained and vicious multi-pronged attack was launched against the Gotham Guardian by an all-encompassing criminal hegemony calling itself The Black Glove which succeeded in destabilising the already dubious mental equilibrium of the emotionally and physically burned out Batman.

The Glove’s enigmatic, quixotic leader Dr. Hurt was masterminding every minute aspect of the war and was merrily dredging up long-forgotten foes and cases Bruce Wayne had all but banished from his mind…

This volume collects the contents of monthly Batman comicbooks #667-669 and #672-675; two impressive story-arcs which intensively reference tales included in the associate compilation Batman: the Black Casebook – so you might want to keep that tome handy, even though the new stories herein can readily be enjoyed without it.

The first of these is a delightful play on the hallowed and time-tested “locked-room” mysteries and “ten little Indians” plots of traditional detective thrillers as a group of Batman-inspired heroes from around the world reunite on a desolate isle to mull over the old days and what might have been…

Their original meetings had occurred in ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ (Detective Comics #215, January 1955 and included in Black Casebook with its sequel ‘The Club of Heroes’ appearing in World’s Finest Comics #89, July-August 1957 – and collected in Showcase Presents World Finest volume 1).

Against his better judgement Batman agrees to a attend a reunion of the club – after a decade of embarrassment and acrimony – on ‘The Island of Mister Mayhew’ the millionaire backer of the original enterprise and a movie producer who’s most notable effort was a thriller entitled “The Black Glove”.

Like a garish High School Reunion, the years have not been kind to many of the B-list champions, but things get much worse when their transport is destroyed and heroes start dying in ‘Now We Are Dead!’ before traitors are uncovered, impostors unmasked and the true culprits get away to menace another day in the spectacular conclusion ‘The Dark Knight Must Die!’

Scripted by Grant Morrison with stunning illustration from J.H. Williams III, this is top-rate, classic Batman fare and some of the survivors of this saga even made it into the later Batman Incorporated storyline…

The four-part drama that follows (the intervening issues having formed chapters of Batman: the Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul crossover saga) sees a series of violently degenerate substitute Batmen unleashed on Gotham, beginning in ‘Space Medicine’, as the first ersatz crusader targets cops and their long-suffering chief Commissioner Jim Gordon.

When the real Dark Knight gets involved he soon realises in ‘Joe Chill in Hell’ that an old, nigh-forgotten case not only offers clues to his current dilemma, but might also have sown the seeds of his eventual defeat or victory.

Life-saving hallucinations and deeper explorations reveal that a long-buried contingency plan to protect his sanity might not be enough when ‘Batman Dies at Dawn’ before it all astonishingly comes together when he finally confronts ‘The Fiend with Nine Eyes’ and realises who his true enemy is and always has been…

With astounding art by Tony S. Daniel, Ryan Benjamin, Jonathan Glapion, Mark Irwin, Sandu Florea & Saleem Crawford, this visceral, imaginative and deliciously off-balance frantic psycho-thriller sets the scene for the ultimate showdown in Batman R.I.P. …

© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Flash: Crossfire


Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Doug Hazlewood & various (DC)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-852-5

There are many super-speedsters in the DCU and most of them congregate around the conjoined mid-western metropolis of Keystone and Central City. Wally West, third hero to claim the mantle of the Flash, lives there with his new wife Linda Park, his aunt Iris, and fellow Vizier of Velocity Jay Garrick – the original Fastest Man Alive.

Created by Gardner Fox & Harry Lampert, Garrick debuted in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940). “The Fastest Man Alive” wowed readers for over a decade before changing tastes benched him in 1951. The concept of speedsters and superheroes in general was successfully revived in 1956 by Julie Schwartz in Showcase #4 when police scientist Barry Allen became the second hero to run with the concept.

The Silver Age Flash, whose creation ushered in a new and apparently unstoppable era of costumed crusaders, died heroically during Crisis on Infinite Earths and was promptly succeeded by his sidekick Kid Flash. Of course, Allen later returned from the dead – but then again, doesn’t everyone?

The Flash: Crossfire (reprinting issues #183-191 of the monthly comicbook and portions of Flash: Secret Files #3) continues the astounding extended epic begun in Blood Will Run and Rogues – so you’d better have read those first – as Wally continued to fight a high-speed, all-out war on two fronts against a seemingly endless parade of super-villains and a deadly new/old AI villain, which is attempting to seize control of the twinned-metropolis of Keystone and Central City and the united mind of all humanity.

