Category: DC Superhero

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Kingdom Come


By Mark Waid & Alex Ross (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2034-1

In the mid 1960s a teenaged Jim Shooter wrote a couple of stories about the Legion of Super-Heroes set some years into the team’s own future. Those stories of the adult Legionnaires revealed hints of things to come that shackled the series’ plotting and continuity for decades as eager, obsessed fans (by which I mean all of us) waited for the predicted characters to be introduced, presaged relationships to be consummated and heroes to die.

By being so impressive and similarly affecting the astonishing miniseries Kingdom Come accidentally repeated the trick and has subsequently painted the entire DC Universe into the same creative corner…

Envisaged and designed by artist Alex Ross as DC’s answer to the epic and groundbreaking Marvels, Kingdom Come was released as a 4-issue Prestige Format miniseries in 1996 to rapturous acclaim and, although set in the future and an “imaginary story” released under DC’s Elseworlds imprint, almost immediately began to affect the company’s mainstream continuity.

Set approximately twenty years into the future the grandiose saga details a tragic failure and subsequent loss of Faith for Superman and how his attempt to redeem himself almost led to an even greater and ultimate apocalypse.

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

The first chapter ‘Strange Visitor’ shows a world where metahumans have proliferated to ubiquitous proportions: a sub-culture of constant, violent clashes between the latest generation of costumed villains and vigilantes, all unheeding of the collateral damage they daily inflicted on the mere mortals around them.

The shaken preacher sees a final crisis coming, but feels helpless until the darkly angelic Spectre comes to him and takes him on a voyage of unfolding events and to act as his human perspective whilst the Spirit of Vengeance prepares to pass final judgement on Humanity. First stop is the secluded hideaway where farmer Kal-El has hidden himself since the ghastly events which compelled him to retire from the Good Fight and the eyes of the World.

The Man of Steel was already feeling like a dinosaur when newer, harsher, morally ambiguous mystery-men began to appear. After the Joker murdered the entire Daily Planet staff and hard-line new hero Magog executed him in the street, the public applauded the deed and, heartbroken and appalled, Superman disappeared for a decade. His legendary colleagues also felt the march of unwelcome progress and similarly disappeared.

With Earth left to the mercies of dangerously irresponsible new vigilantes, civil unrest soon escalated. The younger heroes displayed poor judgement and no restraint with the result that within a decade the entire planet had become a chaotic arena for metahuman duels.

Civilisation was fragmenting. Flash and Batman retreated to their home cities and made them secure, crime-free solitary fortresses. Green Lantern built an emerald castle in the sky, turning his eyes away from Earth and into the deep black fastnesses of space. Hawkman retreated to the wilderness, Aquaman to his sub-sea kingdom and Wonder Woman returned to her hidden paradise. She did not leave until Armageddon came one step closer.

When Magog and his Justice Battalion battled the Parasite in St. Louis the result was a nuclear accident which destroyed all of Kansas and much of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Overnight the world f aced starvation as America’s breadbasket turned into a toxic wasteland. Now with McCay and the Spectre invisibly observing, Princess Diana convinces the bereft Kal-El to return and save the world on his own terms…

In ‘Truth and Justice’ a resurgent Justice League led by Superman begins a campaign of unilateral action to clean up the mess civilisation has become; renditioning “heroes” and villains alike, imprisoning all dangerous elements of super-humanity, telling governments how to behave, all utterly unaware that they are hastening a global catastrophe of Biblical proportions as the Spectre invisibly gathers the facts for his apocalyptic judgement.

In the ensuing chaos, crippled warrior Bruce Wayne rejects Superman’ paternalistic, doctrinaire crusade and allies himself with mortal humanity’s libertarian elite – Ted (Blue Beetle) Kord, Dinah (Black Canary) Lance and Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen – to resist what can only be a grab for world domination by the meta-human minority. As the helpless McCay watches in horror Wayne’s group makes its own plans; another dangerous thread in a tapestry of calamity…

At first Superman’s plans seem blessed to succeed, with many erstwhile threats flocking to his banner and his rules of discipline, but as ever there are self-serving villains with their own agendas. Lex Luthor organises a cabal of like-minded compatriots – Vandal Savage, Catwoman, Riddler, Kobra and Ibn Al Xu’ffasch, Son of the Demon Ra’s Al Ghul – into a “Mankind Liberation Front”.

With Captain Marvel as their slave, the group are determined the super-freaks shall not win and their cause is greatly advanced once Wayne’s clique joins them…

‘Up in the Sky’ sees events spiral into a deadly storm as McCay, still wracked by his visions of Armageddon, is shown the Gulag where all the recalcitrant metahumans have been dumped and sees how it will fail, learns from restless spirit Deadman that the Spectre is the Angel of Death and watches with growing helplessness as Luthor’s plan to usurp control from the army of Superman leads to a shocking confrontation, betrayal and a deadly countdown to the End of Days. The deadly drama culminates in a staggering battle of superpowers, last moment salvation and a second chance for humanity in ‘Never-Ending Battle’…

Thanks to McCay’s simple humanity the world gets another chance and this edition follows up with an epilogue ‘One Year Later’ which end this ponderous epic on a note of renewed hope…

This edition comes with an introduction by author and past DC Comics scribe Elliot S. Maggin, assorted cover reproductions and art-pieces, an illustrated checklist of the vast cast list and a plethora of creative notes and sketches in the ‘Apochrypha’ section, plus ‘Evolution’: notes on a restored scene that never made it into the miniseries.

Epic, engaging and operatically impressive Kingdom Come continues to reshape the DC Universe to this day and remains a solid slice of superior superhero entertainment, worthy of your attention.
© 1996, 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Green Lantern volume 5


By Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Mike Grell & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-85768-224-6

Returning to the usual phonebook-sized black and white tome, this fifth collection starring the Emerald Gladiator of Earth-1 (re-presenting the contents of Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76-89 – barring the all-reprint #88 – and the emerald back-up strips from Flash #217-221, 223-224, 226-228, 230-231, 237-238, 240-243, 245-246) generated groundbreaking, landmark tales from Denny O’Neil & Neal Adams that totally revolutionised the industry, whilst registering such poor sales that the series was cancelled and the heroes unceremoniously shipped into the back of another comicbook. Gradually the emphasis shifted back to crime, adventure and space opera and Green Lantern grew popular enough for his own solo title once more….

By the end of the 1960s America was a bubbling cauldron of social turmoil and experimentation. Everything was challenged and with issue #76 (April 1970 and the first issue of the new decade) Denny O’Neil and comics iconoclast Neal Adams utterly redefined superhero strips with their relevancy-driven stories; transforming complacent establishment masked boy-scouts into uncertain, questioning champions and strident explorers of the revolution.

‘No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) is a landmark in the medium, utterly re-positioning the very concept of the costumed crusader as newly-minted ardent liberal Green Arrow challenged GL’s cosy worldview when the lofty space-cop painfully discovered real villains wore business suits, had expense accounts, hurt people just because of skin colour and would happily poison their own nests for short-term gain…

Of course, the fact that the story is a brilliant crime-thriller with science-fiction overtones magnificently illustrated doesn’t hurt either…

O’ Neil became sole scripter with this story and, in tight collaboration with ultra-realistic art-genius Adams, instantly overturned contemporary costumed dramas with their societally-targeted relevancy-driven protest-stories. The book became Green Lantern/Green Arrow with Emerald Archer Oliver Queen constantly mouthing off as a radical, liberal sounding-board and platform for a generation-in-crisis whilst staid, quasi-reactionary GL Hal Jordan played the part of the oblivious but well-meaning old guard.

At least the Ring-Slinger was aware of his faults and more or less willing to listen to new ideas…

At the time this compendium of stories first appeared DC was a company in transition – as indeed was America itself – with new ideas (which, in comic-book terms meant “young writers”) being given much leeway: a veritable wave of fresh, raw talent akin to the very start of the industry, when excitable young creators ran wild with imagination… Their cause wasn’t hurt by an industry in rapid commercial decline: costs were up and the kids just weren’t buying funnybooks in the volumes they used to…

‘Journey to Desolation’ in #77 was every bit as groundbreaking.

At the conclusion of the last issue an immortal Guardian of the Universe – hereafter known as “the Old Timer” was assigned to accompany the Emerald Duo on a voyage to “discover America”: a soul-searching social exploration into the dichotomies which divided the nation. First stop brought the trio to a poverty-stricken mining town run as a private kingdom by a ruthless entrepreneur happy to use agent-provocateurs and Nazi war criminals to keep his wage slaves in line.

