Category: Supergirl

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DC Finest: Justice League of America – Crisis on Earth X


By Len Wein, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Denny O’Neil, Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, Bob Rozakis, Mark Hanerfeld, Dick Dillin, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López, Tatjana Wood, Glynis Oliver, Neal Adams, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-883-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Keystone of the contemporary DC Universe, the Justice League of America is the reason we still have a comics industry today. The day the first JLA story was published marks the moment when superheroes truly made comic books their own particular preserve. Even though the popularity of masked champions has waxed and waned repeatedly since 1960, and other genres have re-won their places on published pages, in the minds of America and the world, Comics Means Superheroes and the League signalled that men – and even a few women and less definable options – in capes and masks were back for good…

When editorial legend Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956, his Rubicon move came a few years later with the uniting of his reconfigured mystery men into a team. Cover-dated March 1960, the JLA debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28, cementing the growth and validity of the revived subgenre, and consequently triggering an explosion of new characters at every company publishing funnybooks before spreading to the rest of the world as the decade progressed.

Spanning cover-dates December 1972 to July 1976, this classic-crammed, full-colour paperback compendium re-presents issues #103-132 of the epochal first series, as a new wave of scripters provided steadfast illustrator Dick Dillin with increasingly challenging concepts he had no trouble bringing to vivid vibrant life. While we’re showing our gratitude, lets also salute stalwart letterer Ben Oda (and occasionally Milt Snappin) for herculean but unsung efforts to make the uncanny and obscure clear to us all, colourists Glynis Oliver, Tatjana Wood and anonymous colleagues as well as cover specialists Nick Cardy, Dick Giordano, Mike Grell, Ernie Chan, José Luis García-López and the others…

Richard Allen “Dick” Dillin (17th December 1928 – 1st March 1980) started in the 1940s at Quality Comics, limning Blackhawk, Plastic Man and their war anthologies. Utterly reliable and prodigiously prolific, the draughtsman moved to DC when the company bought out Quality. He spent over a decade drawing their Blackhawk and when Mike Sekowsky left, he would draw every JLA issue for the next twelve years, as well as countless outings of DC’s top characters and even a wealth of horror stories when DC started scaring kids for money again…

These yarns begin after a major JLA/JSA team up returned the Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory to the expanding continuity. Appetites unsatisfied, the revival and expansion continued by adding more as yet unaffiliated mystery men to the team. Returned to their own planet the Justice League teamed up with and then inducted one of the few heroes who hadn’t accompanied them to Earth-2 in ‘A Stranger Walks Among Us!’ (#103 by Len Wein, Dillin & Giordano) as cross-genre horror hero The Phantom Stranger foils a plot to slaughter six Leaguers during the annual Halloween carnival in Rutland, Vermont, after which Green Lantern’s arch-enemy Hector Hammond orchestrates an attack on his oldest foe by setting an unstoppable monster loose on the team in ‘The Shaggy Man Will Get You if You Don’t Watch Out!’ The “More-the-Merrier” recruitment drive continued in #105 as Elongated Man signs up to save the day against marauding, malignant putty-men in ‘Specter in the Shadows!’, albeit anonymously aided by a miraculously resurrected robotic Red Tornado who joins the party in #106, unaware that he has been reprogrammed into becoming a ‘Wolf in the Fold! Justice League of America #107’s ‘Crisis on Earth-X’ ( Wein, Dillin & Giordano) was the first chapter of another landmark crossover with their Earth-2 counterparts and antecedents in the JSA.

Following the revival of a forgotten superteam during their previous get-together, this time the annual get-together reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors (from corporate acquisition Quality Comics) newly redesignated The Freedom Fighters. It began when a recreational trip across the dimensional divide is accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow & Elongated Man from Earth-1 and Superman, Sandman & Doctor Fate of Earth-2 into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II. Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor & The Human Bomb, the newcomers ended the Nazi threat forever in sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’…

With everybody returned to their home planes #109 brought back a cultish guest star as ‘The Doom of the Divided Man!’ revived the dormant career of 1960’s hero/villain Eclipso, who attempted another cunning plan to conquer Earth. However, the real focus of this tale was the unexpected resignation of Hawkman following his recall to home planet Thanagar. Wein, Dillin & Giordano then got to deliver a delightful but potent seasonal present in #110 as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary & Red Tornado had to adapt to abrasive substitute Green Lantern John Stewart. A controversial “angry black man” conceived at a time when non-Caucasian heroes could be counted on the fingers of one hand he turned up mid-mission, just as the League gathered to hunt down ‘The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!’

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

For that issue, Bob Rozakis designed a ‘JLA Puzzle’ which follows accompanied by the answer page before JLA #111 introduced a seminal villain who became, decades later, a pivotal player in The Final Crisis. Here however, enigmatic Libra merely uses his incredible abilities to revive the dormant Injustice Gang of the World. Although his stated goal is to imbue Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Shadow Thief & Tattooed Man with energies stolen from Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Flash, Elongated Man and fully recovered GL Hal Jordan, the ‘Balance of Power!’ he truly seeks actually entails keeping all the purloined might for his own incomprehensible use…

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

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

Years ago the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster and been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend. Now after three decades the beast is awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash & Wonder Woman believe when they join their old comrade on his tragic manhunt…

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

The tone turned cosmic in #115 as Denny O’Neil provided a fill-in yarn bringing back retired hero J’onn J’onzz, Manhunter from Mars who implores his former allies to save the dying remnants of his people from ‘The Last Angry God!’ who has imprisoned them on a far-distant world. Cary Bates then contributed ‘The Kid Who Won Hawkman’s Wings!’ in #116, as sightings of Hawkman in Midway City lead Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash & Batman into a deadly duel against Matter Master. Closer inspection reveals the Pinioned Paladin to be a baffled kid Charley Parker, who has no idea why he suddenly changed into a Golden Eagle, whilst the actual mastermind behind the plot is a shock to all concerned. The tale is followed by another Rozakis ‘JLA Puzzle’ and a picture posing ‘JLA Super-Villain Quiz’…

After just over a year’s absence the true Winged Wonder returned in #117. ‘I Have No Wings and I Must Fly!’ was scripted by Elliot S! Maggin, with Giordano’s protégé Frank McLaughlin assuming regular inking chores over Dillin’s sleek and effective pencils. It saw alien cop Katar Hol resurface to warn Earth of a deadly extraterrestrial menace dubbed The Equalizer. This ineffable terror was driven to achieve pure balance in the universe, and to achieve this he somehow homogenised entire civilisations, making life forms exactly identical to each other. His Equalizer plague weapon was overwhelmingly contagious and – after reducing the population of Thanagar to imbecilic, four-foot tall clones of each other, (including Hol’s beloved wife Shayera) – the unfathomable voyager turned his single eye upon Earth…

With his homeworld quarantined and after defeating the appalling threat as part of the JLA, Hawkman had no other refuge than our planet and promptly joined Aquaman, Black Canary, Flash, Red Tornado & Superman in resisting the ‘Takeover of the Earth-Masters!’ (#118 by Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin). This revealed a misguided attempt by trans-dimensional beings who sought to save our world from super beings by despatching eerie hyper-evolving Adaptoid organisms. With even the Man of Steel unable to face the ghastly invaders, Hawkman devises a risky strategy involving his Equalization-infected wife, which happily turns out in Humanity’s favour in #119’s concluding clash ‘Winner Takes the Earth!’

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

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

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

Another year gone, it was time for the annual JLA/JSA yarn and Bates, Maggin, Dillin & McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ & ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ from issues #123 & 124. Back in Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?, May 1968) Bates & Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in “our” Reality (Earth-Prime!) where the Sultan of Speed was just a comic book character. Now and here Bates and co-scripter Maggin return to the conceit as a story conference in editor Julie Schwartz’s office leads to the oafish goons playing with Flash’s hastily-constructed and long abandoned Cosmic Treadmill, before catapulting one of them between dimensions.

Transformed and empowered by the trip, Bates becomes the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-2 criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle & The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite. Maggin has followed his friend but ends up on Earth-1.

Undaunted, he recruits Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow & Flash to save three imperilled universes but it eventually requires the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set everything and everybody back to their assigned places and times…

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

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

For a period “our” Wonder Woman had lost her powers and fought crime as a martial artist, but once her supernatural gifts returned she underwent a self-imposed set of trials before rejoining the team. Sadly her readmission coincided with the team disbanding following a cataclysmic, psychologically punishing assault by alien fear-eater Nekron, and even she seemed unable to galvanise the Leaguers before ‘The Earth Dies Screaming!’in #129.

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

This mammoth tome ends with a clever mystery double-bill from Conway, Dillin & McLaughlin. In #131’s ‘The Beasts Who Thought Like Men!’ a new credit card currency for America somehow enhances the minds of animals and insects, simultaneously decreasing human brainpower to such a low point that bugs can enslave deadly villains like Sonar & Queen Bee. The tale takes a stranger turn in #132 as Superman vanishes and Supergirl steps in to help against animals organised enough to conquer the country. Even then there was still one more tangled twist in the tale of ‘The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!…’

To Be Continued…

The Justice League of America was always the keystone of US comics and these tales are still among the most thought-provoking, controversial and purely entertaining episodes in their six and half decade history. These classical compendia are a dedicated fan’s delight: an absolute gift for modern readers who desperately need to catch up without going bankrupt. They are also perfect to give to youngsters as an introduction into a fabulous world of adventure and magic.

Come see for yourself…

© 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1946 cartoonist/scripter/letterer Rick Parker (Beavis and Butt-Head, Deadboy, Tales from the Crypt) was born, with mangaka Yumiko Ōshima (Gū-gū datte Neko de aru, Wata no Kuni Hoshi) arriving one year later and Brazilian Underground Commix exponent Arnaldo Angeli Filho AKA “Angeli” coming on scene in1956 and writer G. Willow Wilson (Air, Invisible Kingdom, Ms. Marvel, Poison Ivy) born in 1982.

Swedish cartoonist turned diplomat Jan Romare (Pyton) died today in 2017, and the day also marks Scott McCloud’s first 24-hour comic in 1990 and DC’s controversial relaunch The New 52 in 2011.

 

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Supergirl’s Zoo-per Heroes: Krypto’s Big Break


By Rob Justus with Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-601-0 (HB) 978-1-79950-602-7 (Digital edition)

Somehow, despite her longevity, comics popularity and screen star status, Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El has always struggled to maintain the career impetus and position she deserves. Even after a multi-season hit TV show and the (second) big screen movie currently offending incels and insecure basement dwellers everywhere, the Girl of Steel has devotees but not a perceptible global presence like her cousin Kal, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Hulk or Spider-Man.