The rollercoaster action is initiated with the introduction of a new, nastier iteration of classic Rogue The Trickster in ‘Crossfire Prologue: Tricked!’ by revolutionary writer Geoff Johns, artists Scott Kolins & Doug Hazlewood and sublimely gifted colourist James Sinclair as the neophyte villain is introduced to the colossal criminal enterprise dubbed The Network; a national clearing house for loot and costumed looters run by the malevolent Blacksmith…

Crossfire proper opens with ‘Run Program’ and the tragic news that Joan Garrick, wife of half a century to the veteran hero, is dying of cancer. A little later Linda Park-West is attacked and suborned by evil electronic life form The Thinker in Keystone, but Wally is too busy to notice since an army of super-criminals has mounted a devastating assault on Central City…

Just when it seems too much threat for even the Scarlet Speedster to cope with, ‘Hide and Seek’ finds the Flash’s enemies attacking each other. The Thinker wants Wally for the World’s fastest computer processor whereas Blacksmith’s brigade just wants him dead…

As unconventional cops Morillo and Chyre discover just how different they are from your average Boys in Blue and launch their own counter-attack, the malignant AI invades Flash’s brain and both Keystone and Central City become explosive dual killing fields in ‘The Thinking Man’ with the war between Rogues and cybernetic parasite heating up to crisis point.

‘Run-Down’ (with additional inks from Dan Panosian) started the heroic fight-back as Wally began moving faster than thought to crush the conqueror inside his head and ex-Teen Titan Cyborg joined him to conclude the epic confrontation of ‘Metal and Flesh’.

In the aftermath Flash learned that Blacksmith had been acting to isolate the hero for months, but with her finally gone the surviving Rogues got a new leader just as Wally and Linda heard some truly shocking news..,

Rick Burchett & Dan Panosian then illustrated a tale of civic, civil and social reconstruction in ‘Messengers’ before Flash’s friend and reformed Rogue the Pied Piper – framed for murder and held in penal Hellhole Iron Heights and utterly unaware that he had already been cleared of all wrongdoing – became a desperate fugitive in the Justiano & Walden Wong limned ‘Rat Race’…

This volume concludes with a spectacular Kolins & Hazlewood fantasy thriller ‘The Brave and the Beaten’ with the battle-crazed Hawkman guest-starring in a classic fantasy-fest wherein demonic Brother Grimm returned (see Flash: Wonderland) to once more abduct and seduce Wally’s wife Linda…

Even with order restored, however, there’s a foreboding glimpse at even worse perils to come…

Also included in this magical Fights ‘n’ Tights bonanza is a gallery of covers from Kolins and Brian Bolland plus a Who’s Who entry revealing all you need to know about Iron Heights and its decidedly draconian and peculiarly hinky warden Gregory Wolfe…

These lightspeed-paced, all-action tales are the absolute acme of modern superhero comics: sharply written, enticingly drawn and designed to thrill the socks of the stunted eight year old in our heads.

Fun, furious and fantastic, The Flash has always epitomised the very best of fantasy fiction and these tales are more cream of that crop. The Geoff Johns years are slick and absolutely addictive: engrossing, rapid-paced, classily violent and often genuinely scary. If you haven’t seen them yet, run – don’t walk to your nearest dealer or on-line vendor and catch all the breathless action you can handle, lickety-split!
© 2002, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen


By Otto Binder, Curt Swan, Ray Burnley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1369-5

Although unnamed, a red-headed, be-freckled plucky kid worked alongside Clark Kent and Lois Lane from Action Comics #6 (November 1938) and was called by his first name from Superman #13 (November-December 1941) onwards. That lad was Jimmy Olsen and he was a major player in The Adventures of Superman radio show from its debut on April 15th 1940; somebody for the hero to explain stuff to for the listener’s benefit and the closest thing to a sidekick the Man of Tomorrow ever needed…

When the similarly titled television show launched in the autumn of 1952 it became a monolithic hit and National Periodicals began cautiously expanding their valuable franchise with new characters and titles. First up were the gloriously charming, light-hearted escapades of the rash, capable but naïve photographer and “cub reporter” from the Daily Planet: new star of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, which launched in 1954 with a September-October cover date.

The comic was popular for more than two decades, blending action, adventure, broad, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gentle manner scripter Otto Binder had perfected a decade previously at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent 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…

The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen delightfully collects some of the very best and most iconic tales from the series all of which originally appeared in issues #22, 28. 31-33, 41-42, 44, 49, 53, 59, 65, 72, 77, 80, 85 and 105 of the comicbook, as well as the lead story from the giant anthology Superman Family #173, into which Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen evolved.

The spellbinding wonderment begins with a selection of beautifully reconfigured covers (from issues 22, 44, 59 and 105) which act as contents and credit pages after which the story segments open with ‘The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen’ by Binder, Curt Swan & Ray Burnley, wherein resident crackpot genius Professor Phineas Potter evolved the boy into a man from 1,000,000AD. The seemingly benevolent being seems to have a hidden agenda however and is able to bend Superman to his will…

The same creative team produced ‘The Human Skyscraper’ with another Potter production enlarging Jimmy to monumental size, whilst in ‘The E-L-A-S-T-I-C Lad’ Superman was ultimately responsible for the reporter gaining stretching powers after leaving a chest of alien artefacts with the nosy, accident-prone kid.