When a young protest singer looked likely to become the next Bob Dylan and draw unwelcome publicity, he had to be eliminated – as did the three strangers who drove into town at just the wrong moment…

Although the heroes provided temporary solutions and put away viciously human criminals, these tales were remarkably blunt in exposing bigger ills and issues that couldn’t be fixed with a wave of a Green Ring; invoking an aura of helplessness that was metaphorically emphasised during this story when Hal was summarily stripped of much of his power for no longer being the willing, unquestioning stooge of his officious, high-and-mighty alien masters…

The confused and far-more-mortal Green Lantern discovered another unpalatable aspect of human nature in ‘A Kind of Loving, a Way of Death!’ when Black Canary joined the peripatetic cast. Seeking to renew her relationship with Green Arrow, she was waylaid by bikers, grievously injured and taken in by a charismatic hippy guru. Unfortunately Joshua was more Manson than Messiah and his brand of Peace and Love only extended to white people: everybody else was simply target practise…

The plight of Native Americans was stunningly high-lighted in ‘Ulysses Star is Still Alive!’ as corporate logging interests attempted to deprive a mountain tribe of their very last scraps of heritage, once more causing the Green Knights to take extraordinarily differing courses of action to help, whilst #80 added a science fiction gloss to a tale of judicial malfeasance in ‘Even an Immortal Can Die!’ (inked by Dick Giordano).

When the Old Timer used his powers to save Green Lantern rather than prevent a pollution catastrophe in the Pacific Northwest, he was chastised by his fellow Guardians and dispatched to the planet Gallo for judgement by the supreme arbiters of Law in the universe.

His earthly friends accompanied him and found a disturbing new administration with a decidedly off-kilter view of justice…

Adams’ staggering facility for capturing likenesses added extra-piquancy to this yarn that we’re just not equipped to grasp four decades later, with the usurping, overbearing villain derived from the Judge of the infamous trial of anti-war protesters “The Chicago Eight”.

Insight into the Guardians’ history underpinned ‘Death Be My Destiny!’ when Lantern, Arrow and Canary travelled with the now-sentenced Old Timer to the ancient world of Maltus (that’s a pun, son: just type Thomas Robert Malthus into your search engine of choice or even look in a book) and found a world literally choking on its own out-of-control population. The uncanny cause cast unlovely light on the perceived role and worth of women in modern society…

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #82 returned briefly to traditional yarn-spinning in ‘How do you Fight a Nightmare?’ (with additional inks from Berni Wrightson) as Green Lantern’s greatest foe unleashed Harpies, Amazons and all manner of female furies on the hapless hero before Black Canary and Green Arrow could turn the tide, whilst ‘…And a Child Shall Destroy Them!’ crept into Hitchcock country to reintroduce Hal Jordan’s old flame Carol Ferris and take a pop at education and discipline in the chilling tale of a supernal mutant in thrall to a doctrinaire little martinet.

Wrightson also inked #84’s staggering attack on out-of-control consumerism, shoddy cost-cutting and the seduction of bread and circuses in ‘Peril in Plastic’ before the comics world changed forever in the two-part saga ‘Snowbirds Don’t Fly’ and ‘They Say It’ll Kill Me…But They Won’t Say When!’

Depiction of drug abuse had been strictly proscribed in comicbooks since the advent of the Comics Code Authority, but by 1971 the elephant in the room was too big to ignore and both Marvel and DC addressed the issue in startlingly powerful tales that opened Pandora’s dirty box forever. When the Green Gladiators were drawn into conflict with a vicious heroin-smuggling gang Oliver Queen was horrified to discover his own sidekick had become an addict…

This sordid, nasty tale did more than merely preach or condemn, but actively sought to explain why young people turned to drugs, just what the consequences could be and even hinted at solutions older people and parents might not want to consider. Forty years on it might all seem a little naïve, but the earnest drive to do something and the sheer dark power of the story still delivers a stunning punch.

For all the critical acclaim and astonishingly innovative work done, sales of Green Lantern/Green Arrow were in a critical nosedive and nothing seemed able to stop the rot. Issue #87 featured two solo tales, the first of which ‘Beware My Power!’ introduced a bold new character to the DCU. John Stewart was a radical activist: an angry black man always spoiling for a fight and prepared to take guff from no-one. Hal Jordan was convinced the Guardians had erred when they appointed Stewart as Green Lantern’s official stand-in, but when a bigoted US presidential candidate tried to foment a race war the Emerald Gladiator was forced to change his tune.

Meanwhile bankrupted millionaire Oliver Queen was faced with a difficult decision when the retiring Mayor of Star City invited him to run for his office. ‘What Can One Man Do?’ written by Elliot Maggin, posed fascinating questions for the proud rebel by inviting him to join “the establishment” he despised, and do some lasting good. The decision was muddied by well-meaning advice from his fellow superheroes and the tragic consequences of a senseless street riot…

Issue #88 was a collection of reprints (not included here) and the series went out on an evocative, allegorical high note in #89 as ‘…And Through Him Save a World…’ (inked by Adams) pitted jobs and self-interest at Carol Ferris’ aviation company against clean air and pure streams in an naturalistic fable wherein an ecological Christ-figure made the ultimate sacrifice to save our planet and where all the Green Heroes’ power could not affect the outcome…

Although the groundbreaking series folded there, the heroics resumed a few months later in the back of The Flash #217 (August-September 1972). ‘The Killing of an Archer!’ began a run of short episodes which eventually led to Green Lantern regaining his own solo series. The O’Neil, Adams & Giordano thriller related how Green Arrow made a fatal mistake and accidentally ended the life of a criminal he was battling. Devastated, the broken swashbuckler abandoned his life and headed for the wilderness to atone or die…

The next episode ramped up the tension as a plot against the Archer was uncovered by Green Lantern and Black Canary in ‘Green Arrow is Dead!’ whilst ‘The Fate of an Archer’ saw Canary critically injured and GL track down Oliver Queen just in time to save her life…

Dick Giordano assumed full illustration duties with ‘Duel for a Death List!’ and the concluding ‘Death-Threat on Titan!’ (Flash #220-221) as the feature returned to its science fiction roots to concentrate solely on Green Lantern once more. In this pacy yarn aliens with an ancient link to the GL Corps began eliminating ring-wielders in preparation for a fantastic strike against the Guardians of the Universe.

Issue #223 continued the interstellar intrigue as an alien interloper attacked in ‘Doomsday… Minus Ten Minutes!’ whilst the next issue presented a clever, thoroughly grounded crime-caper ‘Yellow is a Dirty Little Color!’

In #226-Neal Adams drew his last GL tale ‘The Powerless Power Ring!’ before Dick Dillin, Giordano & Giacoia completed the trilogy in #227-228 with ‘My Ring… My Enemy!’ and ‘My Enemy… Myself!’ wherein atmospheric phenomena, bad mushrooms and invading aliens all combined to make the will-powered weapon a lethal liability.

Flash #230-231 featured ‘The Man From Yesterday!’ and ‘The Man of Destiny!’ (Dillin & Tex Blaisdell) as GL saved one of America’s Revolutionary heroes from aliens who had shanghaied him centuries previously, whilst #233-234 ‘World That Bet on War!’ & ‘And the Winner is Death!’ (Dillin, Terry Austin & Giordano) pitted the Emerald Avenger against gambling-crazed extraterrestrials who used soldiers from Earth history as their games-pieces…

With Flash #237-238 and 240-243 new art sensation Mike Grell came aboard for a six part saga that precipitated Green Lantern back into his own title. Beginning with ‘Let There Be Darkness!’ (inked by Bill Draut) the watchword was “cosmic” as the extra-galactic Ravagers of Olys undertook six destructive, unholy tasks in Green Lantern’s space sector. After thwarting their scheme to occlude the sun over planet Zerbon, destroying the photosynthetic inhabitants, the hero picked up a semi-sentient starfish sidekick in ‘The Day of the Falling Sky!’(Blaisdell inks) whilst preventing the artificial world of Vivarium from collapsing in upon itself.

‘The Floods Will Come!’ brought the Olys to planets Archos, where they attempted to submerge all the landmasses and drown the stone-age dwellers thriving there and Jotham, where the Ravagers almost extinguished the sun in ‘To Kill a Star!’

Earth was the target in ‘All Creatures Great and Small!’ as the Olys used their incredible technology to shrink all mammals but no sooner had Green Lantern negated that threat than the invaders’ de-evolutionary weapons were activated in ‘Dust of the Earth!’ (Austin inks).