To be scrupulously fair, the same argument applies to Harley Quinn, Black Canary, Batgirl, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch and even The Black Widow. I think I sense a pattern…

However, one arena where girls loudly and proudly dominate is the Young Adult graphic novel marketplace. DC alone has multiple marvellous titles starring Amazon Princesses Diana & Nubia, Catwoman, Batgirl/Oracle, Lois Lane, Harley Quinn, Zatanna, Poison Ivy, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, Raven, Mera, and even new original characters like Primer, Starfire’s daughter Mandy (in I Am Not Starfire!), and TV Supergirl spin-off Dreamer…

A far more attractive and apparently accessible option over decades has been the Kryptonian Good Boi who debuted in a Superboy yarn way back in Adventure Comics #210 (cover-dated March 1955 and on sale from January 25th), where Otto Binder, Curt Swan & Sy Barry introduced ‘The Super-Dog from Krypton!’ Although unruly, boisterous, waywardly mischievous and dangerously playful, Krypto heralded a wave of survivors from the dead world and made the (male) Kid From Krypton feel less lonely and unique. Every boy needs a dog and Krypto hung around for ever, before eventually valiantly dying as part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. He has returned many times in many moods ever since. The current movie franchise incarnation is – much like the debut dog – a rowdy rascal, and can be seen on screen and in this standalone tale targeting that burgeoning YA GN market that was released in February 2026…

Crafted by multi award winning – aren’t they all? – Canadian author/artist Rob Justus (Death and Sparkles, Brave Enough, Superman’s Good Guy Gang) and lettered by Wes Abbott, this first in a proposed series of shaggy doggish tales is also greatly-informed by animated TV shows like Justice League Unlimited and opens with teen hero Supergirl popping aboard the JLA’s satellite “The Watchtower” prior to a fun time with Krypto. Sadly, the Dog of Tomorrow – already in the dog house with the senior superstars for past misdemeanours – is in one of his more playful moods…

The Girl of Steel allowed him aboard on their way to the Cosmic Dog Park and he promised to be good, but it’s sooooo hard as the big wheel in the sky is packed with such intriguing smells and toys…

After another of his joyous unsupervised romps, Kara is on frantic clean up duty. That means doing the adult heroes’ laundry – again – but the problem is extremely bad this time, as first she has to find it all. Not only has Krypto snuffled, ruffled and barfed on costumes (and super sweaty super socks and …underwear!), but he then ejected the clothes out into space where they have been hyper-charged by weird space energies (cosmic rays, solar winds, atmospheric radiation, lightning and Eclipso’s magic!) genetically infusing hero DNA into the individual fabrics…

Desperately seeking to gather the gruesome grubby garments, Supergirl – with Krypto joining in the chase by following his nose – track some costumes to shabby, old-fashioned Metropolis Zoo. Here, weary, downhearted animals are being mistreated by neglectful greedy Zookeeper Cass, until, at the height of a thunderstorm, four power-packed outfits land on them and duplicate in them very specific superpower sets….

At exactly the wrong moment the boosted beasts – the fastest sloth alive, Wonder seal, Super lion and the Bat rhino – bust out, just as Krypto arrives demanding the cosmic clothing back. He is happy to fight everyone to retrieve them, but, after bonding over garbage they all team up instead, which is good as Supergirl is much less understanding – even though she thinks she can speak “animal”…

The situation utterly escalates when one last costume – Zatanna’s hat – empowers Cass with eldritch abilities and she sees her now superpowered tatty cash-cows as the way to get really rich really fast…

Then all that’s left is a full-combat trial by fire and the birth of a new team. After all, there are many more lost costumes still to find…

To Be Continued…

Not merely another child-friendly iteration of Super-Pets, Supergirl’s Zoo-per Heroes are a wild and woolly bunch of wonders you can’t afford to deny yourself and, if you have animals or kids (frequently a tricky distinction, I admit), you can even share the fun with them… but only if they’re good too…
Text and Illustrations © 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved..

Today in 1958 artist Shawn McManus (Omega Men, Doctor Fate, The Sandman, Fables) was born, sharing the natal date with writer/editor Christopher Priest – née Jim Owsley – (The Falcon, Black Panther, The Ray, Conan the Barbarian, Quantum & Woody) in 1961 and True Brits Mike McKone (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Justice League International) in 1969 and Tony Lee (Superboy, Star Trek, Doctor Who) in 1970.

This date in 1940 Dale Messick’s landmark strip Brenda Starr, Reporter began, but also saw the loss of cartoonist Abner Dean (What Am I Doing Here?, Cave Drawings for the Future) in 1982; French creator Jacques Lob (Ténébrax, Submerman, Blanche Épiphanie, Superdupont, Le Transperceneige) in 1990 and Spanish artist Jaime Brocal Remohí (The Saint, Creepy, Eerie, Kami no Ude, El otro Necronomicón ) in 2002.

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Daring New Adventures of Supergirl volume 1


By Paul Kupperberg, Carmine Infantino, Bob Oksner & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6346-1 (TPB), 978-1-4012-7054-4 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As a rule, superhero comics don’t generally do whimsically thrilling anymore. They especially don’t do short or self-contained. Modern narrative momentum concentrates on continuous extended spectacle, major devastation and relentless terror and trauma. It also helps if you’ve come back from the dead once or twice and wear military-grade thongs and thigh boots. Although there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that – other than a certain pandering inappropriateness from striving to adjust wedgies during a life-or-death struggle – sometimes the palate just craves a different flavour…

Once upon a time, angsty in-continuity cataclysm was the rule, not the exception, but ever since DC readmitted all its past epochs into one vastly welcoming expansion multiverse via the Dark Night: Death Metal, Future State, Infinite Frontier and sundry successive mega-events, a spirit of joyous experimentation has resulted in some truly memorable storytelling. The impending, as yet unreleased and yet already controversial Supergirl movie being a case in point. So let’s look at something from back then that got us to here…

This decidedly backward-looking modern fable harks back to the simpler yet far more aggressive, in-your-face era of the 1980s: days of clearly defined plots, solid, imaginative characterisation and suspensefully dramatic adventure, by way of an almost alternative take on redoubtable Kara Zor-El, late of Krypton’s Argo City and another illegal alien immigrant on Earth.

Supergirl first gained her solid slice of fan devotion as a secondary strip in Action Comics: a tag-along (and trademark protection device) to her more illustrious cousin – and his dog. After years of faithful service, both as cover feature of Action Comics, Adventure Comics and Superman Family and via her own solo title (twice!) and even her own movie as a spin-off part of the Christopher Reeve film franchise, in 1985 she was killed off as a sales gimmick to celebrate DC’s 50th anniversary in the groundbreaking Crisis on Infinite Earths. Since then, a number of characters have used the name – but none with the class or durability of the original… so she was brought back too.

Following a few intriguing concept-tweaking test-runs, the first true Girl of Steel debuted as a future star of the ever-expanding Superman pocket universe in Action Comics #252 (cover-dated May 1959 and on sale from March 31st). Superman’s cousin had been born on a city-sized fragment of Krypton, hurled intact into space when the planet exploded. Eventually, Argo’s minerals turned to Kryptonite like the rest of the detonated world’s debris, and Kara’s dying parents Zor-El and Alura, observing Earth through their viewer scopes, sent their daughter to safety even as they apparently perished. Crashlanding, she immediately and fortuitously met the Metropolis Marvel, who created a cover-identity: “Linda Lee”. Hiding her in an orphanage in bucolic Midvale, he intended allowing her time to adjust to and learn about her new world whilst mastering her powers in secrecy and safety.

… And isolation. At no stage did anyone consider moving the recent orphaned newcomer in with her only surviving family. Kara reached her maturity without the closeness Clark Kent’s human parents provided… although she was eventually adopted by human couple Fred and Edna to become Linda Lee Danvers. Supergirl experienced her own secret double life in the rear of Action Comics: gradually moving from Superman’s covert secret weapon to an independent star turn, and from minor player to globally acclaimed celebrity. From the back of the book to the front of the house is always a reason to celebrate, right?

For decades, DC couldn’t make up their minds over Supergirl. I’ve actually lost count of the number of different versions to have cropped up over the years, and never been able to shake a queasy feeling that above all else she’s a concept that was cynically shifted from being a way to get girls to reading comic books to one calculated to ease young male readers over the bumpy patch between sporadic chin-hair outbursts, voice-breaking and that nervous period of hiding things under your mattress where your mum never, never ever looks…

Her popularity waxed and waned until that attention-grabbing death during Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, in the aftermath (once John Byrne had successfully rebooted the Man of Steel and negated her existence along with all other elements of doomed Krypton) non-Kryptonian iterations began appearing: each accumulating a cadre of steadfast fans. Ultimately, early in the 21st century, DC’s Powers-That-Be decided the real Girl of Steel should come back – sort of…

The New 52 company-wide reboot recast her as an angry, obnoxious distrustful teen fresh from Argo, before the 2016 DC: Rebirth event unwrote most of those changes: reinserting much of that original origin material whilst aligning the comic book iteration with the popular TV series broadcast from October 2015 to November 2021. Then, under the aegis of the Infinite Frontier revolution, Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Mat Lopes & Clayton Cowles crafted 8-issue limited series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (cover-dated August 2021-April 2022). Now you’re ready for the film, okay?

Right here though, we love comics most so let’s look at why Kara Zor-El was so resilient and indomitable…

This incarnation began as The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl with #1 through 12 (cover-dates November 1982 to October 1983) forming the contents of the collected volume under scrutiny here. The series was changed to Supergirl vol 2 for #13-23 (November 1983 to September 1984), which has its own compilation that we’ll get to in the fullness of time.

Clearly a last shot at life in a precarious, rapidly changing marketplace, this Supergirl acknowledges and accommodates all the convoluted continuity trappings grown around the feature since her 1959 debut, but combines fashionable soul-searching, “Fresh Startism”, and feminist go-getting with mad scientists, monsters, corporate skulduggery, clandestine conspiracies, darkly modern attitudes and edgy psychological underpinning, as befitted her literal last chance. This was to see if she could be a sustainable star in contemporary DC’s firmament and advance beyond “girl” to woman… even if branding wouldn’t allow a name change…

The tale unfolds throughout courtesy of Superman franchise writer Paul Kupperberg (World of Krypton, Superman, Checkmate, Vigilante, Arion, Doom Patrol, Green Lantern, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry) who steers Kara’s course by blending old standbys with new friends and foes. The look is handled by visual Architect of the Silver Age Carmine Infantino (Flash, Black Canary, Adam Strange, Batman, Elongated Man, Batgirl, Deadman, Human Target, Star Wars, Nova, Spider–Woman) and glamour/humour inker Bob Oksner (Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Angel and the Ape, Ambush Bug, Leave it to Binky). We open with strangers on a train as, after again failing to find a place for her civilian self in many roles and goals, Linda Danvers quits her acting career in New York and moves to Chicago to become a post-grad psychology student at Lake Shore University…

An introductory conceptual recap is only part of TDAoS #1’s ‘A Very strange and Special Girl!’ as the subtle delights of a placid rail journey are briefly interrupted by an industrial meltdown, which is swiftly solved by Supergirl. However, soon Linda faces a true ordeal as she registers at LSU, and impossibly finds an apartment thanks to new vivacious but goofy student friend/human whirlwind Joan Raymond. Danvers’ second first day encounter is not so happy as, after literally bumping into troubled student Gayle Marsh, the two psychically connect.

Gayle is also extraordinary: a mentally disturbed mutant who has fallen under the spell of deranged pedagogue Mr Pendergast. He is convinced Earth is doomed to decline into moral decay and is exploiting Marsh’s psionic abilities to achieve his own far from clear aims…

As Joan moves Linda into the same apartment building she currently graces and introduces her around to an exhausting flurry of fellow dwellers, Pendergast grooms Gayle to the next level, creating a costumed identity for her and unleashing “Psi” on the unknown woman who so unsettled her. Of course the chaotic attack is met not by a shy post-grad but the ever-vigilant Girl of Steel…

The second issue began a back-up feature starring Lois Lane so Supergirl tales were accordingly slightly truncated. Even so, ‘Crisis Over Chicago!’ depicted an explosive clash over the Windy City, with Psi’s initial superiority lost once Pendergast orders her not to kill another superfemale he can exploit. The spat is resolved by allowing Gayle to destroy Chicago instead, but the delay has enabled Kara to marshal her resources and decisively strike back. Driven off, Psi retreats to Pendergast’s home where, whilst Linda Danvers recovers in the bosom of new friends, master and servant have one final argument, and the sinister Svengali suffers the full force of Psi’s unleashed powers…

The introductory opus concludes with the abuser appropriately transformed into a rampaging slime monster rabidly consuming corruption (mostly “winos, dropouts and homeless people”)… Linda meanwhile, meets her excessively weird new tutor/graduate studies supervisor Dr. Metzner, and one of her new housemate takes an unwise side hustle. Acting student John Ostrander (yes, it’s an in-joke!) becomes a delivery boy to make ends meet but his cavalier work ethic gets him – and latterly Supergirl – into a world of trouble. Before that though, the malign manifestation that was Pendergast continues its depredations until clashing again with vengeful Psi and is ultimately defeated by the Girl of Tomorrow on ‘Decay Day’…

In #4, ‘Hail, Hail, The Gang’s All Here!’ expands soap opera elements as Dr Metzner continues to confuse, Joan still won’t stop talking and Ostrander fails to deliver a certain package to the wrongest of people. Thus he is marked for death by a secret cabal seeking to dominate the business world by controlling Earth’s “exchange of information” through supernormal means. As Chicago’s latest superhero is kept busy battling gimmicked-up super-thugs Kong, Brains, Bulldozer and Ms. Mesmer, John makes his fatal negligent misstep, setting upon his clumsy trail the Windy City’s covert rulers The Council.