‘The Jimmy Olsen from Jupiter’ by Alvin Schwartz, Swan & Burnley saw aliens mutate him into one of their scaly selves, complete with mind reading powers, whilst Binder’s ‘The Human Flame-Thrower!’ saw Potter’s latest experiment cause the worst case of high-octane halitosis in history, after which Robert Bernstein, Swan & John Forte displayed the lad’s negligent idiocy when Jimmy ate alien fruit and became ‘The Human Octopus!’

Craig Flessel inked the hilarious and ingenious ‘Jimmy the Genie!’ in which boy and magical sprite exchanged roles after which ‘The Wolf-Man of Metropolis!’ , by Binder, Swan, Stan Kaye, blended horror, mystery and heart-warming charm in a mini-classic of the genre.

Professor Potter was blamed for, but entirely innocent of, turning Jimmy into ‘The Fat Boy of Metropolis!’ – a daft but clever crime caper from Swan & Forte – whilst sheer mischance resulted in the now-legendary saga of ‘The Giant Turtle Man!’ and his oddly casualty-free rampage (courtesy of scripter Jerry Siegel) before Leo Dorfman, Swan & George Klein collaborated to produce the sparkling tale of alien love gone amiss, which resulted in our boy temporarily becoming ‘Jimmy Olsen, Freak!’

When Jimmy spurned the amorous attentions of supernatural Fifth Dimensional babe Miss Gzptlsnz, she quite understandably turned him into ‘The Human Porcupine’ by Siegel, Swan & Klein, who also crafted the intriguing enigma of ‘The World of Doomed Olsens!’ wherein Jimmy was confronted by materialisations of his most memorable metamorphoses…

‘The Colossus of Metropolis!’ saw Jimmy deliberately and daringly grow into a giant to tackle the rampaging Super-Ape Titano, whilst Siegel, Forte & Klein’s ‘Jimmy Olsen, the Bizarro Boy!’ was a merry comedy of errors with Potter’s cure for the backwards-living Bizarro beings going painfully awry, resulting in the poor lad being ‘Exiled on the Bizarro World!’

The immensely popular Legion of Super-Heroes guest-star in many of these tales and play a pivotal part in ‘The Adventures of Chameleon-Head Olsen!’, a madcap mirth spree as only Siegel, Forte & Klein could make ’em, whilst the far more menacing tale of ‘The World of 1,000 Olsens!’, by Binder, E. Nelson Bridwell & Pete Costanza was a product of changing times and darker tastes; with an actual arch-enemy trapping Jimmy on a murderous planet where everybody looks like but hates the cub reporter…

This fabulously strange brew concludes with a smart thriller set in the Bottled City of Kandor where Jimmy resumed his costumed-hero identity of Flamebird beside Superman to save the last Kryptonians from the ‘Menace of the Micro-Monster!’ …a sharp terrorist shocker by Cary Bates & Kurt Schaffenberger which satisfyingly closes this magically engaging tome.

As well as relating some of the most delightful episodes of the pre angst-drenched, cosmically catastrophic DC, these stories also perfectly depict the changing mores 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”.

I know I certainly do…

© 1957-1965, 1967, 1975, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Robin the Boy Wonder


By Gardner Fox, Mike Friedrich, Frank Robbins, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Dick Dillin & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-814-0

Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940), created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger & Jerry Robinson: a juvenile circus acrobat whose parents were murdered by a mob boss. The story of how Batman took the orphaned Dick Grayson under his scalloped wing and trained him to fight crime has been told, retold and revised many times over the decades and still regularly undergoes tweaking to this day.

Grayson fought beside Batman until 1970 when, as an indicator of those turbulent times, he flew the nest, becoming a Teen Wonder college student. His creation as a junior hero for younger readers to identify with has inspired an incomprehensible number of costumed sidekicks and kid crusaders, and Grayson continued in similar innovative vein for the older, more worldly-wise readership of America’s increasingly rebellious youth culture.

Robin even had his own solo series in Star Spangled Comics from 1947 to 1952, a solo spot in the back of Detective Comics from the end of the 1960s wherein he alternated and shared with Batgirl, and a starring feature in the anthology comic Batman Family. During the 1980s he led the New Teen Titans first in his original costumed identity but eventually in the reinvented guise of Nightwing, re-establishing a turbulent working relationship with his mentor Batman.

This broad ranging black and white compilation volume covers the period from Julie Schwartz’s captivating reinvigoration of the Dynamic Duo in 1964 until 1975 with Robin-related stories and material from Batman #184, 192, 202, 213, 227, 229-231, 234-236, 239-242, 244-246, 248-250, 252, 254 and portions of 217, Detective Comics #342, 386, 390-391, 394-395, 398-403, 445, 447, 450-251, Worlds Finest Comics #141, 147, 195, 200, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #91, 111, 130 and Justice League of America #91-92.

The wonderment begins with the lead story from Batman #213 (July-August 1969) – a 30th Anniversary reprint Giant – which featured an all-new retelling of ‘The Origin of Robin’ courtesy of E. Nelson Bridwell, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, which perfectly reinterpreted that epochal event for the Vietnam generation. After that the tales proceed in (more or less) chronological order, covering episodes where Robin took centre-stage.