Luckily a hominid GL was even more formidable than his Homo Sapiens self…

The buzz of the O’Neil/Grell epic assured Green Lantern of his own series once more, but before the re-launch Flash #345-346 presented one last two-part, back-up bonanza as Dillin & Austin illustrated the eerie mutation of vegetable-themed villain Jason Woodrue who transformed himself into a horrendous monster in ‘Perilous Plan of the Plant Master!’ before subjecting GL to ‘The Fury of the Floronic Man!‘

From challenging tales of social injustice back to plot-driven sagas of wit and courage, packed with a shining, optimistic sense of wonder and bristling with high-octane action, these evergreen adventures signalled the end of the Silver Age of Comics. Illustrated by some of the most revered names in the business, the exploits in this volume closed one chapter in the life of Green Lantern and opened the doors to today’s sleek and stellar sentinel of the stars.

© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Metamorpho, the Element Man


By Bob Haney, Ramona Fradon, Joe Orlando, Sal Trapani, Charles Paris & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0762-5

By the time Metamorpho, the Element Man was introduced to the costumed hero-obsessed world the first vestiges of a certifiable boom were just becoming apparent. As such the light-hearted, almost absurdist take struck a right-time, right-place chord, blending far out adventure with tongue-in-cheek comedy.

The character debuted in Brave and the Bold #57 (December 1964-January 1965) and after a follow-up try-out in the next issue catapulted into his own title for an eclectic and oddly engaging 17-issue run. This canny monochrome compendium collects all those eccentric adventures plus team-up tales from Brave and the Bold #66 and 68 and Justice League of America #42

Unlike most of these splendid Showcase editions the team-up stories here are not re-presented in original publication order but closeted together at the back, so if stringent continuity is important to you the always informative credit-pages will enable to navigate the wonderment in the correct sequence…

‘The Origin of Metamorpho’ written by Bob Haney (who created the character and wrote everything except the JLA story) with art from Ramona Fradon & Charles Paris, introduced glamorous he-man Soldier of Fortune Rex Mason, who worked as a globe-trotting artefact procurer and agent for ruthlessly acquisitive scientific genius/business tycoon Simon Stagg. Mason was obnoxious and insolent but his biggest fault as far as his boss was concerned was that the mercenary loved and was loved by the millionaire’s only daughter Sapphire…

Determined to rid himself of Mason, Stagg dispatched him to retrieve a fantastic artefact dubbed the Orb of Ra from the lost pyramid of Ahk-Ton in Egypt, accompanied only by Java, a previously fossilised Neanderthal corpse Rex had discovered in a swamp and which (whom?) Stagg had restored to full life. Mason planned to take his final fabulous fee and whisk Sapphire away from her controlling father forever…

Utterly faithful to the scientific wizard, Java sabotaged the mission and left Mason to die in the tomb, victim of an ancient, glowing meteor. The man-brute rushed back to his master, carrying the Orb and fully expecting Stagg to honour his promise and give him Sapphire in marriage.

Trapped, knowing his time had come; Mason swallowed a suicide pill as the scorching rays of the star-stone burned through him…

Rex did not die but mutated into a ghastly chemical freak capable of shape-shifting and transforming into any of the elements or compounds that comprised the human body: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, calcium, iron, cobalt and so many others…

Hungry for vengeance, Mason followed and confronted his betrayers but was overcome by the alien energies of the Orb of Ra. An uneasy détente was declared as Mason accepted Stagg’s desperate offer to cure him …if possible.

The rich man was further horrified when Rex revealed his condition to Sapphire and found she still loved him. Totally unaware of Stagg’s true depths of duplicity, Mason began working for the tycoon as a metahuman problem-solver: Metamorpho, the Element Man.

Brave and the Bold #58 (February-March 1965) revealed more of Stagg’s closeted skeletons when old partner Maxwell Tremayne kidnapped the Element Man and later abducted Sapphire in ‘The Junkyard of Doom!’ The deranged armaments manufacturer was once intimately acquainted with the girl’s mother and never quite got over it…

The tryout comics were an unqualified success and Metamorpho promptly debuted in his own title, cover-dated July-August 1965 just as the wildly tongue-in-cheek “High Camp” craze was catching on in all areas of popular culture; blending ironic vaudevillian kitsch with classic movie premises as theatrical mad scientists and scurrilous spies began to appear everywhere.

‘Attack of the Atomic Avenger’ saw nuclear nut-job Kurt Vornak try to crush Stagg Industries only to be turned into a deadly, planet-busting radioactive super-atom, whilst ‘Terror from the Telstar’ pitted the charismatic cast against Nicholas Balkan, a ruthless criminal boss determined to sabotage America’s Space program.

Mad multi-millionaire T.T. Trumbull used his own daughter Zelda to get to Simon Stagg through his heart (accidentally proving to everyone who knew him that the old goat actually had one) as part of his attempt to seize control of America in ‘Who Stole the U.S.A.?’ but the ambitious would-be despot backed up the scheme with an incredible robot specifically designed to destroy Metamorpho. Happily Rex Mason’s guts and ingenuity proved more effective than the Element Man’s astonishing powers…

America saved, the dysfunctional family headed South of the Border becoming embroiled in ‘The Awesome Escapades of the Abominable Playboy’ as Stagg tried to marry Sapphire off to Latino Lothario Cha Cha Chavez. The wilful girl thought she was just making Mason jealous and had no idea of her dad’s true plans and Stagg senior had no conception of Chavez’s real intentions or connections to the local tin-pot dictator…

With this issue the gloriously stylish Ramona Fradon left the series to be replaced by two artists who strove to emulate her unique manner of drawing with varying degrees of success. Luckily veteran inker Charles Paris stayed on to smooth out the rough edges…

First up was E.C. veteran Joe Orlando whose two issue tenure began with the outrageous doppelganger drama ‘Will the Real Metamorpho Please Stand Up?’ wherein eccentric architect Edifice K. Bulwark tried to convince Rex Mason to lend his abilities to his chemical skyscraper project. When Metamorpho declined Bulwark and Stagg decided to create their own Element Man… with predictably disastrous consequences.

‘Never Bet Against an Element Man!’ (#6 May-June 1966) took the team to the French Riviera as gambling grandee Achille Le Heele snookered Simon Stagg and won “ownership” of Metamorpho. The Creepy Conchon’s ultimate goal necessitated stealing the world’s seven greatest wonders (such as the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower) and only the Element Man could make that happen…

Sal Trapani took over the pencilling with #7’s ‘Terror from Fahrenheit 5,000!’ as the acronymic super-spy fad hit hard and Metamorpho was enlisted by the C.I.A. to stop suicidal maniac Otto Von Stuttgart from destroying the entire planet by dropping a nuke into the Earth’s core, whilst costumed villain Doc Dread could only be countered by an undercover Metamorpho becoming ‘Element Man, Public Enemy!’ in a diabolical caper of doom and double-cross…

Metamorpho #9 moved into the realm of classic fantasy when suave and sinister despot El Mantanzas marooned the cast in ‘The Valley That Time Forgot!’ to battle cavemen and antediluvian alien automatons before a new catalysing element was added in ‘The Sinister Snares of Stingaree!’ with the introduction of Urania Blackwell – a secret agent who had somehow been transformed into an Element Girl with all Metamorpho’s incredible abilities. Not only was she dedicated to eradicating evil such as the criminal cabal Cyclops, but Urania was also the perfect paramour for Rex Mason… he even cancelled his wedding to Sapphire to go gang-busting with her…

With a new frisson of sexual chemistry sizzling beneath the surface, ‘They Came From Beyond?’ found the conflicted Element Man battling an apparent alien invasion whilst ‘The Trap of the Test-Tube Terrors!’ saw another attempt to cure Rex Mason of his unwanted powers allow mad scientist Franz Zorb access to Stagg Industry labs long enough to build an army of chemical horrors.

The plot thickened with Zorb’s theft of a Nucleonic Moleculizer, prompting a continuation in #14 wherein Urania was abducted only to triumphantly experience ‘The Return From Limbo’…

Events and stories grew increasingly outlandish and outrageous as the TV superhero craze intensified and ‘Enter the Thunderer!’ (#14, September-October 1967) saw Rex pulled between Sapphire and Urania as the extraterrestrial Neutrog terrorised the planet in preparation for the awesome arrival of his mighty mutant master. The next instalment heralded an ‘Hour of Armageddon!’ as the uniquely menacing Thunderer assumed control of Earth until boy genius Billy Barton assisted the Elemental defenders in defeating the mutant horror.