Through super-hirelings The Gang the clandestine pencil-pushers provoke an extended clash as ‘Fear Times Four’ finds the Girl of Steel neutralised by Ms. Mesmer’s powers – until Linda’s visiting human parents Fred & Edna Danvers find a work-around to crippling post- hypnotic suggestions – and all but Brains are captured. Then, murderous, mechanistically-fertile mechanoid Matrix-Prime unleashes a hordes of killer-bot babies in a vengeance strike that wrecks the airport in ‘Battleground O’Hare’ but cannot stop Supergirl discovering the Council’s secret citadel at the bottom of Lake Michigan…

Her shattering retaliation and subsequent clash with an army of mercenaries/“security consultants” in #7’s ‘This Meeting Will Come to Disorder!’ exposes a hidden mastermind behind all the chaos, but not even the fighting-mad “Maid of Steel” can stop his getaway…

With a moment of peace at last, Linda opts for a relaxing jazz concert in Grant Park but instead stumbles into even more peril after a recent ally is attacked there…

TDAoS #8 opens with outsider hero Negative Woman ambushed by an energy-stealing atomic assassin before Kara reunites with the New Doom Patrol who must act as ‘Stand-Ins For Supergirl!’ The DP (Neg-Woman, Tempest, Celsius & Robotman Cliff Steele) have been hunting a superpowered Vietnam vet/AWOL US war criminal for months; and now that hate-filled radioactive killer has had enough. Regrouping in ‘Re-Enter: Reactron!’ our heroes chase and harry Reactron as he randomly attacks places storing nuclear materials – like Linda’s new alma mater – whilst attempting to link up with prospective new employers The Council.

In the inevitable final clash, The Last Daughter of Krypton goes toe to toe with the maniac and defeats him, but at terrible cost…

In #10, aftereffects of her battle have left Kara suffering from debilitating ‘Radiation Fever!’ Committed comatose to hospital, on awakening she ignores doctor’s orders, discharges herself and retreats to her other identity, waiting for a recovery that does not happen. Elsewhere, exposed Council supremo The Chairman consults his pet evil scientist Professor Drake and hatches a plot to remove Supergirl whilst exploiting her as a resource. Thus when Matrix-Prime goes on another rampage, still-ailing Linda abandons her date with new beau – music tutor Philip Decker – to stop the robot. Instead, she is defeated and ends up in Drake’s lab as a helpless genetic template for a line of Supergirl clones under the Chairman’s control. Sadly, Drake has over-promised and the army of obedient perfect copies are not what he intended. At least they are obedient…

Drake also assumed his process and her ongoing radiation-poisoning had finished off his test subject, but while boasting to his boss, weakened, still-declining Kara breaks free of ‘A Dark and Frozen Purgatory!’ and shakily heads to the Arctic circle Fortress of Solitude. In response, the six successful, foot-long Supergirl clones are despatched to kill the already dying hero, but even without her Kryptonian powers that’s no easy task. Nevertheless, the stubborn fight can only end one way…

The yarn and this first volume closes with #12 and a full dose of pure comic book deus ex machinery as ‘Guess Who’s About to Die!’ finds Supergirl beaten and thrown into cousin Superman’s all-purpose cosmic trash-disposal unit – AKA “the Disintegration Pit”. However, interaction of the roaring radiations there with her own nuclear-ravaged form generate a spontaneous reversal, and a restored Caped Kryptonian counterattacks, cunningly dispatching the mini-me Maids of Steel to become again the One-and-Only Supergirl…

Enraged and out for blood, she heads back to Chicago and a showdown with Drake and the Chairman, but arrives too late…

To Be Continued…

With eye-catching covers from Rich Buckler, Dick Giordano, Keith Giffen, Klaus Janson, Mike DeCarlo, Ed Hannigan, Gil Kane and Paris Cullins, this is an old-school no-nonsense comics saga of goodies vs baddies and well-meaning outsiders striving to fit in. It offers nothing but fun, thrills and a brief escape from worldly woes. And what’s wrong with that?
© 1982, 1983 2016 DC Comics. Ali Rights Reserved.

Today in 1928 we welcomed both Filipino artist and creator Jesse Santos (Brothers of the Spear, The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor, Dagar the Invincible, Tragg and the Sky Gods) and Belgian all-star component of Le Journal de Spirou Yvan Delporte (Steve Severin, Gaston Lagaffe, Idées noires, The Smurfs, Isabelle), followed a year later by Atlas-era artist Vic Carrabotta (The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe, Two Gun Kid, Apache Kid, Kid Colt: Outlaw, Outlaw Kid, Jann of the Jungle, and all their genre anthologies). The date also greeted writer Alan Zelenetz (Alien Legion, The Raven Banner, Kull, Conan) in 1948; mangaka Reiko Okano (Onmyoji) in 1960; writer Peter Milligan (2000 AD, Shade the Changing Man, X-Statix) in 1961; artist Mike Wieringo (Fantastic Four, Sensational Spider-Man, Flash) in1963; Kevin Van Hook (Bloodshot, Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves) in 1965; and artist Carlo Pagulayan (Elektra, Emma Frost, Deathstroke, Planet Hulk, Batman) in 1978.

The same date saw the deaths of cartoon pioneer Frank King (Gasoline Alley, The Rectangle) in1969 and Filipino cartoonist Larry Alcala (Siopawman, Slice of Life, Mang Ambo, Kalabog en Bosyo) in 2002.

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DC Finest: The Flash – The Fastest Man Dead


By Robert Kanigher, Mike Friedrich, Steve Skeates, Dennis O’Neill, Bob Haney, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Gil Kane, Irv Novick, Don Heck, Dick Dillin, Bob Brown, Murphy Anderson, Dick Giordano, Joe Giella, Nick Cardy, Frank McLaughlin, Tex Blaisdell, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Tatjana Wood, John Costanza & various (DC Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-77952-836-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Here’s another compelling DC Finest edition: chronologically curated paperback archives (generally around 600 pages) highlighting past glories. Whilst primarily concentrating on the superhero pantheon, there are genre selections including horror, sci fi, western and war books, but sadly none yet available digitally. However, we live in hope…

The Silver Age of US comics is formally and forever tied to Showcase #4 and the rebirth of The Flash. That epochal issue was released in the late summer of 1956 and from it stems all today’s print, animation, games, collector cards, cosplay and TV/movie wonderment. No matter which way you look at it, the renaissance began with The Flash, but it’s an unjust yet true fact that being first is not enough: it also helps to be best and people have to notice. MLJ’s The Shield beat Captain America to the news-stands by over a year yet the former is all but forgotten today. I mention that here as it pertains to this collection, which sees the advent of original Shield co-creator Irv Novick (Bob Phantom; Hangman; Steel Sterling; Silent Knight; Robin Hood, all DC war books, Captain Storm; Sea Devils; Batman, The Joker; Lois Lane; Tomahawk and more) as the Scarlet Speedster’s regular illustrator; a run (oh. Ha-Ha.) spanning Flash #200-270 and close to a full 10-year stretch with him only absent for #205, 213-214 & 264…

For the early trendsetting sagas and situations you should catch DC Finest: The Flash – The Human Thunderbolt and take as read that here the (second) Flash is Barry Allen, a police forensic scientist simultaneously struck by lightning and bathed in exploding chemicals from his lab. Supercharged by the accident, Barry (a lifelong fan of comic books) took his superhero identity from his favourite childhood reading – and eventually his acknowledged alternately Earth predecessor. Once upon a time there was a “fictional” scientist named Jay Garrick who was exposed to the mutagenic fumes of Hard Water and promptly became the “fastest man alive”…

Wearing a sleek, streamlined, tricked-out bodysuit (courtesy of  Carmine Infantino – a major talent approaching his artistic and creative peak), Barry was point man for the spectacular revival of a genre and an entire industry. He also became a renowned intergalactic champion, wholesome family man and paternalistic elder statesman of the superhero set after marrying his longtime fiancée Iris West…

With Infantino safely elevated to DC’s current publisher, this splendidly tempting full colour paperback of Seventies hits displays the glorious work of the last replacement illustrators before the Flash landed in Novick’s hands, just as changing tastes rejected the previously paramount, rationalistic science fiction worlds touched by the Vizier of Velocity. Now high speed action involved issues of social relevance and themes of supernatural horror and makes for some weird moments as this copious compendium covers The Flash #197-229 (May 1970 – October 1974) plus guest shots in World’s Finest Comics #198-199 (November & December 1970) and The Brave and the Bold #99 (December 1971/January 1972).

Gil Kane & Vince Colletta capture all the fun and thrills of Mike Friedrich’s ‘Four-Star Super-Hero’ in the opening yarn of Flash #197 as a sharp cop spots a private communication tic only shared with his lab partner Barry Allen. Attempts to save a secret identity and convince Charlie Conwell otherwise are further hampered by blizzard conditions in Central City, canny crooks with jetpacks and skis, a flu epidemic and Barry’s dedication to Amateur Dramatics, which see him take time out to play every part in the local presentation of Hamlet. All’s well that ends well and after that show goes on, it’s back to cosmic basics with Robert Kanigher’s ‘To the Nth Degree’ showing the Crimson Comet catapulted across the universe to save fire-beings on an exploding planet, courtesy of another wild invention of his father-in-law Professor Ira West…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta open #198 where ‘No Sad Songs for a Scarlet Speedster!’ has three orphan kids aid a gun-shot and temporarily brain-damaged Flash regain his lost mojo before neophyte superhero Zatanna guests in ‘Call it …Magic’ (by Friedrich, Don Heck & Colletta) and requires swift rescue after being abducted across arcane dimensions by macabre body-snatcher Xarkon…

Kanigher, Kane & Colletta’s ‘Flash? Death Calling!’ in #199 focuses on the ordeals of scientist Dr Hollister who dons the scarlet skin-tights to punish himself after apparently accidentally killing the hero. However that guilt also saves the day and resurrect the speedster – just in time for Flash to meet superspy Colonel K (of US-IN-T Agency) and stop a Chinese energy missile smashing into ‘The Explosive Heart of America!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Colletta)

Novick and inker Murphy Anderson join Kanigher for anniversary celebration ‘Count 200 – and Die!’ as the Monarch of Motion succumbs to mind manipulation and is manoeuvred by sinister siren Dr. Lu into  assassinating the US President. Thankfully our hero (Flash of course, not PotUS!) is faster than his own fired gunshot and is back in all-American action for #201, enduring Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘Million-Dollar Dream!’ and applying tough love to wheelchair bound sports star Pablo Hernandez. The treatment restores the player but that’s only fair as the hero was responsible for initially crippling the kid…

Many issues offered second stories at this time, and the policy of guest shots for other Flash-family favourites was solidly in place. Here Kanigher, Novick & Anderson take us to Earth Two and swift encore for an old villain as Jay Garrick produces – eventually – the ‘Finale for a Fiddler!’

Although costumed hero capers were waning in general appeal, Flash was still hugely popular. Thus when World’s Finest Comics began a run of Superman team-ups with #198, the Red Runner was the clear first choice and allowed editors to return to a thorny topic which had bedevilled fans for years.