First up is ‘The Olsen-Robin Team versus “the Superman-Batman Team!”’ (World’s Finest #141 May 1964). In this stirring blend of science fiction thriller and crime caper, the underappreciated sidekicks fake their own deaths and undertake a secret mission even their adult partners must remain unaware of… for the very best of reasons of course, whilst the sequel from WF #147 (February 1965, Hamilton, Swan & Klein) delivers an engaging drama of youth-in-revolt as ‘The New Terrific Team!’ quit their assistant roles to strike out on their disgruntled own. Naturally there’s a perfectly reasonable if incredible reason here, too…

Detective Comics #342 (August 1965) featured ‘The Midnight Raid of the Robin Gang!’ by John Broome, Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella, wherein the Boy Wonder infiltrated a youthful gang of costumed criminals whilst Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #91 (March 1966) provided ‘The Dragon Delinquent!’ (Leo Dorfman & Pete Costanza) which saw Robin and the cub reporter both, unknown to each other, infiltrate the same biker gang with potentially fatal consequences.

‘The Boy Wonder’s Boo-Boo Patrol!’ originally appeared as a back-up in Batman #184 (September 1966 by Fox, Chic Stone & Sid Greene), showing the daring lad’s star-potential in a clever tale of thespian skulduggery and classy conundrum solving, whilst ‘Dick Grayson’s Secret Guardian!’ from Batman #192 (June 1967: Fox, Sheldon Moldoff & Joe Giella) displayed his physical prowess in one of comicbooks’ first instances of the now over-used exo-skeletal augmentation gimmick.

‘Jimmy Olsen, Boy Wonder!’ (Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #111, June 1968, by Cary Bates & Costanza) saw the reporter try to prove his covert skills by convincing the Gotham Guardian that he was actually Robin whilst that same month in Batman #203 the genuine article tackled the ‘Menace of the Motorcycle Marauders!’ (by Mike Friedrich, Stone & Giella) consequently learning a salutary lesson in the price of responsibility…

Cover-dated April 1969, Detective Comics #386 featured the Boy Wonder’s first solo back-up in what was to become his semi-regular home-spot, alternating with Batgirl. ‘The Teen-Age Gap!’ (Friedrich, Andru & Esposito) depicted a High School Barn Dance which only narrowly escaped becoming a riot thanks to his diligent intervention, but when Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson took over the art-chores for #390’s ‘Countdown to Chaos!’ (August 1969), the series came stunningly alive. Friedrich concocted a canny tale of corruption and kidnapping leading to a paralysing city ‘Strike!’ for the lad to spectacularly expose and foil in the following issue.

Batman #217 (December 1969) was a shattering landmark in the character’s long history as Dick Grayson left home to attend Hudson University. Only the pertinent portion from ‘One Bullet Too Many!’ by Frank Robbins, Irv Norvick & Dick Giordano is included here, closely followed by ‘Strike… Whilst the Campus is Hot’ (Detective #394 from the same month, by Robbins, Kane & Anderson) as the callow Freshman stumbled into a campus riot organised by criminals and radical activists which forced the now Teen Wonder to ‘Drop Out… or Drop Dead!‘ before stopping the seditious scheme…

Detective Comics #398-399 (April and May 1970) featured a two-part spy-thriller where Vince Colletta replaced Anderson as inker. ‘Moon-Struck’ saw lunar rock samples borrowed from NASA apparently cause a plague among Hudson’s students until Robin exposed a Soviet scheme to sabotage the Space Program in ‘Panic by Moonglow’.

The 400th anniversary issue (June 1970) finally teamed the Teen Wonder with his alternating back-up star in ‘A Burial For Batgirl!’(Denny O’Neil, Kane & Colletta): a college-based murder mystery which once more heavily referenced the political and social unrest then plaguing US campuses, but which still found space to be smart and action-packed as well as topical before the chilling conclusion ‘Midnight is the Dying Hour!’ wrapped up the saga.

Never afraid to repeat a good idea, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #130 (July 1970) saw Bob Haney & Murphy Anderson detail the exploits of ‘Olsen the Teen Wonder!’ as the boy reporter again aped Batman’s buddy to infiltrate an underworld newspaper whilst World’s Finest #195 (August 1970) found Jimmy & Robin targeted for murder by the Mafia in ‘Dig Now, Die Later!’ by Haney, Andru & Esposito.

Simultaneously in Detective #402, ‘My Place in the Sun’ by Friedrich, Kane & Colletta, embroiled Dick Grayson and fellow Teen Titan Roy “Speedy” Harper in a crisis of social conscience, before our scarce-bearded hero wrapped up his first Detective run with the corking crime-busting caper ‘Break-Out’ in the September issue.

Robin’s further adventures transferred to the back of Batman, beginning with #227 (December 1970) and ‘Help Me – I Think I’m Dead!’ (Friedrich, Novick & Esposito) as ecological awareness and penny-pinching Big Business catastrophically collided on the campus, beginning an extended epic which saw the Teen Thunderbolt explore communes, alternative cultures and the burgeoning spiritual New Age fads of the day.