Trapani inked himself for Metamorpho #16; an homage to H. Rider Haggard’s “She” wherein ‘Jezeba, Queen of Fury!’ changed the Element Man’s life forever. When Sapphire Stagg married playboy Wally Bannister, the heartbroken Element Man undertook a mission to find the lost city of Ma-Phoor. Here he encountered an undying beauty who wanted to conquer the world and just happened to be Sapphire’s exact double.

Moreover the immortal empress of a lost civilisation had once loved an Element Man of her own: a Roman named Algon who had been transformed into a chemical warrior two millennia previously. Believing herself reunited with her lost love Jezeba finally launched her long-delayed attack on the outside world with disastrous, tragic consequences…

The strangely appetising series came to a shuddering and unsatisfactory halt with the next issue as the superhero bubble burst and costumed comic characters suffered their second recession in fifteen years. Metamorpho was one of the first casualties, cancelled just as (or perhaps because) the series was emerging from its quirky comedic shell with the March-April 1968 issue.

‘Last Mile for an Element Man!’, illustrated by Jack Sparling, saw Mason tried and executed for the murder of Wally Bannister, resurrected by Urania Blackwell and set on the trail of true killer Algon. Along the way Mason and Element Girl uncovered a vast, incredible conspiracy and rededicated themselves to defending humanity at all costs. The tale ended on a never-resolved cliffhanger: when Metamorpho was revived a few years later no mention was ever made of these last game-changing issues…

The elemental entertainment doesn’t end here though as this tome somewhat expiates the frustrating denouement with three terrific team-up tales beginning with Brave and the Bold #66 (June-July 1966) ‘Wreck the Renegade Robots’ as a mad scientist usurped control of the Metal Men just as their creator Will Magnus was preoccupied turning Metamorpho back into an ordinary mortal.

Two issues later (B& B #68October-November 1966) the still Chemically Active Crime-buster was battling the Penguin, Joker and Riddler as well as a fearsomely mutated Caped Crusader in the thoroughly bizarre ‘Alias the Bat-Hulk!’ – both tales courtesy of Haney, Mike Sekowsky & Mike Esposito.

Sekowsky also drew the last story in this volume. Justice League of America #42 (February 1966) had the hero join the World’s Greatest Superheroes to defeat a cosmic menace deemed “the Unimaginable”. The grateful champions instantly offered him membership but were surprised when and why ‘Metamorpho Says… No!’ in a classic adventure written by Gardner Fox and inked by Bernard Sachs.

The wonderment finally subsides after a lovely pin-up of the Element Man and his core cast by Fradon and Paris.

Individually enticing, always exciting but oddly frustrating in total this book will delight readers who aren’t too wedded to cloying continuity but simply seek a few moments of casual, fantastic escapism.
© 1965-1967, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 5


By Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Dick Dillin & 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 progress was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one (…or one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick involved…).

And so 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, the key moment came with the inevitable banding together of the reconfigured mystery men.

That moment came with issue #28 of The Brave and the Bold, 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, reinvigorated an industry and even inspired a small family-concern into creating the Fantastic Four, thereby transforming the art-form itself

Following a spectacular rise, TV spin-offs brought international awareness which 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 in the industry and costs were beginning to spiral. More importantly “free” entertainment, in the form of television, was by now ensconced in even the poorest household. If you were a kid in the sixties, think just how many brilliant cartoon shows were created in that decade, when artists like Alex Toth and Doug Wildey worked in West Coast animation studios.

Moreover, comicbook heroes were now appearing on the small screen. Superman, Aquaman, Batman, the Marvel heroes and even the JLA were there every Saturday in your own living room even after the global bubble had burst…

It was 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.

This fifth monochrome volume compellingly reflects the signs of the times as new writers fostered a “new wave” before slowly and safely returning the World’s Greatest Superheroes to the tried and tested Fights ‘n’ Tights arena…

Collecting issues #84-106 (and re-presenting the stirring covers of #85 and 93: giant editions which reprinted issues #10-11and #13 and18, respectively), this tome covers the period when the market changed forever, and comics stopped being a casual, disposable mass-entertainment.

By the end of this volume the publishers had begun the conceptual and commercial transition from a mass-market medium which slavishly followed trends and fashions to become a niche industry producing only what its dedicated fans wanted…

The dramas begin here with Justice League of America #84 (November 1970) and a guest-script from veteran writer Robert Kanigher illustrated by Dick Dillin & Joe Giella. ‘The Devil in Paradise!’ wherein a well-meaning but demented scientist builds his own Eden to escape the world’s increasing savagery before attempting to cleanse the Earth and start civilisation afresh.

With superheroes on the outs the team was severely truncated too. Issue #86 tackled impending global starvation as Mike Friedrich began a run of excellent eco-thrillers with ‘Earth’s Final Hour!’ as businessman Theo Zappa traded away the planet’s plankton (base of our entire food-chain) to a race of aliens with only Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Atom and Hawkman on hand to thwart him, whilst #87’s ‘Batman… King of the World!’ brought in occasional guest-star Zatanna and the semi-retired Green Lantern to tackle a deadly alien robot raider: a devious and cleverly veiled attack on Big Business and the Vietnam war, most famous these days for introducing a group of alien superheroes mischievously based on Marvels Mighty Avengers…

The human spirit and enduring humanity were highlighted when ancient refugees from the lost city of Mu returned to find us in charge of the planet they had abandoned millennia ago. ‘The Last Survivors of Earth!’ showed that even when superheroes were outmatched by scientifically-instigated global catastrophes, the simple patience, charity and self-confidence of ordinary folks can move mountains and save worlds.

‘The Most Dangerous Dreams of All!’ is one of the oddest tales in JLA history with a thinly disguised Harlan Ellison psychically inserting himself into the consciousness of Superman and Batman to woo the Black Canary with near-fatal repercussions, in a self-indulgent but intriguing examination of the creative process whilst #90’s ‘Plague of the Pale People!’ saw Aquaman’s submerged kingdom of Atlantis conquered by a primitive sub-sea tribe (the Saremites from Flash #109 – for which story check out Showcase Presents the Flash volume 1) using nerve gas negligently dumped in the ocean by the  US military.

In a mordant and powerful parable about lost faith and taking responsibility the JLA were forced to deal with problems much tougher than repelling invaders and locking up bad-guys…

Justice League of America #91 (August 1971) began the hero-heavy first part of the annual JLA/JSA team-up with ‘Earth… the Monster-Maker!’ as the Supermen, Flashes, Green Lanterns, Hawkmen, Atoms and Robins of two separate Realities simultaneously and ineffectually battled an alien boy and his symbiotically-linked dog on two planets a universe apart, until ‘Solomon Grundy… the One and Only!’ gave them a life saving lesson on togetherness and lateral thinking…

Following the cover of reprint giant #93, Neal Adams stepped in to provide additional pencils for the tense mystery ‘Where Strikes Demonfang?’ as ghostly guardian Deadman helped Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow foil a murder mission by the previously infallible Merlyn and the League of Assassins. The issue ended on a cliffhanger as Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman were lost in a teleporter accident leaving Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow and the Atom to fight ‘The Private War of Johnny Dune!’ wherein a disaffected black Vietnam veteran discovered the power and temptation of superpowers. Tragically even the ability to control minds wasn’t enough to change an unjust society two hundred years in the making…

The JLA returned to large-scale cosmic drama with issue #96 as Superman located the lost Leaguers on the distant yet familiar world of Rann (at least if you’ve read Showcase Presents Adam Strange volume 1) battling a planet-killing energy vampire in ‘The Coming of… Starbreaker!’

Their hard-won triumph only brought Earth to the attention of the extinction-event-level villain, leading to #97’s ‘The Day the Earth Screams!’ – a 37-page epic incorporating and recapitulating the team’s origin from #9 – resulting in a positively charged team, aided by Golden Age magician Sargon the Sorcerer, finally crushing the Stellar Leech in the climactic ‘No More Tomorrows!’

Environment-in-extremis was once more the theme in #99’s ‘Seeds of Destruction!’ as two alien Johnny Appleseeds began reseeding Earth with plants irrespective of whether or not humans want – or can survive – their monstrous crop…

Justice League of America #100 (August 1972) heralded the move away from relevancy and hot button social topics and a return to full-on Costumed melodramas beginning with a colossal three way team-up featuring almost every hero in the then-DC pantheon.

Beginning as part of the annual JLA/JSA summer blockbuster ‘The Unknown Soldier of Victory!’ featured the debut of Len Wein as scripter as the assembled champions of two Earths began a monumental hunt through time to retrieve forgotten heroes the Seven Soldiers of Victory; not simply out of common decency but because the vanished vigilantes held the answer to defeating a criminal mastermind literally holding the world of Earth-2 to ransom.