The comic book experience is littered with eternal, unanswerable questions. The most common and most passionately asked always begin “who would win if” or “who’s strongest/smartest/fastest…” Here, crafted by Denny O’Neil, Dick Dillin & Joe Giella, ‘Race to Save the Universe!’ and concluding instalment ‘Race to Save Time’ (WFC #198-199) upped the stakes on two previous competitions as our high-speed heroes are conscripted by the Guardians of the Universe to circumnavigate the entire cosmos at their greatest velocities to reverse the rampage of the mysterious Anachronids: faster-than-light creatures whose pell-mell course throughout galaxies is actually unwinding time itself and unravelling the fabric of creation. Little does anybody suspect that Superman’s oldest enemies were behind the entire appalling scheme, but the battle was swiftly won and reality saved in the end…

It was a far more grounded but no less chilling situation in Flash #202 where Kanigher, Novick & Anderson despatch reporter Iris Allen to Hollywood where she is kidnapped by murderous cultist creeps ‘The Satan Circle’ and her frantic husband confronts the unknown and the worst aspects of human nature to save her. Kid Flash then endures his own eldritch overload as ‘The Accusation!’ (by Steve Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) finds college-age comet Wally West tormented by visons of impending death that come appallingly true…

With Kanigher, Novick & Anderson at the helm #203 augured a huge change in the cosy domestic set-up as ‘The Flash’s Wife is a Two-Timer!’ reveals that Iris is actually a foundling sent through time to escape atomic armageddon and only the adopted child of scatterbrained super-genius Ira West. When the process reverses itself and she is dragged back to the future – Central City 2970 AD – The Flash follows and is caught up in a war that has been all but won by oppressive East-bloc tyrant Sirik the Supreme. Of course his intervention is enough to reset the scales before he returns baffled bride Iris Russell (née West)-Allen to her immigrant time period.

Once there though, repercussions of the revelation continue as a recovered 30th century keepsake turns her into an uncontrollable, secret-exposing blabbermouth in #204’s ‘The Great Secret Identity Exposé!’ with the Justice League understandably irate that Flash talks in his sleep and his wife knows all their civilian identities…

Back up tale ‘The Mind-Trap’ (Skeates, Dillin & Anderson) then sees Kid Flash chasing a body-stealing Egyptian pharaoh’s ghost to end the issue on a lighter note…

The Flash #205 was another hugely popular reprint collection of the era, sporting a cover by Dick Giordano (and included here) before it was back to spooky business in #206 for Kanigher, Novick & Anderson’s ‘24 Hours of Immortality!’ as haughty alien superbeings resurrect a recently killed surgeon and young mother to attend to unfinished business, but for the most mean-spirited motives – until Flash intervenes with a lesson all could benefit from.

With the supernatural now fully unleashed at DC, Flash #207 led with Friedrich, Novick & Anderson’s ‘The Evil Sound of Music!’, as former mystic hero Sargon the Sorcerer exploits his own family and rock ‘n’ roll-loving kids to restore his lost powers, before confronting the Scarlet Speedster, his own inner demons and rapacious external devils on the path back to the light. Grounding that journey to hell, Kid Flash then faces ‘The Phantom of the Cafeteria!’ ending the depredations of a superfast, hyper-hungry alien in a quick but satisfying yarn from Skeates, Dillin & Giordano.

In #208, Kanigher, Novick & Anderson exposed ‘A Kind of Miracle in Central City’ as wayward kids exploited by drug pushers are saved by prayer, the timely intervention of nuns and invisible superspeed before Flash #209 debuted new regular writer Cary Bates. He would run with the Vizier of Velocity for the rest of the series, only missing #213-214, 217, 293, 306 and 313 between 1970 through 1985.

Fresh from the starting blocks, Bates, Novick & Giordano took the speedster into higher, weirder realms ‘Beyond the Speed of Life!’ where Flash and reality shielding Sentinel stopped existence from being devoured. Meanwhile, on mundane Earth old Rogues Trickster, Captain Boomerang and Gorilla Grodd squabbled over bragging rights for who had finally killed the hero. At the back, Kid Flash saved a student troubled by gangsters in ‘Coincidence Can Kill!’ courtesy of Skeates, Dillin, Giordano.

A visit to 2971 came with #210 as Bates, Novick & Giordano expanded the Earth East-Earth West “warm” war in ‘An Earth Divided!’ with Flash seeking to save man-made President Abraham Lincoln (II) from belligerent occidental tyrant Bekor. Science fiction surrendered to spooky tales next as Flash teamed up with Batman in Brave and the Bold #99. Here Bob Haney, Bob Brown, & Nick Cardy revealed how an attempt to resurrect Bruce Wayne’s parents opened the door to the Dark Knight’s possession by an unquiet spirit. ‘The Man Who Murdered the Past!’ almost ensured an invasion of angry ghosts until superspeed and smart thinking saved the day…

Comics were always about popular trends, and in Flash #211 Bates, Novick & Giordano contrived alien invaders who used the fad of rolling derby to fuel the destruction of Earth via constantly ‘Flashing Wheels!’ However, Kid Flash was on far more stable ground as he exposed corrupt officials covering up toxic dumping in ‘Is This Poison Legal?’ by Skeates, Dillin & Giordano. Equally bold and topical the next issue saw ‘The Flash in Cartoon Land!’ with Novick & Giordano depicting how manic 64th century magician Abra Kadabra trapped the hero and a little lad Barry Allen was babysitting in a graphic madhouse where scientific rules did not apply.

The next two issues – #213 & 214 – were reprint specials represented here with the original covers by Neal Adams & Cardy before #215 saw Bates, Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano detail the ‘Death of an Immortal!’ The eons are catching up with undying villain Vandal Savage who attempts to trick Barry Allen and Jay Garrick into remedying the crisis for him. However their mission is intercepted by chronal cop Tempus and the end is not what Savage anticipated…

For Bates at least, Flash was all about his signature Rogues Gallery and in #216 the writer revealed the shocking truth about multiple personality villain Al Desmond/Dr. Alchemy/Mr. Element. Seemingly cured and reformed, Desmond was afflicted by ‘The Curse of the Dragon’s Eye!’ (Novick, Frank McLoughlin & Giordano), astrally connected to an unstable star in the constellation Draco and vacillating between manic and passive, and Good and Evil as it built to cataclysmic detonation. Now that time had come and Flash had to save his friend and hopefully prevent him destroying Earth when his patron star died. Its counterbalanced by Skeates & Dillin’s Kid Flash fable ‘2D?’ as Kid Flash goes after extradimensional slavers abducting workers who stare at certain paintings for too long…

Hard times for superheroes saw Green Lantern take up residence in the anterior pages of The Flash from #217 and shorter tales began with a fill-in from Len Wein for Novick & McLoughlin. ‘The Flash Times Five is Fatal!’ saw the hero attacked by a rogue AI built by Ira West. It preferred sabotage, reality warping and murder to rescinding its categoric statement that no one as fast as the Scarlet Speedster could possibly exist…

Bates and the Pied Piper returned in #218 as a cunning sonic ambush was foiled by speed vibrations generating ‘The Flash of 1,000 Faces!’ whilst in #219 (with Joe Giella inking) ‘The Million Dollar Deathtrap’ saw the hero targeted by wagering rivals Mirror Master and The Top and only triumphing after applying the proven principle of “divide and conquer”…

Flash literally and grotesquely joined protégé Kid Flash in #220 as The Turtle (Barry’s very first super-foe) returned to alter Earth’s internal vibrations and cure ‘The Slowest Man on Earth’ of his unique condition no matter the cost to everyone else. Thankfully two heads proved better than one in this instance and the shaking shakedown was averted.

Co-scripter John Warner joined Bates, Novick & McLoughlin for #221’s ‘Time-Schedule For Disaster!’ as techno-bandit Cipher attempts – and ultimately fails – to harvest Flash’s speed vibrations to power his weapons before #222’s ‘The Heart That Attacked the World!’ (Novick, McLoughlin & Giordano) offers a full-length team up with Green Lantern as Weather Wizard and Sinestro join forces to end their enemies. Sadly, born betrayer Sinestro secretly linked the Speedster’s racing heartbeat to the continued existence of Earth…

In #223, Bates, Novick & Giordano ‘Make Way for the Speed-Demons!’ as another old enemy rigs races between Flash and three mechanical racers of land sea and air, with the expressed intention of humiliating the speedster whilst hiding his true intentions, before #224 introduces ‘The Fastest Man Dead!’ after Barry’s friend and mentor Charlie Conwell is murdered. That doesn’t stop the veteran helping Flash close the last case on his docket and save his pal Barry one last time…

Another Scarlet-Emerald team-up sees Flash again battle Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash before discovering  ‘Green Lantern, Master Criminal of the 25th Century!’ (#225, Bates, Novick & Giordano) is the villain’s unwilling slave. Of course, it all plays out successfully in time, after which Captain Cold and Heatwave embroil Barry Allen in their psycho-drama rivalry, thereby inadvertently subjecting Flash to ‘The Hot-Cold War in Central City!’ (inked by Giordano & McLoughlin). Immediately afterwards (with McLoughlin inking) #227 reveals ‘Flash – This is Your Death!’ as Captain Boomerang ( and his dad!) rerun past fast & furious clashes whilst seeking to end the hero’s career and existence forever, before Tex Blaisdell inks #228’s ‘The Day I saved the Life of the Flash!’ Here Bates injects himself into the story as a comic book writer from Earth-Prime accidentally slips across dimensional divides; arriving on Earth-One in time to aid the “fictional” speedster he scripts in a deadly duel with the Trickster…

This compendium closes with the pertinent original material from 100-Page Spectacular Flash #229 which led with a Golden Age Flash team up as ‘The Rag Doll Runs Wild!’ Here Bates, Novick, Giordano & McLoughlin detail how a seeming resurgent rampage by a 1940s thieving contortionist is merely a mask for a far more sinister scheme perpetrated by a hidden vengeful mastermind. Closing proceedings are two teaser treats from that giant compendium: specifically a ‘Flash Puzzle’ by Bob Rozakis, Infantino & Anderson and an unattributed ‘Flash Trivia Quiz and Answers’…

With covers by Kane, Infantino, Anderson, Neal Adams, Colletta Giordano, Jack Adler, Cardy and Tatjana Wood, this splendid selection is a must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures and fast-paced fantasy fables. Ready. Steady, Go get it!
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 2026 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1906 was the birth date of cartoonist Dale Messick (Brenda Starr, Reporter) followed ten years later by comic book/ad exec Irv Novick, and author Peter O’Donnell (Modesty Blaise, James Bond, Romeo Jones) in 1920. In 1954 Jamie Delano (Captain Britain, Doctor Who, Hellblazer, Animal Man) joined the party as did Matt Kindt (Poppy and the Lost Lagoon, Dept. H, MIND MGMT, BRZRKR) in 1973.

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DC Finest: The Doom Patrol – The Death of the Doom Patrol


By Arnold Drake, Bob Haney, Paul Kupperberg, Gerry Conway & Scott Edelman, Bruno Premiani, Bob Brown, Joe Staton, Arvell Jones, Frank Chiaramonte, Bruce Patterson, Romeo Tanghal, Carmine Infantino, Jack Sparling, Joe Orlando, Jim Aparo, Rich Buckler, Vince Colletta, Ross Andru, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-669-0 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In 1963 traditionally cautious comic book publishers at last realised superheroes were back in a big way and began reviving and/or creating a host of costumed characters to battle with and against outrageous menaces and dastardly villains. Thus, the powers-that-be at National Comics decided venerable adventure-mystery anthology title My Greatest Adventure would dip its toe in the waters with a radical take on the fad. Still, infamous for cautious publishing, they introduced a startling squad of champions with thematic roots firmly planted in those B-movie monster films of the era that had informed the parent comic.

No traditional team of masked adventurers, this cast comprised a robot, a mummy and an occasional 50-foot woman, joining forces with and guided by a vivid, brusque, domineering, crippled mad scientist. They would fight injustice in a whole new way…

Covering May 1966 to May 1965, this stunning compilation collects the remainder of the earliest exploits of the “Fabulous Freaks”, gathered from Doom Patrol #104-121. For good measure this comprehensive collection also contains the editorial material from reprint revival Doom Patrol #122-124 (February to July 1973); the enticing reboot that eventually returned the team to action from Showcase #94-96 (August 1977-January 1978), and the first official outing in a team-up trilogy from Superman Family #191-193 (October 1978 – January/February 1979).