‘Temperature Boiling… and Rising!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia from #229, February 1971) continued the politically charged drama which is uncomfortably interrupted by a trenchant fantasy team-up with Superman sparked when the Man of Steel attempted to halt a violent campus clash between students and National Guard.

‘Prisoners of the Immortal World!’ (World’s Finest #2000 February 1971, by Friedrich, Dick Dillin & Giella) featured brothers on the opposite side of the teen scene kidnapped with Robin and Superman to a distant planet where undying vampiric aliens waged eternal war on each other, before returning to more pedestrian perils in Batman #230 (March 1971) where ‘Danger Comes A-Looking!’ for our young hero in the form of a gang of right-wing, anti-protester jocks and a deluded friend who preferred bombs to brotherhood, courtesy of Friedrich, Novick & Dick Giordano.

‘Wiped Out!’ (#231, May 1971) produced an eye-popping end to the jock gang whilst #234 offered a clever road-trip tale in ‘Vengeance for a Cop!’ when a campus guard was gunned down and Robin tracked the only suspect to a commune. ‘The Outcast Society’ had its own unique system of justice but eventually the shooter was apprehended in the cataclysmic ‘Rain Fire!’ (#235 and 236 respectively).

The Collective experience blossomed into psychedelic and psionic strangeness in Batman #239 as ‘Soul-Pit’ (illustrated by new penciller Rich Buckler) found Dick Grayson’s would be girlfriend, Jesus-freaks and runaway kids all sucked into a telepathic duel between a father and son, played out in the ‘Theatre of the Mind!’ before revealing the ‘Secret of the Psychic Siren!’ culminating in a lethal clash with a clandestine cult in ‘Death-Point!’ in Batman #242 (June 1972).

After that eerie epic we slip back a year to peruse the Teen Wonder’s participation in one of the hallowed JLA/JSA summer team-ups beginning with Justice League of America #91 (August 1971) and ‘Earth… the Monster-Maker!’ as the Supermen, Flashes, Green Lanterns, Atoms and a brace of Hawkmen from two separate Realities simultaneously and ineffectually battled an alien boy and his symbiotically-linked dog (sort of) on almost identical planets a universe apart, whilst painfully patronising the Robins of both until ‘Solomon Grundy… the One and Only!’ gave everybody a brutal but ultimately life-saving lesson on acceptance, togetherness, youthful optimism and lateral thinking.

‘The Teen-Age Trap!’ by Elliot Maggin, Novick & Giordano (Batman #244, September 1972) found Dick Grayson mentoring troubled kids – and finding plenty of troublemakers his own age – whilst ‘Who Stole the Gift From Nowhere!’ was a delightful old fashioned change-of-pace mystery yarn.

‘How Many Ways Can a Robin Die?’ by Robbins, Novick Dillin & Giordano from Batman #246 (December 1972) is actually a Dark Knight story with the Teen Wonder reduced to helpless hostage throughout, but issue #248 began another run of short solo stories with ‘The Immortals of Usen Castle’ (Maggin, Novick & Frank McLaughlin) wherein a deprived-kids day trip turned into an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where are You?, whilst the ‘Case of the Kidnapped Crusader!’ (pencilled by Bob Brown) put the Student Centurion on the trail of an abducted consumer advocate and ‘Return of the Flying Grayson!’ by Maggin, Novick & McLaughlin from #250 painfully reminded the hero of his Circus past after tracking down pop-art thieves.

Batman #252 (October 1973) featured a light-hearted pairing with a Danny Kaye pastiche in the charming romp ‘The King From Canarsie!’ by Maggin, Dillin & Giordano, whilst ‘The Phenomenal Memory of Luke Graham!’ (#254 January/February 1974 and inked by Murphy Anderson) caused nothing but trouble for Robin, college professors and a gang of robbers…

It was a year before the Teen Wonder’s solo sallies resumed with ‘The Touchdown Trap’ in Detective Comics #445 as new scripter Bob Rozakis and guest artist Mike Grell catapulted our hero into a fifty-year old college football feud that refused to die, whilst ‘The Puzzle of the Pyramids’ (#447 illustrated by A. Martinez & Mazzaroli) offered another clever crime mystery.

This magically eclectic monochrome compendium concludes with an action-packed human drama in ‘The Parking Lot Bandit!’ and ‘The Parking Lot Bandit Strikes Again!’ from Detective #450-451, (August and September 1975, drawn by art from Al Milgrom & Terry Austin).

These stories span a turbulent and chaotic period for comicbooks: perfectly encapsulating and describing the vicissitudes of the superhero genre’s premier juvenile lead: complex yet uncomplicated adventures drenched in charm and wit, moody tales of rebellion and self-discovery and rollercoaster, all-fun romps. Action is always paramount and angst-free satisfaction is pretty much guaranteed. This book of cracking yarns something no fan of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction can afford to miss.