The quest continued in ‘The Hand that Shook the World!’ before ending in one adventurer’s gallant final sacrifice in #102’s ‘And One of Us Must Die!’ (with additional inking from Dick Giordano).

Returned to their own planet the JLA teamed up with and then inducted one of the few mystery men who hadn’t accompanied them to Earth-2 in ‘A Stranger Walks Among Us!’ (Wein, Dillin & Giordano) as the cross-genre horror-hero Phantom Stranger foiled a plot to sorcerously slaughter six Leaguers during the annual Halloween carnival in Rutland, Vermont, after which Green Lantern’s arch-enemy Hector Hammond orchestrated an attack on his old foe by setting an unstoppable monster loose on the League in ‘The Shaggy Man Will Get You if You Don’t Watch Out!’

The “More-the-Merrier” recruitment drive continued in #105 as the Elongated Man signed up to save the day against marauding, malignant putty-men in ‘Specter in the Shadows!’, anonymously aided by a miraculously resurrected robotic Red Tornado who joined up in #106, unaware that he had been reprogrammed into becoming a ‘Wolf in the Fold!’ which neatly concludes this delightful fifth volume of extraordinary exploits.

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.

Just Imagine…

© 1968-1972, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Blue Beetle: Black and Blue


By Matthew Sturges, Will Pfeifer, Mike Norton, David Baldeón, Carlo Barberi & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-85768-016-7

At the height of the Infinite Crisis El Paso teenager Jaime Reyes found a strange bug-shaped blue jewel. That night it attached itself to his spine, transforming him into a bizarre insectoid warrior. He was promptly swept up in the universe-rending chaos, aiding Batman and other heroes in a space battle. He was lost for a year…

Finally returned home, he revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in El Paso but had to rapidly adjust to some big changes. His best bud Paco had joined a gang of super-powered freaks, the local crime mastermind was the foster-mom of his other best bud Brenda and a really scary military dude named Peacemaker started hanging around, claiming the thing in Jaime’s back was malfunctioning alien tech not life-affirming Egyptian magic…

The Scarabs were designed to pave the way for a full invasion but fortunately the one attached to Jaime had been damaged over the centuries it was buried here and wasn’t working properly. With a little help from his friends and the newly rebellious gem itself Jaime thwarted the rapacious and infinitely patient invaders of The Reach and continued his unlikely mission as protector of El Paso and superhero in training.

The Hispanic Blue Beetle pluckily battled on as a back-up feature in Booster Gold and as a Teen Titan and this final volume (or perhaps not, since rumours of a Blue Beetle TV show still abound…) collects the previously-uncollected issues #27, 28, 35 and 36 of his own comicbook plus the Booster Gold back-ups from volume 2, issues #21-25 and 28-29 for your undoubted approval, courtesy of writers Matthew Sturges and Will Pfeifer and artist Mike Norton, David Baldeón, Carlo Barberi, Steve Bird, Jacob Eguren, Norm Rapmund & Sandra Hope.   J. Torres & Freddie Williams Jr. and battles one of the DC Universe’s gravest menaces in the startlingly powerful change of pace tale ‘Total Eclipso: the Heart’ by Rogers & Albuquerque.

The wonderment commences with ‘Black Magic Woman’ as Jaime and new girlfriend Traci Thirteen stumble onto an out-of-control supernatural vengeance plot instigated by a trio of slacker teens that looks likely to rip El Paso apart. Good thing then that our hero’s significant other is one of the most powerful witches on Earth…

Following that is a superb little yarn of generational evil, forgiveness and redemption guest-starring original Blue Beetle Dan Garrett which perfectly illustrates how much the kid hero had grown in the monstrous parable of ‘Brutus’, after which the continuity jumps to issue #35 (and if you’re a chronology-fiend here’s where Blue Beetle: Boundaries should go, so if you need to, read that before continuing…).

The solo comicbook concluded in a tense, life-changing two-parter ‘Only Change Endures’ which opened with a horde of the second Blue Beetle’s old foes attacking El Paso only to be soundly thrashed by his youthful successor. During the fray Jaime realised something was severely amiss with his scarab: it was becoming increasingly bloodthirsty and constantly urged him to use deadly force options from its vast weapons array…

At school romance was in the air, but when a battalion of other scarab-powered Blue Beetles calling themselves the “Khaji-Da Revolutionary Army” the situation went from hearts and flowers to def-con four …

Apparently when Jaime defeated the all-conquering alien Reach (Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars) he inadvertently started a dissident movement amongst the interlinked insectoid warriors. Now they want Jaime to lead them in a bloody war of liberation across the galaxies and although the human was appalled by the thought his rebellious scarab was overwhelmingly in favour…

Of course it all ends in a devastating blockbuster battle, but before Jaime can regain control of his symbiotic scarab one of his closest friends pays the ultimate price and life just isn’t so much fun anymore…

After a brief sojourn in funnybook limbo Blue Beetle returned as a supporting strip in Booster Gold and those tales follow here, starting with a reintroduction and recap in ‘The Golden Child’ – part one of the thee-chapter ‘Armour-Plated’ wherein Jaime tackled a succession of robots with daddy-issues, resulting in excessive carnage and destruction in ‘Silver Spoon’ before ‘Thoroughly Modern Maria’ ended the drama on a cliffhanger when future villain Black Beetle turned up to instigate a centuries-long vendetta in the two-part ‘Black and Blue’ by attempting to murder the entire Reyes family…

The saga reached a climactic conclusion when old tutor Peacemaker helped heal the madly malfunctioning scarab in ‘The Beginning of the End’ after which a mission to the ancient Reach pyramid set everything to rights (for the moment at least) in the spectacular ‘The End of the End’.

Although long-gone as a comicbook series the latest incarnation of the undying Blue Beetle brand still survives and thrives in trade paperback collections where you can – and must – experience the frantic, fun, thrill-packed and startlingly moving exploits of a truly ordinary teenager catapulted into the terrifying world of high-level super-heroics.

Hopefully with the TV series apparently completed and awaiting scheduling, a new comicbook series can’t be too far away, so what better time can there be to finally tune in and catch up with all of these addictive super-teen triumphs?

© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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JLA vol. 13: Rules Of Engagement


By Joe Kelly, Rick Veitch, Darryl Banks, Doug Mankhe, Duncan Rouleau & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 978-1-84023-923-5

When the Justice League of America, driving force and cornerstone of the Silver Age of Comics, were relaunched in 1997 (see JLA: New World Order) the sheer bravura quality of the stories propelled the series back to the forefront of industry attention, making as many new fans as it recaptured old ones; but the intoxicating sheen of “fresh and new” never lasts and by the time of these tales there had been numerous changes of creative personnel – usually a bad sign…

However Joe Kelly’s tenure proved to be a marvellous blend of steadying hands and iconoclastic antics through which the JLA happily continued their tricky task of keeping excitement levels stoked for a fan-base cursed with a criminally short attention span.

Kelly’s run on the series has some notable highs (and lows) and this portmanteau collection (gathering issues #77-82 of the monthly comicbook) happily falls into the former category as the team readjusted to modern life after the time-lost traumas of the Obsidian Age (see JLA:The Obsidian Age).

However the adventure actually kicks off with an impressive, clever and fast-paced fill-in tale from Rick Veitch, Darryl Banks & Wayne Faucher wherein the team – Batman, Superman, Atom, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart and Firestorm – are attacked by a civilisation-crushing cosmic wanderer which achieves its goals by invading brains and stealing knowledge in ‘Stardust Memories’…

That threat successfully circumvented, the World’s Greatest Superheroes learn of an interplanetary conflict that looks likely to divide the team forever in the eponymous two-parter ‘Rules of Engagement’ by Kelly, Doug Mankhe and Tom Nguyen. With half the team travelling, uninvited, many light-years to stop a war, the remainder of the JLA stay to police Earth, giving the opportunity to add some long-missed sub-plots to the usually straightforward storytelling; specifically some unpleasant hints into new member Faith’s clouded past, a long-deferred romantic dinner for Bruce Wayne and Amazonian Princess Diana and the beginnings of a very hot time for the Martian Manhunter with fiery potential paramour Scorch…

On the distant world of Kylaq, Leaguers Superman, Wonder Woman, Major Disaster, Manitou Raven, John Stewart and Faith act unilaterally to prevent the invasion of the Peacemaker Collective but are keenly aware that once they succeed they leave the rescued world to the mercies of its own highly suspect government… especially Defense Minister Kanjar Ro, intergalactic slave-trader and one of their oldest, most despotic foes…

The last half of the book fills in some of Faith’s background as the reunited team are called to an Oregon cult compound where a new Messiah has created Safe Haven: a separatist enclave for metahuman children. Unfortunately, the Federal Authorities are not prepared to leave them alone and the resultant clash of ideologies leaves a thousand dead children on the crippled consciences of the devastated superheroes…

Yet something isn’t right: why does each JLA-er believe that they alone are responsible for the massacre? Moreover, what is the actual goal of master manipulator Manson and how does neo-Nazi team Axis America fit into the scheme?