The dramas were particularly enhanced by the drawing skills of Italian cartoonist and classicist artist Bruno Premiani, whose highly detailed, subtly humanistic illustration made even the strangest situation dauntingly authentic and grittily believable. He was also the ideal hand to squeeze every nuance of comedy and pathos from the captivatingly involved, grimly light-hearted scripts by Arnold Drake who always proffered a tantalising believably world for the outcast heroes to strive in. Premier tale ‘The Doom Patrol’ was co-scripted by Drake & Bob Haney, detailing how a mysterious wheelchair-bound scientist summoned three outcasts to his home through the promise of changing their miserable lives forever.

Competitive car racer Cliff Steele had legally died in a horrific pile up, but his undamaged brain was transplanted into a fantastic mechanical body. Test pilot Larry Trainor should have died. He had been trapped in an experimental stratospheric plane and become permanently radioactive, with the dubious benefit of gaining a semi-sentient energy avatar which could escape his body to perform incredible stunts for up to a minute at a time. To pass safely amongst men Trainor had to constantly wrap himself in special radiation-proof bandages.

Former movie star Rita Farr was exposed to mysterious swamp gases which gave her the terrifying, unpredictable – initially uncontrolled – ability to shrink or grow to incredible sizes.

The outcasts were brought together by brilliant, enigmatic Renaissance Man The Chief, who sought to mould solitary misfits into a force for good. He quickly proved his point when a bomber attempted to blow up the docks. The surly savant directed the trio in defusing it and no sooner had the misfits realised their true worth than they were on their first mission…

Now, years later with the team world-renowned, Doom Patrol #103 opens with the first of two tales: a tragedy ensuing after Professor Randolph Ormsby seeks the team’s aid for a space shot. When the doddery savant mutates into flaming monster ‘The Meteor Man’ it takes the entire patrol plus Beast Boy and Mento to save the day.

For those who haven’t seen the first volume yet: super-rich genius Steve Dayton (think ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like that Tesla guy) created a psycho-kinetic helmet and superhero persona Mento solely to woo and wed Rita, whilst outrageous, obnoxious Gar Logan was a tourist toddler in Africa, who contracted a rare disease. Although his scientist parents’ experimental cure beat the contagion before they died, it left him the colour of cabbage and able to change shape at will. A protracted storyline had commenced in #100 wherein the secretive, chameleonic kid revealed how he was now an abused orphan being swindled out of his inheritance by unscrupulous guardian Nicholas Galtry. The greedy, conniving accountant had even leased his emerald-hued charge to rogue scientists…

Rita especially had empathised with Gar’s plight and resolved to free him from Galtry whatever the cost…

DP #103 also continued unpacking the Mechanical Man’s early days following Caulder’s implantation of Cliff’s brain into an artificial body. In ‘No Home for a Robot’, the shock had seemingly driven the patient crazy as Steele went on a city-wide rampage, hunted and hounded by the police, but here, the ferrous fugitive finds brief respite with his brother Randy, before realising that trouble would trail him anywhere…

In an era devoid of promotional material or media platforms, Doom Patrol #104 astounded everyone as Rita abruptly stopped refusing loathsome billionaire/self-promoting supergenius smart guy Steve Dayton (think Musk with shinier hats) to become ‘The Bride of the Doom Patrol!’ However, her star-stuffed wedding day is almost ruined when alien arch-foe Garguax and The Brotherhood of Evil crash the party to murder the groom. So unhappy are Cliff and Larry with Rita’s “betrayal” that they almost let them…

Even whilst indulging her new bride status in #105, Rita can’t abandon the team and joins them in tackling old elemental enemy Mr. 103 during a ‘Honeymoon of Terror!’ before back-up yarn ‘The Robot-Maker Must Die’ concludes Cliff Steele’s origin as the renegade attempts to kill the mystery surgeon who had imprisoned him in a metal hell… finally giving Caulder a chance to fix a long-term malfunction in Steele’s systems…

‘Blood Brothers!’ in #106 introduces domestic disharmony as Rita steadfastly refuses to be a good trophy wife: resuming the hunt for Mr. 103 with the rest of the DP. Her separate lives continue to intersect, however, when Galtry hires that elemental assassin to wipe Gar and his freakish allies off the books…

The back-up section shifts focus onto ‘The Private World of Negative Man’, recapitulating Larry Trainor’s doomed flight and the radioactive close encounter that turned him into a walking mummy. However, even after being allowed to walk amongst men again, the gregarious pilot finds himself utterly isolated and alone…

Doom Patrol #107 opens epic story-arc ‘The War over Beast Boy’ as Rita & Steve (think Elon but funny and human) start begin proceedings to get Gar and his money away from Galtry, and the embezzler responds by opening a criminal campaign to beggar Dayton, inadvertently aligning himself with the Patrol’s greatest foes. Already distracted by the depredations of marauding mechanoid Ultimax, the hard-pressed heroes swiftly fall to the awesome automaton and Rita is exiled to a barbaric sub-atomic universe…

The secret history of Negative Man continues and concludes on a cliffhanger with ‘The Race Against Dr. Death’. When fellow self-imposed outcast Dr. Drew tries to draw the pilot into a scheme to destroy the human species which had cruelly excluded them both, the ebony energy being demonstrates its incredible power to save the world from fiery doom. In #108, ‘Kid Disaster!’ sees Mento diminished and despatched to rescue Rita whilst Galtry’s allies reveal their true nature before ambushing and killing the entire team…

…Almost.

Despite only Caulder and Beast Boy remaining, our exceedingly odd couple nevertheless pull off a major medical miracle: reviving the heroes in time to endure the incredible attack of alien colossus ‘Mandred the Executioner!’ before Larry’s ‘Flight into Fear’ at the comic’s rear proves Drew hasn’t finished with the itinerant Negative Man yet…

DP #110 wonderfully and wittily wraps up the Beast Boy saga as Galtry, Mandred and the Brotherhood marshal one last futile attack before a ‘Trial by Terror!’ finally finds Logan legally adopted by newlyweds Mrs. & Mr. Dayton. Sadly, it’s just a prelude to expansive extraterrestrial invasion in #111, heralding the arrival of ‘Zarox-13, Emperor of the Cosmos!’

The awesome overlord and his vanguard Garguax make short work of the Fabulous Freaks and – with all Earth imperilled – an unbelievable alliance forms, but not before ‘Neg Man’s Last Road!’ ends Trainor’s tale as the alienated aviator again battles Dr. Death, before joining a band of fellow outcasts in a bold new team venture…

Unbelievably, in #112, the uneasy alliance of DP with The Brain, Monsieur Mallah & Madame Rouge as ‘Brothers in Blood!’ results in no betrayals and the last-minute defeat of the invincible aliens. Moreover, although no rivalries were reconciled, a hint of romance does develop between two of the sworn foes, whilst at the back, untold tales of Beast Boy begin as ‘Waif of the Wilderness’ introduces millionaire doctors Mark & Marie Logan, whose passion for charity took them to deepest Africa and into the sights of “witchman” Mobu who saw his powerbase crumbling as SCIENCE! fixed his subjects’ problems…

When toddler Gar contracts dread disease Sakutia, the Logan’s radical treatment saves their child and grants him metamorphic abilities, but as they subsequently lose their lives in a river accident, the baby boy cannot understand their plight and blithely watches them die. Orphaned and lonely, he inadvertently saves the life of a local chief with his animal antics and is adopted… making of Mobu an implacable, impatient enemy…

DP #113 pits the team against a malevolent one-man mechanoid army in ‘Who Dares to Challenge the Arsenal?’ but the true drama manifests in a subplot showing Caulder seeking to seduce schizophrenic Madame Rouge away from the allure of wickedness and malign influence of the Brotherhood of Evil. The issue includes another Beast Boy short as ‘The Diamonds of Destiny!’ finds thieves kidnapping the amazing boy, just as concerned executor Nicholas Galtry takes ship for Africa to find the heir to his deceased employer’s millions…

Issue #114 opens with the Doom Patrol aiding Soviet asylum seeker Anton Koravyk and subsequently embroiled in a time-twisting fight against incredible caveman ‘Kor – the Conqueror!’ before Beast Boy briefing ‘The Kid Who Was King of Crooks!’ finds the toddler turned into a thief in Johannesburg… until his Fagin-ish abductors have a fatal falling out…

The next issue debuts ‘The Mutant Master!’: pitting the heroes against a trio of hideous, incomprehensibly powerful atomic atrocities resolved to eradicate the world which had so cruelly treated them. Things might have fared better had not the Chief neglected his comrades in his obsessive – and at last successful – pursuit of Madame Rouge…

Also included is ‘General Beast Boy – of the Ape Brigade!’, wherein a Nazi war criminal is accidentally foiled by lost wanderer Gar. The madman’s loss is Galtry’s gain, however, as the crooked money-man’s search ends with him “rescuing” Logan and taking him back to safe, secure America…

The mutant maelstrom concludes in #116 as ‘Two to Get Ready… and Three to Die!’ sees Caulder saving Earth from obliteration and reaping his unexpected reward in a passionate fling with “cured-but-still-fragile” Rouge. The wheelchair wonder seizes centre stage in #117 as his neglect drives his team away, leaving Caulder vulnerable to attack from a mystery man with a big grudge in ‘The Black Vulture!’ Happily, a reunited squad deals with grotesque madman ‘Videx, Monarch of Light!’ even as The Brain challenges Caulder to return his stolen chattel Rouge. Nobody thought to ask her what she wanted, though, and that’s a fatal oversight for all concerned…

Tastes were changing in the turbulent late 1960s and the series was in trouble. Superheroes were about to plunge into mass decline, and the creators addressed the problem head-on in #119: embracing psychedelic counter culture in a clever tale of supernal power, brainwashing and behaviour modification leaving the DP cowering ‘In the Shadow of the Great Guru!’…

An issue later they faced a furious Luddite’s ‘Rage of the Wrecker!’ when a crazed scientist declares war on technology… including the assorted bodies keeping Cliff alive and active. The then-unthinkable occurred next and the series spectacularly, abruptly ended with what we all believed at the time to be ‘The Death of the Doom Patrol!’…

Faced with cancellation, Editor Murray Boltinoff and creators Drake & Premiani wrapped up all the long-running plot threads as spurned Madame Rouge went well off the deep end and declared war on both The Brain’s boys and Caulder’s “children”…

Pitilessly blowing up the Brotherhood, she then attacks the city until the Doom Patrol remove themselves to an isolated island fortress. Even there they are not safe and her forces ambush them. Captured and facing death, Rouge offers mercy if they abandon their principles and allow her to destroy a village of 14 complete strangers in their stead…

At a time when comics came and went with no fanfare and cancelled titles seldom provided any closure, the sacrifice and death of the Doom Patrol was a shocking event for us readers. We wouldn’t see anything like it again for decades – and never again with such style and impact. With the edge of time and experience on my side, it’s obvious just how incredibly mature Drake & Premiani’s take on superheroes was, and these superbly engaging, frenetically fun and breathtakingly beautiful stories rightfully rank amongst the very best Fights ‘n’ Tights tales ever told. Even the mercilessly exploitative many returns of the team since can’t diminish that incredible impact, and no fan of the genre or comic dramas in general should consider their superhero education complete until they’ve seen these classics.

However comics means business and eventually attention drifted back to the “World’s Strangest Heroes”. In 1973 as part of a strand of reprint titles, The Doom Patrol title resurfaced for three issues. From them a trio of editorial features – ‘Meet… The Doom Patrol’, ‘The Men Behind… the Doom Patrol’ and ‘The Doom Patrol’s Professional Fans’ – act as round-up and prelude for the final section of this fabulous compendium.

Itself an early cancellation in the superhero downturn, venerable try-out title Showcase was revived with #94 (cover-dated August/September 1977) and offered a new Doom Patrol courtesy of Paul Kupperberg & Joe Staton. It began with ‘The Doom Patrol Lives Forever!’ as Cliffe Steele’s shell is rescued and retooled by Metal Men inventor Will Magnus. Eventually independent again the traumatized survivor visits the only home he knows and discovers a new gang living/hiding in their old HQ.