© 1964-1975, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Crisis on Multiple Earths volume 1


By Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs & Sid Greene (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-895-2

As I’ve frequently mentioned before, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd which grew up with Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternally summery days of the early 1960s. To me those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new.

…And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

It all began, naturally enough, in The Flash; pioneering trendsetter of the Silver Age Revolution. After successfully ushering in the triumphant return of the superhero concept, the Scarlet Speedster with Fox & Broome at the writing reins set an unbelievably high standard for costumed adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, always illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

The epochal epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever was Fox’s ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961, as seen in Showcase Presents the Flash volume 2) which introduced the theory of alternate Earths to the continuity and by extension resulted in the multiversal structure of the DCU – and all the succeeding cosmos-shaking yearly “Crisis” sagas that grew from it.

And of course, where DC led, others followed…

Received with tumultuous acclaim, the concept was revisited months later in #129′s ‘Double Danger on Earth!’ which also teasingly reintroduced evergreen stalwarts Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

‘Vengeance of the Immortal Villain!’ from Flash #137 (June 1963, inked by Giella) was the third incredible Earth-2 crossover, and saw two Flashes unite to defeat 50,000 year old Vandal Savage and save the Justice Society of America: a tale which directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of an annual tradition.

When ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ introduced the concept of Infinite Earths and multiple versions of costumed crusaders, public pressure had begun almost instantly to agitate for the return of the Greats of the “Golden Age” but Editorial powers-that-be were hesitant, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet, put readers off. If they could see us now…

These innovative yarns generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so inevitably these trans-dimensional tests led to the ultimate team-up in the summer of 1963.

This gloriously enthralling volume re-presents the first four JLA/JSA convocations: stunning superhero wonderments which never fails to astound and delight beginning with the landmark ‘Crisis on Earth-One’ and ‘Crisis on Earth-Two’ (Justice League of America #21-22, August and September) combining to form one of the most important stories in DC history and arguably one of the most crucial tales in American comics.

Written by Fox and compellingly illustrated by Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs the yarn finds a coalition of assorted villains from each Earth plundering at will, meeting and defeating the mighty Justice League before imprisoning them in their own secret mountain HQ.

Temporarily helpless “our” heroes contrive a desperate plan to combine forces with the champions of another Earth to save the world – both of them – and the result is pure comicbook majesty. It’s impossible for me to be totally objective about this saga. I was a drooling kid in short trousers when I first read it and the thrills haven’t diminished with this umpty-first re-reading.

This is what superhero comics are all about!

‘Crisis on Earth-Three’ and ‘The Most Dangerous Earth of All!’ (Justice League of America #29-30, August and September 1964) reprised the team-up of the Justice League and Justice Society, when the super-beings of a third alternate Earth discovered the secret of trans-universal travel.

Unfortunately Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick and Power Ring were villains on a world without heroes and saw the costumed crime-busters of the JLA/JSA as living practise dummies to sharpen their evil skills upon. With this cracking thriller the annual summer get-together became solidly entrenched in heroic lore, giving fans endless entertainment for years to come and making the approaching end of school holidays less gloomy than they could have been.

(A little note: although the comic cover-date in America was the month by which unsold copies had to be returned – the “off-sale” deadline – export copies to Britain travelled as ballast in freighters. Thus they usually went on to those cool, spinning comic-racks the actual month printed on the front. You can unglaze your eyes and return to the review proper now, and thank you for your patient indulgence.)

The third annual event was a touch different; a largely forgotten and rather experimental tale wherein the dim but extremely larcenous Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 wrested control of the genie-like Thunderbolt from his other-world counterpart and used its magic powers to change the events which led to the creation of all Earth-1’s superheroes. With Earth-1 catastrophically altered in #37’s ‘Earth – Without a Justice League’ it was up to the JSA to come to the rescue in a gripping battle of wits and power before Reality was re-established in the concluding ‘Crisis on Earth-A!’ in #38.

Veteran inker Bernard Sachs retired before the fourth team-up, leaving the amazing Sid Greene to embellish the gloriously whacky saga that sprang out of the global “Batmania” craze engendered by the Batman television series…

A wise-cracking campy tone was fully in play, acknowledging the changing audience profile and this time the stakes were raised to encompass the destruction of both planets in ‘Crisis Between Earth-One and Earth-Two’ and ‘The Bridge Between Earths’ (Justice League of America #46-47, August & September 1966), wherein a bold – if rash – continuum warping experiment dragged the two sidereal worlds towards an inexorable hyper-space collision. Meanwhile, making matters worse, an awesome anti-matter being used the opportunity to break into and explore our positive matter universe whilst the heroes of both worlds were distracted by the destructive rampages of monster-men Blockbuster and Solomon Grundy.

Peppered with wisecracks and “hip” dialogue, it’s sometimes difficult to discern what a cracking yarn this actually is, but if you’re able to forgive or swallow the dated patter, this is one of the very best plotted and illustrated stories in the entire JLA/JSA canon. Furthermore, the vastly talented Greene’s expressive subtlety, beguiling texture and whimsical humour added unheard of depth to Sekowsky’s pencils and the light and frothy comedic scripts of Gardner Fox.