This thrilling, action-packed three-part mystery saga comes courtesy of Kelly, Duncan Rouleau & Aaron Sowd and satisfyingly closes this fast and furious selection of witty, engaging, beautiful and incredibly exciting yarns: some of the best modern superhero adventures ever created and a reading treat well worth your time and attention.

© 2003, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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JSA vs. Kobra


By Eric S. Trautmann, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski, with Neil Edwards (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-955-3
After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre, and indeed industry’s, progress was the combination of individual attention-getters into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and readerships. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

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

And so 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, the game-changing moment came with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine article returned. Since then there have been many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful rebooting of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fan-base big enough to support them. In 1999 the original super-team returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since.

Kobra originated in February 1976 in his own short-lived title, during a period of desperate experimentation whilst super-hero tales were plummeting and the industry feared its inevitable extinction. Credited to Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Jack Kirby and Pablo Marcos, the saga is a radical updating of Alexandre Dumas’ seminal 1844 novel Les Frères Corses – “The Corsican Brothers”.

When conjoined twins Jeffrey and Jason Burr were surgically separated soon after birth, Jeffrey was abducted by disciples of the Cult of Kobra and raised to be their Dark Messiah: a deadly warrior, scientist and strategist dedicated to bringing about the end of civilisation and initiating a cleansing “Age of Chaos”. The peculiar circumstances of their birth meant that Jeffrey and his brother Jason maintained an uncanny connection wherein one would experience the hurts and harms inflicted upon the other, leading Jason to become the ultimate weapon in the war waged by numerous DC heroes against his serpentine terrorist sibling over the years.

Eventually Jason was safely murdered by Kobra, but later resurrected as an even greater evil, assuming his brother’s position as head of the World’s most dangerous death-cult. The new Kobra is an utterly dedicated fanatic who married the cult’s technological resources to hideous, sacrificial blood-magic and preferred faith-driven disciples to the disaffected proto-thugs employed by his predecessor (for further details see Checkmate: Pawn Breaks)…

The JSA battled the first Kobra many times (most notably in JSA: Darkness Falls and JSA: Savage Times) but were utterly unprepared for the sheer horrors in store when they swung into action against the inheritor of the Snake cult…

This terse, tense collection re-presents the six-issue JSA vs. Kobra ‘Engines of Faith’ miniseries and, informed by the real-world terrorism of fundamentalist factions around the globe, finally elevates Kobra to the first rank of villains as the deadly herald of the World’s End plays a lethal game of cat-and-mouse with the Planet’s Smartest Man and some of the most experienced heroes of all time…

The Serpent Lord begins his campaign of terror in ‘Bad Religion’ by dispatching suicide bombers to destroy the Justice Society in their own home; confronting logic and superpowers with pure faith and high-tech explosives. Caught off-guard by foes actually happy to die if they can strike a blow against their master’s enemies, the JSA are further wrong-footed by seemingly random attacks against civilians and institutions, all orchestrated by field commander and fanatical bride of death Ariadne Persakis.

The sheer scale of the bloodletting and illogical nature of the attacks soon have the heroes fighting amongst themselves as they strive to find some rhyme or reason behind the murderous assaults… so why then does Persakis surrender herself to their custody?

‘Strange Days’ finds the team seething but still unable to fathom the terrorist’s game plan until Ariadne breaks free of Checkmate custody. Apparently the covert international spy-force has been hopelessly infiltrated and compromised. The senseless death-toll mounts exponentially and as, the team narrowly thwart an assault on a giant particle accelerator that could split the Earth in two, masked genius Mr. Terrific begins to discern a pattern to the random madness in ‘Misdirection’…

The brutal attacks intensify and, although it appears the heroes are slowly gaining the upper hand, Terrific perceives the hidden agenda behind the unceasing ghastly blows against decency and civilisation. ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ finds Kobra making his ultimate move and apparently failing, leading to a gathering of champions ‘Beating the Grass’ and taking the war to the relentless foe, but even after the stunning climax of ‘Shedding Skin’ the weary heroes cannot be sure if they have won the day or somehow lost the war entirely…

This is a stunning piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction: dark, dramatic and intensely compelling. Writer Eric S. Trautmann has melded shiny super-heroics, grim realpolitik and genuine cultural zeitgeists into a splendidly mature costumed drama and the effective underplayed art of Don Kramer, Neil Edwards and inker Michael Babinski is chillingly effective at capturing the tone as well as the events.

If you’ve grown beyond gaudy mystery men and “goodies” against “baddies” this graphic novel is more than likely to make you think again…

© 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents Superman Team-Ups volume 1


By Martin Pasko, Paul Levitz, Denny O’Neil, José Luis García-López, Dick Dillin, Joe Staton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-471-8

From the moment a kid first sees his second superhero the only thing he/she wants is to see how the new gaudy gladiator stacks up against the first. From the earliest days of the funnybook industry (and according to DC Comics Presents editor Julie Schwartz it was the same with the pulps and dime novels that preceded it) we’ve wanted our idols to meet, associate, battle together – and if you follow the Timely/Marvel model, that means against each other – far more than we want to see them trounce their archenemies together…

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with less well-selling company characters – was far from new when DC awarded their then biggest gun (it was the publicity drenched weeks before the release of Superman: the Movie, and Tim Burton’s Batman was over a decade away) a regular arena to have adventures with other stars of their firmament, just as Batman had been doing since the middle of the 1960s in the Brave and the Bold.

In truth the Man of Steel had already enjoyed the sharing experience once before when World’s Finest Comics briefly ejected the Caped Crusader and Superman battled beside a coterie of heroes including Flash, Robin, Teen Titans, Dr. Fate and others (issues #198-214 November 1970 to October/November 1972) before the immortal status quo was re-established.

This superbly economical monochrome collection re-presents the first twenty-six issues of the star-studded monthly and opens the show with a two-part thriller featuring Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash who had also been Superman’s first co-star in the aforementioned World’s Finest Comics run.

‘Chase to the End of Time!’ and ‘Race to the End of Time!’ debuted in DC Comics Presents #1-2, (July-August and September-October 1978) as scripter Marty Pasko and the utterly astounding José Luis García-López (inked by Dan Adkins) rather reprised the World’s Finest tale as warring alien races tricked Superman and Flash into speeding through the time-stream to prevent Earth’s history from being corrupted and destroyed. As if that wasn’t dangerous enough, nobody could predict the deadly intervention of the Scarlet Speedster’s most dangerous foe, Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash…

David Michelinie wrote a tantalising pastiche of classic Adam Strange Mysteries in Space for García-López to draw and ink in ‘The Riddle of Little Earth Lost’ wherein the Man of Two Worlds and Man of Steel foiled the cosmic scheme of a deranged genius to transpose, subjugate and/or destroy Earth and light-years distant planet Rann, and Len Wein scripted the superb ‘Sun-Stroke!’ wherein the Action Ace and the madly-malleable Metal Men joined forces to thwart solar-fuelled genius I.Q. and elemental menace Chemo as a ill-considered plan to enhance solar radiation provoked a catastrophic solar-flare.

Sea King Aquaman became embroiled in ‘The War of the Undersea Cities’ (by Wein, Paul Levitz & Murphy Anderson) when his subjects opened hostilities with the mer-folk of Tritonis, home of Superman’s old college girlfriend Lori Lemaris. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed when the deadly Ocean Master was revealed to be meddling in their sub-sea politics, after which ‘The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern’ (Levitz, Curt Swan & Francisco Chiaramonte) saw the Man of Steel inherit the awesome power ring after Hal Jordan fell in battle with Star Sapphire.

Although triumphant against his female foe, Superman was ambushed by anti-matter warriors from Qward leading to ‘The Paralyzed Planet Peril!’ (#7, Levitz, Dick Dillin & Chiaramonte) wherein those aliens attempted to colonise Earth until the Red Tornado swept in to the rescue.