Energy-caster Joshua “Tempest” Clay is a Vietnam deserter and Valentina “Negative Woman” Vostok absconded from the Soviet air force after she was possessed by a radioactive energy being very much like the one Larry Trainor was afflicted with. They are led by an Indian woman named Arani, whose temperature-shifting powers prompted her code name Celsius. Cliff is outraged and suspicious, but all becomes a bit clearer when arch enemy General Immortus attacks…

Inked by Francisco Chiaramonte, ‘The Origin of Celsius!’ reveals how the icy flamethrower is in fact Niles Caulder’s secret wife, and possesses those secrets of unending life the geriatric general craves above all else. The battle to stop him and save her creates a bond between the team that carries them straight into even deadlier dangers as Vostok is targeted by US federal agent Matt Cable (last seen palling around with the Swamp Thing) and far-less-tractable KGB operative The Cossack, seeking her recovery for the state. With Bruce Patterson inking, ‘Defection!’ sees the quartet begin a life as fugitive heroes in the grand tradition…

Mere months later Superman Family #191 through 193 saw them join Supergirl, confronting ‘A Matter of Gravity’ (by Gerry Conway with Sott Edelman, Arvell Jones & Romeo Tanghal) as rival villains – and distant cousins with a historic grudge – Gravitron Man and Gravity Lord tear up the world in search of validation and vengeance: cruelly proving ‘What Goes Up… Can’t Come Down’ before ‘The Gravity War’ is forcefully and forcible ended by the united champions…

Although as kids we all happily suspended disbelief and bought into the fanciful antics of the myriad masked heroes available, somehow the exploits of Doom Patrol – and their strangely synchronistic Marvel counterparts The X-Men (freaks and outcasts, wheelchair geniuses, both debuting in the summer of 1963) – always seemed just a bit more authentic than the usual cape-&-costume crowd. With the edge of time and experience on my side it’s obvious just how incredibly mature and hardcore Drake, Haney & Premiani’s take on superheroes actually was. These superbly engaging, frantically fun and breathtakingly beautiful tales should be rightfully ranked amongst the finest Fights ‘n’ Tights tales ever told.

With covers by Bob Brown, Premiani, Carmine Infantino, Jack Sparling, Joe Orlando, Jim Aparo, Rich Buckler Vince Colletta, Ross Andru & Dick Giordano this is a grande superhero sampler any fan of comics or the TV series will adore. Hopefully we’ll see it in digital format soon…
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1929 the astoundingly smart Jules Feiffer was born. Go see Explainers to see why that’s a cause for celebration before wishing super spidery avenging defending art star Sal Buscema Many Happy Returns since his natal arrival in 1936. If there are gods of any sort anywhere PLEASE DON’T JINX THAT!

In 1948 Frank Godwin’s Rusty Riley strip launched, as did UK weekly Boy’s World in 1963.

If you’re a travelling fan say hooray that Richard Alf was born today in 1952. Even if you haven’t visited his comics stores, you’ve probably enjoyed the San Diego Comic Con he co-founded…

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DC Finest: Super Friends – The Fury of the Super Foes


By E. Nelson Bridwell, Denny O’Neil, Ramona Fradon, Kurt Schaffenberger, Ric Estrada, Alex Toth, Joe Orlando, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta with Dick Giordano, Curt Swan & Geoge Klein & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-79950-316-3 (TPB)

This book contains Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Evergreen Superhero Sagas For All… 9/10

Once upon a time comics were primarily created with kids in mind. Whilst I’d never advocate exclusively going back to those days, the modern industry has for the longest time sinned by not fully addressing the needs and tastes of younger fans these days. By that I mean less tie-ns and more accessible standard stoires like Marvel Adventures material or this stuff here.

Happily, DC has latterly been rectifying the situation with new and – most importantly for old geeks like me – remastered, repackaged age-appropriate gems from their vast back catalogue.

A superb case in point of all-ages comics done right is this tome celebrating the joys of childhood when comics and TV shows were interchangeable in kids’ head. It was all one great big dangerous fun world to save or conquer…

DC Finest: Super Friends:- The Fury of the Super Foes gathers comic book tales spun off from a hugely popular Saturday Morning TV Cartoon show: one that, thanks to the canny craftsmanship and loving invention of lead scripter E. Nelson Bridwell, became an integral and unmissable component of the greater pre Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe.

It was also one of the most universally thrilling and satisfying superhero titles of the period: featuring the smart, witty, straightforward adventures people my age grew up with, produced during a period when the entire industry was increasingly losing itself in colossal continued storylines and bombastic, convoluted, soap opera melodrama.It’s something all creators should have tattooed on their foreheads: sometimes all you really want is a smart plot well illustrated, sinister villains well-smacked, a solid resolution and early bed…

TV show Super Friends ran (under various iterations) from 1973 to 1986; starring primarily Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and a brace of studio-originated kids as student crimebusters. The cast was supplemented by guest stars from the DCU on a case by case basis. The animated series made the transition to print as part of the publisher’s 1976 foray into “boutiqued” comics which saw titles with a television connection cross-marketed as DC TV Comics.

Child-friendly Golden Age comic book revival Shazam!- the Original Captain Marvel had been adapted into a successful live action series and its Saturday Morning silver screen stablemate The Secrets of Isis consequently reversed the process to become a comic book. With the additions of hit comedy show Welcome Back Kotter and animated blockbuster Super Friends four-colour format, DC had a neat outreach imprimatur tailor-made to draw viewers into the magic word of funnybooks.

At least that was the plan: with the exception of Super Friends none of the titles lasted more than ten issues beyond their launch…

This massive mega-extravaganza collects Super Friends #1-26 (spanning November 1976 to November 1979), includes promo comic Aquateers Meet the Super Friends and reprints material from Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-41 and C-46.

The fun begins a crafty 2-part caper by the wondrous E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrators Ric Estrada, Vince Colletta & Joe Orlando. ‘The Fury of the Super Foes’ finds heroes-in-training Wendy & Marvin – and their incredibly astute mutt Wonderdog – studying at the palatial Hall of Justice, even as elsewhere, a confederation of villains prove imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… if not outright intellectual theft. Having auditioned a host of young criminals, The Penguin, Cheetah, Flying Fish, Poison Ivy and Toyman are creating a squad of sidekicks and protégés to follow in their felonious footsteps. Now Chick, Kitten, Sardine, Honeysuckle and Toyboy are all ready and willing to carry out their first caper…

When the giant “Troubalert” screen informs our heroes of a 3-pronged attack on S.T.A.R. Labs’ latest inventions, the team split up to tackle the crises, but are thoroughly trounced until Wendy & Marvin break curfew to help them. As a result of the clash, Chick and Kitten are brought back to the Hall of Justice, but their talk of repentance is a rascally ruse and they secretly sabotage vital equipment. Thankfully, Wonderdog has seen everything and quickly finds a way to inform the still-oblivious good guys in issue #2, but too late to prevent the Super Friends being briefly ‘Trapped by the Super Foes’…

Aided and abetted by inker Bob Smith, the incomparable Ramona Fradon (Aquaman; Metamorpho the Element Man; Brenda Starr, Reporter) became penciller with #3, as ‘The Cosmic Hit Man?’ sees 50 intergalactic super-villains murdered by infernal Dr. Ihdrom, who then blends their harvested essences to create an apparently unbeatable hyper-horror to utterly overwhelm Earth’s heroic defenders. However, he falls victim to his own arrogance and Wendy & Marvin’s logical deductions…

‘Riddles and Rockets!’ sees the Super Friends overmatched by new ne’er-do-well Skyrocket whilst simultaneously seeking to cope with a rash of crimes contrived by King of Conundra The Riddler. Soon a pattern emerges and a criminal connection is confirmed…

Author Bridwell (Secret Six; Inferior Five; Batman; Superman; The Flash; Legion of Super-Heroes; Captain Marvel/Shazam!) was justly famed as DC’s Keeper of Lore and top Continuity Cop thanks to his astoundingly encyclopaedic knowledge of its publishing minutiae and ability to instantly recall every damn thing! ‘Telethon Treachery!’ gave him plenty of scope to display it with a horde of near-forgotten guest-stars joining the heroes as they host a televised charity event. Sadly, money-mad menace Greenback lurks in the wings, awaiting his moment to grab the loot and kidnap the wealthiest donors. Then The Atom (Ray Palmer) plays a crucial role in stopping the depredations of an animal trainer using beasts as bandits in ‘The Menace of the Menagerie Man!’ before a huge cast change is unveiled in #7 (October 1977) with ‘The Warning of the Wondertwins’…

You all know TV is very different from comics. When the next season of Super Friends aired, Wendy, Marvin & Wonderdog were abruptly gone, replaced without explanation by alien kids Zan & Jayna and their elastic-tailed space monkey Gleek. With room to extrapolate and in consideration of fans, Bridwell explained the sudden change via a battle to save Earth from annihilation whilst introducing the newest student heroes in memorable style. At the Hall of Justice Wendy & Marvin spot a spaceship hurtling to Earth on the Troubalert monitor and dash off to intercept it. Aboard are two siblings from distant planet Exor: a girl able to transform into animals and a boy who can become any form of water, from steam to ice. They have come carrying an urgent warning…

Superman’s alien enemy Grax has resolved to eradicate humanity and devised a dozen different superbombs and attendant weird-science traps to ensure his victory. These are scattered all over Earth and even the entire Justice League cannot stretch its resources to cover every angle and threat. To Wendy & Marvin the answer is obvious: call upon the help and knowledge of hyper-powered local heroes…

Soon Superman and Israel’s champion The Seraph are dismantling a black hole bomb whilst Elongated Man and titan-tressed Godiva perform similar service on a life-eradicator in England. Flash (Barry Allen) and mighty-leaping Impala dismantle uncatchable ordnance in South Africa before Hawkman & Hawkwoman join Native American avenger Owlwoman to crush darkness-breeding monsters in Oklahoma, whilst from the Hall of Justice Wendy, Marvin and the Wonder Twins monitor the crisis with a modicum of mounting hope…

The cataclysmic epic continues in #8 with ‘The Mind Killers!’ as Atom and Rising Son tackle a device designed to decimate Japan, and in Ireland Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Jack O’Lantern battle multi-hued monstrosities before switching off their technological terror.

In New Zealand, time-scanning Tuatara tips off Red Tornado to the position of a bomb cached in the distant past whilst Venezuela’s doom is diverted through a team-up of Batman, Robin and reptile-themed champion Bushmaster. And in Taiwan a melding of sonic superpowers possessed by Black Canary and the astounding Thunderlord harmoniously saves the day…

The saga soars to a classic climax with ‘Three Ways to Kill a World!’ in which the final phases of Grax’s scheme fail thanks to Green Arrow & Tasmanian Devil in Australia, with Aquaman & Little Mermaid sorting out the embattled seas off Denmark and Wonder Woman & The Olympian preserving modern Greece.

Or at least, they would have if the Hellenic heroes had found the right foe. Sadly, their triumph against Wrong-Place, Right-Time terrorist Colonel Conquest almost upsets everything. Thankfully, the quick thinking hero-students send an army of defenders to Antarctica where Norwegian novice Icemaiden dismantles the ultimate booby-trap bomb.  However, whilst the adult champions are engaged, Grax invades the Hall of Justice seeking revenge on the pesky whistleblowing Exorian kids. He’s completely unprepared for and overwhelmed by Wendy, Marvin & Wonderdog, who categorically prove they’re ready to graduate to the big leagues…

Thus with Zan & Jayna enrolled as latest heroes-in-training, Super Friends #10 details their adoption by Batman’s old associate – and eccentric time travel theoretician – Professor Carter Nichols, just before a legion of alien horrors arrive on Earth to teach the kids that appearances can be lethally deceiving in ‘The Monster Menace!’ In #11, ‘Kingslayer’ pits the heroes against criminal mastermind Overlord who has contracted the world’s greatest hitman to murder more than one hundred leaders at one sitting…

Another deep dive into DC’s past resurrected Golden Age titans T.N.T and Dan, the Dyna-Mite in ‘The Atomic Twosome!’ These 1940s mystery men had been under government wraps ever since their radioactive powers began to melt down, but when an underground catastrophe ruptures their individual lead-lined vaults, the Super Friends are called in to prevent potential nuclear nightmare. Then the subterranean reason for the near tragedy is tracked to a monstrous mole creature, and leads to the introduction of eternal mystic Doctor Mist, who reveals the secret history of civilisation and begs help to halt ‘The Mindless Immortal!’ before its random burrowing shatters mankind’s cities. From here, Bridwell would build a fascinating new team concept that would support decades of future continuity…

Super Friends #14 opens with ‘Elementary!’; introducing four ordinary mortals forever changed when possessed by ancient sprits. Tasked by Overlord with plundering the world, Undine, Salamander, Sylph & Gnome are defeated by our heroes yet retain their powers and so become crimefighting team The Elementals. Also on view is a short back-up illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger & Bob Smith. ‘The Origin of the Wondertwins’ at last reveals they are Exorian genetic throwbacks (despised outcasts on their homeworld) who fled from a circus of freaks and uncovered Grax’s plot before taking that fateful voyage to Earth.