This volume also includes an enthralling introduction by Mark Waid, a comprehensive cover gallery and creator biographies.

These tales won’t suit everybody and I’m as aware as any that in terms of the “super-powered” genre the work here can be boiled down to two bunches of heroes formulaically getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems. In mature hindsight, it’s obviously also about sales and the attempted revival of more sellable super characters during a period of intense sales rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel.

But I don’t have to be mature in my off-hours and for those who love costume heroes, who crave these cunningly constructed modern mythologies and actually care, this is simply a grand parade of straightforward action, great causes and momentous victories.

…And since I wouldn’t have it any other way, why should you?
© 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Wonder Woman volume 1


By Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1373-2

Wonder Woman was famously created by polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston – apparently at the behest of his remarkable wife Elizabeth – and illustrated by Harry G. Peter. She debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) before gaining her own series and the cover-spot in new anthology title Sensation Comics a month later. She was an instant hit and quickly gained her own eponymous title in late Spring of that year (cover-dated Summer 1942).

Using the nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston scripted all the Amazing Amazon’s many and fabulous adventures until his death in 1947, whereupon Robert Kanigher took over the writer’s role. The venerable H.G. Peter continued on as illustrator until his death in 1958. Wonder Woman #97, in April of that year, was his last hurrah and the discrete end of an era.

This first cheap and cheerful black and white Showcase collection covers issues #98-117 of the Astounding Amazon’s next one…

With the notable exception of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and inoffensive back-up B-listers Aquaman and Green Arrow (plus – arguably – Johnny Quick, who held on until December 1954 and cowboy crimebuster Vigilante who finally bit the dust a month earlier), costumed heroes died out at the beginning of the 1950s, replaced by a plethora of merely mortal champions and a welter of anthologised genre titles.

When after almost no time at all Showcase #4 rekindled the public’s imagination and zest for masked mystery-men with a new iteration of The Flash in 1956 (see Showcase Presents the Flash volume 1 or The Flash: Archive Edition volume 1) the fanciful floodgates opened wide once more…

As well as re-imagining a number of Golden Age stalwarts such as Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman, National/DC consequently decided to update and remake all its hoary survivors such as the aforementioned Emerald Archer and Sea King. Also included in that revitalising agenda were the company’s High Trinity: Man of Steel, Caped Crusader and the ever-resilient Warrior Woman…

Artists Ross Andru & Mike Esposito had actually debuted as cover artists three issues earlier, but with Wonder Woman #98 (May 1958) they took over the entire comicbook whilst Robert Kanigher reinvented much of the old mythology and even tinkered with her origins in ‘The Million Dollar Penny!’ when the goddess Athena visited an island of super-scientific immortal women and told Queen Hippolyta that she must send an emissary to the crime-ridden Man’s World as a champion of justice.

Declaring an open competition for the post, the queen was hardly surprised when her daughter Diana won and was given the task of turning a penny into a million dollars in a day – all profits going to children’s charities, of course…

Just as the new Wonder Woman was about to begin her task, American airman Steve Trevor bailed out of his malfunctioning jet high above the hidden isle, unaware that should any male set foot on Amazon soil the immortals would lose all their powers. Promptly thwarting the impending disaster Diana and Steve teamed up to accomplish her task, encountering along the way ‘The Undersea Menace’ before building ‘The Impossible Bridge!’

Issue #99 opened in similar bombastic fashion with ‘Stampede of the Comets!’ as Trevor was lost undertaking a pioneering space mission and Wonder Woman went to his rescue thanks to incredible Amazon engineering ingenuity. After foiling an alien attack against Earth, the reunited lovers returned in time for the introduction of the Hellenic Heroine’s new covert identity as Air Force Intelligence Lieutenant Diana Prince in ‘Top Secret!’ – beginning a decade of tales with Steve perpetually attempting to uncover her identity and make the most powerful woman on Earth his blushing bride, whilst the bespectacled, glorified secretary stood exasperated and ignored beside him…

The 100th issue was a spectacular battle saga which commenced with ‘The Challenge of Dimension X!’ and an alternate Earth Wonder Woman competing with the Amazing Amazon for sole rights to the title and culminated in a deciding bout in ‘The Forest of Giants!’, whilst ‘Wonder Woman’s 100th Anniversary!’ dealt with the impossibility of capturing the far-too fast and furious Amazon’s exploits on film for the island’s archives…

‘The Undersea Trap!’ opened #101, with Steve tricking his “Angel” into agreeing to marry him if she has to rescue him three times in 24 hours (just chalk it up to simpler times, or you’ll pop a blood vessel, OK?) after which the odd couple were trapped by a temporal tyrant in ‘The Fun House of Time!’