‘The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy’ by Steve Englehart & Murphy Anderson featured Swamp Thing (at a time when the bog-beast still believed he was a transformed human and not an enhanced plant) searching the sewers of Metropolis for a cure to his condition, only to stumble onto a battle between the Man of Steel and the mystic zombie who was “born on a Monday”…

Marty Pasko returned to script the Joe Staton & Jack Abel illustrated ‘Invasion of the Ice People!’ wherein Wonder Woman assisted in repelling an attack by malign disembodied intellects before another two-part tale began with ‘The Miracle Man of Easy Company’ (Cary Bates, Staton & Abel) as a super-bomb blasted Superman back to World War II and a meeting with Sgt. Rock, before returning home to battle a brainwashed and power-amplified Hawkman in ‘Murder by Starlight!’ (by Bates, Staton & Chiaramonte).

DCCP #12 featured a duel between the Action Ace and New God Mister Miracle in ‘Winner Take Metropolis’ by Englehart, Richard Buckler & Dick Giordano before Levitz returned to script an ambitious continued epic which began with ‘To Live in Peace… Nevermore!’ (art from Dillin & Giordano), wherein the Legion of Super-Heroes prevented Superman saving a little boy from alien abduction to preserve the integrity of the time-line. It didn’t help that the lad was Jon Ross, son of Clark Kent’s oldest friend…

Driven mad by loss Pete Ross risked the destruction of reality itself by enlisting the aid of Superboy to battle his older self in ‘Judge, Jury… and No Justice!’ (Levitz, Dillin & Giordano) after which the Man of Steel helped scientist-hero Ray Palmer regain his size-changing powers in ‘The Plight of the Giant Atom!’ by Bates, Staton & Chiaramonte.

Issue #16 found Superman and Black Lightning battling a heartsick alien trapped on Earth in ‘The De-volver!’ (Denny O’Neil, Staton & Chiaramonte) after which Gerry Conway, García-López & Steve Mitchell heralded the return of Firestorm in ‘The Ice Slaves of Killer Frost!’, a bombastic, saves-the-day epic which brought the Nuclear Man back into the active DC pantheon after a long hiatus.

Zatanna co-starred in the Conway, Dillin & Chiaramonte rollercoaster ride ‘The Night it Rained Magic!’, Batgirl helped solve the eerie mystery ‘Who Haunts This House?’ (O’Neil, Staton & Chiaramonte) and Green Arrow excelled in the gripping, big-business-busting eco-thriller ‘Inferno From the Sky!’ by O’Neil, García-López & Joe Giella.

DCCP #21 found the eclectic detective Elongated Man as patient zero in ‘The Alien Epidemic’, a tense medical mystery by Conway, Staton & Chiaramonte, and Mike W. Barr wrote an effective science fiction doom-tale co-starring Captain Comet as the future-man endured ‘The Plight of the Human Comet!’ (art by Dillin & Frank McLaughlin).

‘The Curse Out of Time!’ (#23, O’Neil, Staton & Vince Colletta) affected two separate Earths, compelling Superman and Doctor Fate to defeat imps and ghosts before normality could be restored. The supernatural theme continued in the magnificent team-up with Deadman in #24 wherein Wein & García-López revealed the tragic and chilling story of ‘The Man Who Was the World!’

The long unresolved fate of Jon Ross was happily concluded in the cunning and redemptive ‘Judgement Night’ with the enigmatic Phantom Stranger overcoming an insoluble, intolerable situation with Superman, courtesy of Levitz, Dillin & McLaughlin.

This stellar collection concludes with a spectacular return engagement for Green Lantern as Emerald Crusader and Man of Tomorrow battled each other and a trans-dimensional shape-shifter in ‘Between Friend and Foe!’ plotted and pencilled by Jim Starlin, scripted by Marv Wolfman and inked by Steve Mitchell.

These short, pithy adventures act as perfect shop window for DC’s fascinating catalogue of characters and creators; delivering a breadth and variety of self-contained, exciting and satisfying entertainments ranging from the merely excellent all the way to utterly unmissable. This book is the perfect introduction to the DC Universe for every kid of any age and a delightful slice of the ideal Costumed Dramas of a simpler more inviting time…

© 1978, 1979, 1980, 2009 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents Booster Gold


By Dan Jurgens & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-852-2

After the cosmos-crunching Crisis on Infinite Earths re-sculpted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, a host of characters got floor-up rebuilds for the tougher, no-nonsense, straight-shooting New American readership of the Reagan-era and a number of corporate buy-outs such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question joined the DC roster with their own much-hyped solo titles. There were even a couple of all-new big launches for the altered sensibilities of the Decade of Excess such as Suicide Squad and a Shiny, Happy Hero named Booster Gold.

This economical black and white edition (released to coincide with the hero’s relaunch as a time-roving chronal cop) features the entire 25 issue run of Booster Gold volume 1 (from February 1986 to February 1988), plus a crossover appearance from Action Comics #594 and his redefined backstory from Secret Origins #35 (December 1988).

The blue and yellow paladin appeared amidst plenty of hoopla in his own title cover-dated February 1986 (the first post-Crisis premiere of the freshly integrated superhero line) and presented a wholly different approach to the traditional DC costumed boy-scout.  Created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks by Mike DeCarlo ‘The Big Fall’ introduced a brash, cocky, mysterious metahuman golden-boy jock who had set up his stall as a superhero in Metropolis, actively seeking corporate sponsorships, selling endorsements and with a management team in place to maximise the profit potential of his crusading celebrity.

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

In issue #2’s ‘Cold Redemption’ Blackguard was assisted by thought-casting mercenary Mindancer as the Director’s campaign of malice led to another close call for Booster. Meanwhile his highly public private life took a tawdry turn in ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’ when opportunistic starlet Monica Lake began briefing the media on her “relationship” with the Man of Gold. He was unable to refute the claims since he was knee-deep in hired thugs and super-villains at the time…

That cataclysmic combat in #4 resulted in a tremendous ‘Crash’ when urban vigilante The Thorn dropped in to help scuttle the 1000’s latest scheme, but once the dust settled Booster found himself in real trouble as business manager Dirk Davis was so busy licensing his boss for a comicbook that he failed to head off an IRS audit…

It appeared Booster Gold had no official record and had never paid a penny in taxes…

In ‘Face Off’, our hero saved an entire stadium of ice hockey fans from avaricious terrorist Mr. Twister, earning himself a reprieve from the Federal authorities, after which an alien refugee crashed in Metropolis’ Centennial Park in #6’s ‘To Cross the Rubicon’, just as Man of Gold met Man of Steel for the long-awaited origin saga.

Michael Jon “Booster” Carter was a rising sports star in the 25th century who fell in with a gambling syndicate and began fixing games for cash pay-outs. When he was caught and banned from competition he could only find menial work as a night-watchman in The Space Museum. Whilst there he struck up a friendship with automated tour-guide and security-bot Skeets, embarking on a bold plan to redeem himself.

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

Superman, already antagonistic because of Booster’s attitude, is ready to arrest him for theft when the almost forgotten alien attacks…

They all awaken on a distant world embroiled in a vicious civil war and still at odds. As a result of ‘The Lesson’ and a vicious battle Superman and Booster Gold both learned some uncomfortable truths and agreed to tolerate each other when they returned home. Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Dirk Davis and company PA Trixie Collins hired hotshot scientist Jack Soo to build a super-suit that would enable Booster to hire a camera-friendly, eye-candy, girly sidekick…

More questions were answered in the two-part ‘Time Bridge’ when the 30th century Legion of Super-Heroes discovered evidence that their flight-rings and forcefield technology were being used by a temporal fugitive named Michael Carter. Dispatched to 1985 by the Time Institute, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 arrived soon after the fugitive Carter and became involved in his very first case. The Director and shape-shifting assassin Chiller were planning to murder and replace Ronald Reagan but in the best superhero tradition Carter and the Legionnaires misunderstood each other’s intentions and butted heads…The plot might have succeeded had not Skeets intervened, allowing Carter to save the day and get official Presidential approval. Ronnie even got to name the new hero…

Back in 1986 the long-building final clash with the Director began in #10 with ‘Death Grip of the 1000’ when Dirk’s daughter was kidnapped and he was coerced into betraying Booster, just as the nefarious super-mob unleashed a horde of robotic terrors on Metropolis to wear out the Man of Gold and assess his weaknesses…

After Trixie was also abducted in ‘When Glass Houses Shatter’ the 1000 increased the pressure by setting blockbusting thug Shockwave on Booster, resulting in the utter destruction of the hero’s corporate headquarters and home before a frenzied and frenetic final clash in ‘War’…

With the threat of the 1000 ended ‘The Tomorrow Run’ (inked by Gary Martin) found Booster at death’s door, not because of his numerous injuries but because his 25th century body had succumbed to 20th century diseases. Set during the Legends publishing event, which saw the public turn violently against costumed heroes, the dying Carter was rescued from a mob by Trixie wearing Jack Soo’s completed super-suit after which the cast resolve to take Michael back to the future where he can be properly treated, even though Booster’s offences carried a mandatory death penalty in his home era…

Recruiting young Rip Hunter (destined to become the Master of Time) Trixie and Dr. Soo accompanied the distressed hero to a time where ruthless Darwinian capitalism ruled and everything Michael Carter once dreamed of had turned to bitter ashes…

‘A Future Lost’ (inked by DeCarlo) followed Booster and Trixie as they searched for a cure (and his missing twin sister Michelle) whilst Hunter and Soo attempted to find a way to return them all to 1986.