Big surprises come in ‘The Overlord Goes Under!’ (Fradon & Smith) as the Elementals begin battling evil by joining the Super Friends in crushing the crook. All those superheroes are blithely unaware that they are merely clearing the way for a far more cunning and subtle mastermind to take Overlord’s place…

‘The People Who Stole the Sky!’ in SF #16 is a grand, old-fashioned alien invasion yarn, foiled by the team and the increasingly adept Wonder Twins whilst ‘Trapped in Two Times!’ has Zan & Jayna used by the insidious Time Trapper to lure their adult mentors into deadly peril on Krypton in the days before it detonated, and future water world Neryla in the hours before it’s swallowed by its critically expanding red sun. After rescuing the kids – thanks largely to Superman’s legendary lost love Lyla Ler-Rol – the Super Friends employ Tuatara’s temporal insight and Professor Nichol’s obscure chronal methodologies to hunt the Trapper in a riotous yet educational ‘Manhunt in Time!’ (art by Schaffenberger & Smith), by way of Atlantis before it sank, medieval Spain and Michigan in 1860CE: all to thwart a triple-strength scheme to derail history and end Earth civilisation…

SF #19 sees an encore for Menagerie Man in ‘The Mystery of the Missing Monkey!’ (Fradon & Smith) as the animal exploiter appropriates Gleek: intent on turning his elastic-tailed talents into a perfect pickpocketing tool, before Denny O’Neil (as Sergius O’Shaugnessy) teams with Schaffenberger & Smith for a more jocular turn. Here, chaos and comedy ensue when the team tackles vegetable monsters unleashed after self-obsessed shlock-movie director Frownin’ Fritz Frazzle uses Merlin’s actually magical Magic Lantern to make a “masterpiece” on the cheap in ‘Revenge of the Leafy Monsters!’…

Bridwell & Fradon bounce back in #21 where ‘Battle Against the Super Fiends!’ has the heroes travelling to Exor to combat super-criminals who can duplicate their power-sets, after which ‘It’s Never Too Late!’ (#22, O’Shaugnessy, Fradon & Smith) reveals how time bandit Chronos subjects the Super Friends to a chronal-delay treatment rendering them perennially too late to stop him… but only until Batman and the Wonder Twins out-think him.

The Mirror Master divides and banishes teachers from students in #23 but is ultimately unable to prevent an ‘SOS from Nowhere!’ (Bridwell, Fradon & Smith) to the Flash. This episode also spends time fleshing out the Wonder Twins’ earthly alter egos as Gotham Central highschoolers John & Joanna Fleming…

With O’Shaugnessy scripting, ‘Past, Present and Danger!’ sees Zan & Jayna’s faces found engraved on a recently-unearthed Egyptian pyramid. Upon investigation inside the edifice, the heroes awaken two ancient exiles who resemble the kids, but who are in truth criminals who fled Exorian justice thousands of years previously. How lucky, then, that the kids are perfect doubles that the villains can send back with the robot cops surrounding the pyramid – once they’ve got rid of all those busybody Earthling heroes…

Enjoying promotion through treachery, habitually harassed Underling has seized power at last in Bridwell’s ‘Puppets of the Overlord’, and then employs forbidden technology to mind-control adult and junior heroes. Happily, international champions Green Fury (later Fire), Wonder Woman’s sister Nubia, Tasmanian Devil and Seraph can join Green Lantern and Queen Mera of Atlantis in delivering a liberating solution, after which this splendid selection of super thrills pauses with SF #26 as Bridwell, Fradon & Smith bring back some old friends and enemies for ‘The Wondertwins’ Battle of Wits!’ when a scheming former Bat-foe enacts an infallibly murderous plot…

Rounding out the frenetic fun is a features section that includes the Alex Toth cover from Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-41  and new material from sequel C-46. These include a comic strip collaboration with Bridwell on introductory tale ‘Super Friends’ which was a star-studded framing sequence for a big reprint issue of Justice League classics. The wonders are further augmented by Toth’s comprehensive pictorial essay on creating ‘TV Cartoons’ (with contributions from Bob Foster), plus his ‘The JLA on TV’ model sheets, and designs of ‘The Hall of Justice’ by Terry Austin. As you of course know, comics legend Toth was lead designer on the characters’ transition to TV animation…

The extras include mini-comic Aquateers Meet the Super Friends – a 1979 promotional giveaway included with every purchase of Super Friends Swim Goggles. An uncredited framing sequence (which looks like a Continuity Associates project that Dick Giordano & Frank McLoughlin had a hand in) segues into ‘The Greatest Show on Water’ – an Aquaman short by Fradon originally published in Adventure Comics #219, (December 1955).

The bumper fun wraps with Alex Ross’ painted cover from 2001 book collection Super Friends!

With covers by Fradon, Smith, Schaffenberger, Colletta, Ernie Chan and more, this hopefully initial compendium is superbly entertaining, masterfully crafted and utterly engaging. It offers stories of pure comics gold to delight children and adults in equal proportion. Truly generational in appeal, they are probably the closest thing to an American answer to the magic of Tintin or Asterix and no family home should be without this tome.

Sadly, this masterful mystery megamix is not yet available digitally, but we live in hope. In the meantime, if you prefer your cartoon crimebustng computer collated you could access 2020’s Super-Friends: Saturday Morning Comics volume 1.
© 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2001, 2025 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1697, Willam Hogarth was born. Notionally adding to the comics lustre and significance, in 1918, Howard Purcell was also added to the planet’s roster, as was Neil Gaiman in 1960. In the exit column for today, in 1993 we lost astounding illustrator Alberto Breccia, and in 2006 immortal sci fi writer Jack Williamson. All those other guys you can find in old posts here, but I particularly recommend Beyond Mars – The Complete Series 1952-1955.

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Superman: Phantom Zone


By Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, Rick Veitch, Tony DeZuñiga & Bob Smith (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-4051-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Today would have been Steve Gerber’s 78th birthday. For no appreciable reason, he would have found that to be quite funny. You should go read more comics by him. Here’s some many people don’t immediately think of when listing his so-many sublime star turns…

Once upon a time for fans and comics creators alike continuity could be a harsh mistress. When maintaining a faux-historical cloak of rational integrity for made-up worlds we inhabited was paramount, the greatest casualty of semi-regular reboots and sweeping changes, often meant some terrific tales suddenly never happened. Everything goes now of course, thanks to parallel world-ery, but way back whenever, it was a most painful time for me…

Many examples of this wholesale binning of entire charm-drenched mythologies happened but the convergent growth of graphic novels fortunately provided a sanctuary of sorts, such as this paean of pictorial praise for the mythology had evolved around Superman in the wonder years between 1948 and 1986.

Thankfully DC has always understood that a good story is worth cherishing. This slim, trim spectral selection gathers superb 4-issue miniseries The Phantom Zone (originally appearing from January to April 1982) and includes the very last pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Zone yarn as first seen in DC Comics Presents #97 (September 1986). It also simultaneously celebrates the stylish and enthralling scripting of unique comics voice Steve Gerber and his most ardent collaborator Gene (Howard the Duck, Stewart the Rat) Colan.

Gerber was a uniquely gifted writer who combined a deep love of comic book continuity minutiae with dark, irrepressible wit, incisive introspection, barbed socio-cultural criticism, a barely reigned-in imagination and boundless bizarre surrealism. His stories were always at the extreme edge of any mainstream company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction, especially when he couched his sardonic sorties as thinly-veiled attacks on burgeoning cultural homogenisation and commercial barbarity.

This riotous recapitulation of all that lost Man of Tomorrow ficto-history begins in ‘The Haunting of Charlie Kweskill!’ as the eponymous Daily Planet paste-up artist collapses at work. The solitary little dweeb has been sleeping badly, plagued by nightmares of a life on long-gone planet Krypton. His dreams detail how brilliant scientist Jor-El devised a non-lethal way to deal with Krypton’s most incorrigible criminals: human monsters such as Jax-Ur, Professor Va-Kox, Dr. Xadu, sadistic psycho-killer Faora Hu-Ul, potential dictator General Dru-Zod, and even Jor’s own bad & crazy cousin Kru-El…

Many lesser menaces like psionic aberrants Az-Rel and Nadira were also banished to the misty twilit realm, as well as stranger outcasts like callous biological experimenter Nam-Ek, but the one who most catches Charlie’s attention is fraudster Quex-Ul; a Kryptonian who appears to be Charlie’s doppelganger…

Of course, the dreams are all true: telepathic broadcasts beamed at Charlie by Zone inmates from within the plane of timeless intangibility. Quex-Ul had been one of them, surviving long after Krypton died, but was innocent of his crimes. He had been framed and mind-controlled by a mastermind who had deservedly perished when the Red Sun world detonated. Once Superman corrected the injustice and released the poor dupe, Qwex-Ul had saved the Man of Steel from a Gold Kryptonite trap, thereby losing his inherent Kryptonian abilities and memory in the process. The grateful, heartsick Action Ace had found the amnesiac a job at the Planet and almost forgot his alien origins in the years since. Charlie’s former fellow inmates had not…

Their telepathic onslaught turns Kweskill into a somnambulistic slave, unknowingly spending his nights breaking into labs and stealing high-tech components. Superman, slowly putting the puzzle pieces together, is just too late to thwart the stealthy scheme, and as he bursts into Charlie’s apartment a hastily cobbled together Phantom Zone projector hurls him and the hapless mind-slave into the ghostly region, whilst simultaneously freeing a legion of the cruellest and most bored criminals in existence…

The saga expands with ‘Earth Under Siege!’ as Superman and Charlie helplessly watch Zod, Jax-Ur, Va-Kox, Faora and Kru-El immediately undertake the next stage of their plan, leaving passively nihilistic Az-Rel and Nadira to negligently torture monstrous Nam-Ek with their psychic talents when not mocking the ranting liturgies of religious zealot Jer-Em, whose manic bigotry and fundamentalist isolationism caused the death of every person in Argo City…

Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El had been born on the city-sized fragment of Krypton, hurled intact into space when the doomed world detonated. Eventually, Argo turned to Green Kryptonite like most of Krypton’s detonated debris, and her dying parents, observing Earth through their scopes, sent their daughter to safety as they perished. On Earth, the teenager met the Man of Steel who created for her the identities of Linda Lee and Supergirl, concealing her from the wider world whilst she learned all about her new home… and how to use her astounding new abilities in secrecy and safety.

As the emotionally disconnected, disaffected and doubly alienated youths laconically saunter through Metropolis; casually slaughtering cops and citizens, Zod’s more motivated cronies have reached Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and destroyed the only means of returning them to their extra-dimensional dungeon.