Steve’s affection and wits were tested by an alien giant in ‘The Three Faces of Wonder Woman’ when he was forced to pick out his true love from a trio of identical duplicates and thereby save the world in #102, whilst ‘The Wonder Woman Album’ returned to the previously explored impossible-to-photograph theme in #103, but devoted most space to sinister thriller ‘The Box of Three Dooms!’ wherein the murderous Gadget Maker attempted to destroy the Amazon with a booby-trapped gift.

‘Trial By Fire’ pitted Diana Prince against a host of deadly traps that only Wonder Woman could survive whilst ‘Key to Deception!’ closed #104 by reintroducing Golden Age villain Duke of Deception as a militaristic Martian marauder in a gripping interplanetary caper.

Issue #105 introduced Wonder Girl in the ‘Secret Origin of Wonder Woman’ revealing how centuries ago the gods and goddesses of Olympus bestowed unique powers on the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and how as a mere teenager the indomitable Diana had brought the Amazons to Paradise Island. Continuity – let alone consistency and rationality – were never as important to Kanigher as a strong story or breathtaking visuals and this eclectic odyssey is a great yarn that simply annoyed the heck out of a lot of fans… but not as much as the junior Amazon would in years to come…

The second feature ‘Eagle of Space’ was a more traditional tale of predatory space Pterodactyls and a dinosaur planet where Steve and Diana lent a civilising hand to the indigenous caveman population, after which ‘The Human Charm Bracelet!’ in #106 found Wonder Woman battling an unbeatable extraterrestrial giant who wanted the Earth for his plaything, after which her younger self encountered a chameleonic lass in ‘The Invisible Wonder Girl!’

The high fantasy adventures of the junior heroine clearly caught somebody’s fancy as they now started coming thick and fast: ‘Wonder Woman – Amazon Teen-Ager!’ opened #107 as the youngster found a romantic interest in mer-boy Ronno and underwent a quest to win herself a superhero costume, whilst her adult self was relegated to a back-up battle against ‘Gunslingers of Space!’

‘Wanted… Wonder Woman!’ saw Flying Saucer aliens frame our heroine for heinous crimes as a precursor to a planetary invasion and ‘The Stamps of Doom!’ featured a plot by another murderous inventor to kill the Valiant Valkyrie in #108, but the next issue again stepped back in time to feature ‘Wonder Girl in Giant Land’ as the nubile neophyte easily overcame ambush by colossal aliens. Her mature self was represented here by ‘The Million Dollar Pigeon!’ wherein gangsters thought they’d found a foolproof method of removing the Amazing Amazon from their lives…

Wonder Woman #110 was a full-length saga as the indomitable warrior maid searched the Earth for a missing alien princess in ‘The Bridge of Crocodiles!’ If the wanderer couldn’t be found, her concerned family intended to lay waste the entire planet…

In #111 ‘The Robot Wonder Woman’ commissioned by gangsters provided no real competition for the genuine article, whilst ‘Battle of the Mermen!’ found Wonder Girl drawn into a sub-sea rumble between competing teenaged fish-boy gangs…

The youthful incarnation led off the next issue: ‘Wonder Girl in the Chest of Monsters!’ took the concept to unparallelled heights of absurdity as, in contemporary times, a heroic girl was rewarded with three Amazon wishes and sent back in time to have an adventure with Wonder Woman’s younger self, whilst #113 returned to relatively straight action with ‘The Invasion of the Sphinx Creatures!’ as the Adult Amazon battled the ancient weapons of a resurrected Pharoah-Queen, after which ‘Wonder Girl’s Birthday Party!’ recounted how each anniversary event seemed to coincide with a geological disaster, mythological menace or uncanny event…

Aliens once more attacked in #114’s ‘The Monster Express!’ turning parade balloons into ravening monsters until Diana and Steve stepped in after which ‘Wonder Girl’s Robot Playmate!’ demonstrated how hard it was growing up special…

Old enemy Angle Man returned revamped for the Silver Age in #115’s ‘Graveyard of Monster Ships!’ whilst ‘Mer-Boy’s Undersea Party!’ proved that above or below the waves Wonder Girls just don’t want to have fun, whilst in #116 both Ronno and Young Diana were capable of serious heroism in ‘The Cave of Secret Creatures!’, after which the Adult Amazing Amazon finally stopped a millennial menace to mankind in ‘The Time –Traveller of Terror!’

This initial enchanting chronicle concludes with Wonder Woman #117 wherein ‘The Fantastic Fishermen of the Forbidden Sea!’ reintroduced Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls – in modernised, less offensive incarnations – in a fantastic tale of aquatic invaders before Amazon time-travel techniques allowed the impossible to occur when ‘Wonder Girl Meets Wonder Woman!’… or did she…?

By modern standards these exuberant, effulgent fantasies are all-out crazy, but in the days when less attention was paid to continuity and the concept of a shared universe and the adventure in the moment was paramount these outrageous romps simply sparkle with fun, thrills and sheer spectacle.

Wonder Woman is rightly revered as a focus of female strength, independence and empowerment, but the welcoming nostalgia and easy familiarity of these costumed fairytales must be a delight for all open-minded readers and the true value of these exploits is the incredible quality of entertainment they provide.

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