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

Booster Gold’s close call had a salutary effect on his attitudes and character. ‘Fresh Start’ (inked by Bob Lewis) saw a kinder, gentler corporate entrepreneur begin to re-establish his heroic credentials with the celebrity-crazed public of Metropolis, to the extent that Maxwell Lord even offered him membership in the newly re-formed Justice League, just as sultry assassin Cheshire began raiding a biotech company recently acquired by Booster Gold International…

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

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

The tale concluded with ‘The Colors of Justice’ as Dr. Soo came to Booster’s rescue whilst Michelle was being kidnapped by extra-dimensional invaders…

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

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

‘Invasion From Dimension X’ has Booster’s search for his missing sister impinge on a covert intrusion by belligerent aliens first encountered and defeated by the Teen Titans (see Showcase Presents Teen Titans volume 2). To make matters worse the extra-dimensionals are using Michelle as a power-source to fuel their invasion, resulting in ‘Tortured Options’ for Booster who had to decide between saving Michelle or the city of Minneapolis when the invaders opened their assault with a colossal monster attack…

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

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

After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, DC’s third company-wide crossover Millennium saw Steve Englehart describe how robotic peacekeepers called Manhunters had infiltrated Earth to abort the next stage in human evolution. Built by the Guardians of the Universe billions of years ago, the automated peacekeepers had rebelled against their creators and now planned to thwart their makers’ latest project, destroying or suborning Earth’s costumed defenders in the process.

In its original form each weekly instalment of Millennium acted as a catalyst for events which played out in the rest of the DC Universe’s comics. In addition to the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic-books. Issues #24 and 25 of Booster Gold were two of them.

‘Betrayal’ revealed that one of Michael Carter’s inner circle had been a Manhunter agent all along and had bankrupted the hero at the most propitious moment simply so that the robots could buy his loyalty during their assault on humanity…

The series came to a shocking climax in ‘The End’ as the scheme worked and Booster actually switched sides… or did he?

After the surprisingly satisfying and upbeat denouement Booster became a perennial star of Justice League International where, with fellow homeless hero Blue Beetle, he became half of the one of funniest double-acts in comics. As “Blue and Gold” the hapless, cash-strapped odd couple were always at the heart of the action – pecuniary or otherwise – and the final tale here ‘From the Depths’ (by Jurgens & Tim Dzon, originally presented in Secret Origins #35, December 1988) reprised the early tragic days of Michael Jon Carter in a brief and exceedingly impressive tale played as much to tug the heartstrings as tickle the funny-bone…

As a frontrunner of the new DC, Booster Gold was a radical experiment in character that didn’t always succeed, but which definitely and exponentially improved as the months rolled by. The early episodes are a necessary chore but by the time the volume ends it’s a real shame that the now thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride is over. Perhaps not to every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s taste; these formative fictions are absolutely vital to your understanding of the later classics. Cheap and fun this book is worth the investment simply because of what follows in such comics gems as Justice League International volume 1 and 2 and Booster Gold: Blue and Gold.

© 1986, 1987, 1988, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Green Lantern: Agent Orange (Prelude to Blackest Night)


By Geoff Johns, Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2420-2

Hal Jordan was a young test pilot in California when an alien policeman crashed on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his ring, a device which could materialise thoughts and fuelled by willpower, to seek out a replacement ring-bearer, honest and without fear. Scanning the planet it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, the lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his profession to the astonished Earthman.

Over the years Jordan became one of the greatest members of that serried band of law-enforcers, The Green Lantern Corps, which had protected the cosmos from evil for millennia under the auspices of immortal super-beings who dubbed themselves the Guardians of the Universe. These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races in creation and currently dwell in sublime emotionless security on the world of Oa at the very centre of creation.

If all this is new to you then this book should absolutely not be your introduction to the series. Go read (at least) Green Lantern: Secret Origin and preferably all the other collections of this monumental fixture in the comicbook firmament before attempting to decipher the compulsive, compelling, pell-mell onslaught of characters and concepts scripter Geoff Johns throws at the reader as his extended epic thoroughly reshapes the DC Universe.

Following the bombastic, blockbusting Sinestro Corps War the entire cosmos was in turmoil at the revelation that Green was not the only colour and an entire emotional spectrum of puissant energies underpinned and operated upon reality. In increasingly ambitious storylines, Johns began exploring the adherents and disciples of each hue and the forces transformed by or seeking to control them…a situation which led inexorably into DC’s major crossover events Blackest Night and its sequel Brightest Day.

This volume (collecting Green Lantern #39-42 and portions of Blackest Night #0), illustrated by Philip Tan & Jonathan Glapion, Eddy Barrows, Ruy José & Julio Ferreira, opens with a band of Controllers (a splinter group who split from the Guardians eons ago) encountering the possessor of the Orange light of Avarice.

The resultant slaughter precipitates another crisis when its sole user – a bestial, undying monstrosity named Larfleeze – abrogates an ancient secret treaty with the Oans and explodes out of his exile in the Vega system to take whatever takes his voracious fancy…

The very first thing he espies is Hal Jordan, currently overloaded by the exponentially increased power of a Blue Lantern ring overwhelming his own emerald weapon with the azure energy of Hope.

As revelations of the Guardians’ duplicitous past intrigues come to light, the vengeance-crazed, Green Lantern-hunting Fatality is overtaken by the Violet power of Love and becomes a Zamaron Star Sapphire (another dissident faction formed when the female Guardians also abandoned Oa) and attempts an uncomfortable rapprochement with her arch-enemy Green Lantern John Stewart…

Due to the Guardians’ ancient treaty with Larfleeze Vega had always been outside GL Corps jurisdiction and subsequently became a stellar sinkhole and safe-haven for the very worst scum of universe. With nothing left to hide anymore the remaining, still-squabbling Guardians lead a phalanx of their best peacekeepers in a punitive mission to clean out the sector of intergalactic criminals now that the Avatar of Greed has gone…

Sadly Larfleeze has left unique defences and the sortie ends badly. With the Orange Obsessive still hungry for Jordan’s Blue ring (which refuses to leave Hal’s hand and resists all efforts at removal) the Oans are forced to resort to a further deal with the devil…

Meanwhile Sinestro, controlling the Yellow light of Fear, and the diabolical Atrocitus, wielding the corrupting Red light of Rage, are jockeying into position for their own assaults on the embattled Guardians…

Jordan finally overcomes the paralysing burden of too much power and acts decisively to temporarily end the threat of Larfleeze, but not before the Guardians are betrayed from within and the Black light of Death resurrects the greatest threat to life there has ever been…

…Which will only become clear in the next volume.

Feeling uncomfortably like entering a play late and leaving before the end, the spectacle and action here will impress and bewilder in equal amounts, but at least there’s a selection of short complete vignettes included to afford the briefest modicum of narrative closure; beginning with ‘Origins and Omens’ (illustrated by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert) which explores the history of the Star Sapphires and the salutary ‘Tales of the Orange Lanterns: Weed Killer’ with art by Rafael Albuquerque, which reveals the rise to power of the ravenous Orange subordinate Agent Glomulous…

After a gallery of variant covers and a fascinating design, commentary and sketch section from Philip Tan and Doug Mahnke, the book closes with informational pages on the eight colours of the Emotional Spectrum by Mahnke, Christian Alamy & Tom Nguyen

Combining big-picture theatrics with solid characterization, Green Lantern is an ideal contemporary superhero series, vast in scope, superb in execution and blending just the right amounts of angst, gloss and action in the storytelling mix – but a basic familiarity with DC/Green Lantern history is more necessary than advisable.

Impressive, exciting enticing and engrossing: all terms you’ll happily apply to Green Lantern: Agent Orange – but only after doing your homework and reading the other stuff first…
© 2009 DC Comics. All rights reserved.