The next move is attacking the Justice League satellite, hurling it and occupants Flash, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm & Aquaman on a non-stop trajectory out of the Solar System. Rampant Kryptonians destroy Earth’s communications satellites and trigger a mass launch of nuclear missiles, leaving Wonder Woman and Supergirl to narrowly avert atomic Armageddon whilst the frantic Man of Tomorrow can only watch in horror…

Not every Zone inhabitant is a criminal. For instance, Daxamite Mon-El was exposed to common lead in ‘Superboy’s Big Brother’ (by Robert Bernstein & Papp in June 1961’s Superboy #89) when his lingering, inexorable death was only forestalled by depositing the dying alien in the Zone until a cure could be found. Now, as Green Lantern faces the Zod Squad on Earth only to be soundly beaten and have his Power Battery stolen, Mon-El informs Charlie and Superman of a possible back way out of the realm of hellish nullity…

On Earth, as Wonder Woman subdues Nam-Ek, Supergirl checks in with Batman, desperately trying to ascertain where Superman has gone. As the Dark Knight heads to Metropolis to investigate, Kara returns to the Fortress and is ambushed by Kryptonian escapees and beaten near to death…

With no other choice, Charlie and Superman reluctantly pass through a dimensional portal even the obsessed villains were too scared to risk, encountering surreal madness in ‘The Terror Beyond Twilight!’…

Back in the physical world of touch and time, Supergirl saves herself from ghastly atomic disintegration as Charlie and Superman pass through stormy turbulence and a tedious waiting-room-realm before arriving on a peculiar plane where they are confronted by luscious sirens with impossible riddles and exploding heads. Their narrow escape from the Priestesses of the Crimson Sun only leads to Kryptonian wizard Thul-Kar who magicked himself into the Zone in ages past and now slavishly serves an erratic, malevolent sentient universe named Aethyr. It wants to consume Charlie and Superman but only by passing through it can they reach the physical world again…

On Earth, chaos reigns. Batman is utterly unable to pacify extremist Jer-Em, who deems the planet impure, unclean and unholy. He would rather die than soil his Kryptonian purity here.

… And high above the world, other freed villains have their own plan to fix the situation: a gigantic Phantom Zone Cannon to inexorably and eternally banish Earth into the twilight dimension in the course of one full rotation…

The drama comes to a tragic conclusion in ‘The Phantom Planet!’ as Az-Rel and Nadira, having found kindred spirits amongst Metropolis’ disenfranchised Punk Rock counterculture – before killing them – encounter Jer-Em in martyr mode. The now-suicidal cleric is quite keen on taking the rest of the apostate Kryptonians with him…

As the world turns into intangibility, in France, Faora has briefly resumed her passion for murdering males (before they’re all gone) whilst in Aethyr’s universe an appalling sacrifice enables Superman to return to physicality just in time to lead a last desperate charge, saving the day and putting the villains back where they belong… those still alive, that is…

The remainder of this fantastic collection recounts the tying up of all those intriguing concepts and loose ends in a spectacular sidebar to the end of DC’s original universe.

In 1986 the company celebrated its 50th year with groundbreaking Crisis on Infinite Earths: radically overhauling a convoluted multiversal continuity and starting afresh. All Superman titles were cancelled or suspended pending a back-to-basics reboot courtesy of John Byrne, allowing for a number of very special farewells to the old mythology. One of the most intriguing and challenging came in the last issue of DC Comics Presents (#97) wherein ‘Phantom Zone: the Final Chapter’ by Gerber, Rick Veitch & Bob Smith offered a creepy adieu to a number of Superman’s greatest foes.

Tracing Jor-El’s discovery of the Phantom Zone through to imminent multiversal annihilation, this dark yarn built on Gerber’s landmark miniseries and revealed that the dread region of nothingness was in fact a sentient echo of a dead universe which had always regarded the creatures deposited within it as irritants and agonising intruders.

Now as cosmic carnage reigns Aethyr, still served by Kryptonian mage Thul-Kar, causes the destruction of the Bizarro World “Htrae” and the deification/corruption of Fifth Dimensional pest Mr. Mxyzptlk, as well as the subsequent crashing of Argo City on Metropolis. As a result Zod and fellow immaterial inmates are freed to wreak havoc upon Earth – but only until the now-crystalline pocket dimension merges with and absorbs the felons, before implausibly abandoning Superman to face his uncertain future as the very Last Son of Krypton…

Superman has proven to be all things to all fans over his decades of existence and Gerber’s takes on these timeless tales of charm, joy and wholesome wit are unique and more necessary than ever: not just as a reminder of great tales of the past but as an all-ages primer of wonders still to come…
© 1982, 1986, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superboy: A Celebration of 75 Years


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Bill Finger, Otto Binder, Robert Bernstein, Jim Shooter, Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Elliot S! Maggin, Geoff Johns, Karl Kesel, Brian Michael Bendis, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, John Sikela, Curt Swan, Al Plastino, George Papp, James Sherman, Joe Staton, Phil Jimenez, Jerry Ordway, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, Tom Grummett, Dusty Abell, Matthew Clark, Francis Manapul, Viktor Bogdanovic, Jonathan Glapion & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9951-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Superman was the initiating spark that created the superhero genre. Without him we would have no modern gods to worship. However, within a decade of his launch, creators Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster had evolved a revised a concept nearly as powerful and persistent: the sheer delight of a child no adult could dominate or control…

Ever-innovating DC’s Universe has hosted many key entertainment concepts that have done much to bring about the vibrant comics industry of today. This stunning compilation – part of a series reintroducing and exploiting the comics pedigree of veteran DC icons and concepts – is available in hardback and digital formats and offers an all-too-brief sequence of snapshots detailing how one of the most beguiling came to be, and be and be again.

Gathering material from More Fun Comics #101; Superboy #10, 89; Adventure Comics #210, 247, 271, 369-370; DC Comics Presents #87; Infinite Crisis #6; Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #233, 259; Adventures of Superman #501; Superboy (volume 2) #59; Teen Titans (vol. 3) #24, Adventure Comics (vol. 2) #2; Young Justice (vol. 3) #3 and Superman (vol. 4) #6, 10-11, it reintroduces the many heroes – and villains – who have earned the soubriquet of the Boy of Steel,. Moreover, the landmark moments are all preceded by brief critical analyses by Karl Kesel, outlining the significant stages in their development.

It begins with Part I – 1945-1961: A Boy and His Dog…

After the Man of Tomorrow made his mark as Earth’s premier champion, his originators took a long look and reasoned that a different tone could offer a fresh look. What would it be like for a fun-loving lad who could do literally anything?

The answer came in More Fun Comics #101 (cover-dated January/February 1945 but on sale from November 18th 1944) wherein Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster shared ‘The Origin of Superboy!’ This fleshed out fabled and fabulous doomed Krypton and baby Kal-El’s flight: thereby giving him accessible foster parents and a childhood full of fun and incident…

The experiment was a monster hit. The lad swiftly claimed the lead slot of Adventure Comics and – in 1949 – his own title, living a life locked 20 years behind his adult counterpart. Cover-dated October 1950, Superboy #10 originated ‘The Girl in Superboy’s Life’, with Bill Finger & John Sikela introducing Smallville newcomer Lana Lang, who instantly sees resemblances between Clark Kent and the Boy of Steel and sets out to confirm her suspicions…

Despite battling crooks, monsters, aliens, scandal and the girl next door, Superboy enjoyed a charmed and wonderful life which only got better in Adventure Comics #210 (March 1955), as Otto Binder, Curt Swan & Sy Barry introduced ‘The Super-Dog from Krypton!’ Although waywardly mischievous and dangerously playful, Krypto heralded a wave of survivors from the dead world and made the Kid From Krypton feel less lonely and unique. Every boy needs a dog…

The next tale is a certified landmark. Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958) was at the cusp of the Silver Age costumed character revival, when Otto Binder & Al Plastino introduced a concept that would reshape comics fandom: ‘The Legion of Super-Heroes!’ The many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in a Superboy tale wherein three mysterious kids invited the Smallville Sensation to the future to join a team of metahuman champions inspired by his historic feats. The throwaway concept inflamed public imagination and after a slew of further appearances throughout Superman Family titles, the LSH eventually took over Superboy’s lead spot in Adventure for their own far-flung, quirkily future-set escapades, with the Caped Kryptonian reduced to one of the crowd…

Before then, though, Adventure Comics #271 (April 1960) revealed ‘How Luthor Met Superboy!’ as Siegel & Plastino united to depict how teenaged scientist Lex Luthor and Superboy became fast friends, before the genius became deranged after a laboratory fire extinguished by the Boy of Steel caused Lex to lose his hair. Enraged beyond limit, the youthful inventor turned his talents to crime, evil and vengeance…

Robert Bernstein & George Papp introduced ‘Superboy’s Big Brother!’ in Superboy #89 (June 1961) in which an amnesiac, super-powered space traveller crashes in Smallville, speaking Kryptonese and carrying star-maps written by the Boy of Steel’s long-dead father Jor-El…

Jubilant, baffled and suspicious in equal amounts, Superboy eventually, tragically discovers ‘The Secret of Mon-El’ by accidentally exposing the stranger to a lingering, inexorable death, before desperately providing critical life-support by depositing the dying alien in the Phantom Zone until a cure could be found.

Anybody who regularly reads these reviews know how crotchety and hard-to-please I can be. Brace yourself…

The following section – Part II – 1968-1980: The Space Age – concentrates on Superboy’s Legion career. That’s not the problem because those are great stories, well deserving of their own book, but they’re wasted here while the Boy of Steel’s adventures from this period are completely neglected. That’s work by the likes of Frank Robbins, Binder, Jim Shooter, Curt Swan, Bob Brown, Wally Wood and others we don’t get to see. Poor editorial decision, that…

Calm again, so let’s see how the Boy of Tomorrow fares one thousand years from now. During this period the youthful, generally fun-loving and carefree Club of Champions peaked; having only just evolved into a dedicated and driven dramatic action series starring a grittily realistic combat force in constant, galaxy-threatening peril. Although now an overwhelming force of valiant warriors ready and willing to pay the ultimate price for their courage and dedication, science itself, science fiction and costumed crusaders all increasingly struggled against a global resurgence in spiritual questioning and supernatural fiction…

The main architect of the transformation was teenaged sensation Jim Shooter, whose Legion of Super-Heroes scripts and layouts (generally finished and pencilled by the astoundingly talented and understated Curt Swan) made the series accessible to a generation of fans growing up with their heads in the Future. Ultimately, however, as tastes and fashions shifted, the series was unceremoniously ousted from its ancestral home and full-length adventures to become a truncated back-up feature in Action Comics. Typically, that shift occurred just as the stories were getting really, really good and truly mature…

Here, tense suspense begins with Adventure Comics #369’s (June 1968) and ‘Mordru the Merciless!’ (Shooter, Swan & Jack Abel) as the Legion are attacked by their most powerful enemy, a nigh-omnipotent sorcerer the entire assemblage only narrowly defeated once before.

A sneak attack shatters the team and only four escape, using a time bubble to flee to the remote and archaic time-period where Superboy lived. With him come Mon-El (freed from the Phantom Zone after 1,000 years to become a Legion stalwart), Shadow Lass and Duo Damsel – the last remnants of a once-unbeatable team.

Mordru’s magic is stronger, though, and even the time-barrier cannot daunt him…

Disguised as mere mortals, the fugitive Legionnaires’ courage shines through. When petty gangsters take over Smallville, the teen heroes quash the parochial plunderers and opt to return to the 30th century and confront Mordru, only to discover he’s found them first. The saga concludes in #370 with ‘The Devil’s Jury!’ wherein the kids escape and hide in plain sight by temporarily wiping their own memories to thwart the Dark Lord’s probes. Against appalling odds and with only Clark’s best friend Pete Ross and Insect Queen Lana Lang to aid them, the heroes’ doomed last stand only succeeds because Mordru’s overbearing arrogance causes his own downfall. Then, when the exhausted fugitives got back to the future, they joyously learn Dream Girl and benign sorceress White Witch have undone the deluded Dark Lord’s worst atrocities…

Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and overwritten, retconned and rebooted over and over again to comply with editorial diktat and popular fashion. After disappearing from the newsstands, the team returned as Guests in Superboy, before eventually taking over the title. Deju Vu, much?

November 1977’s Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #233 sees the Krypton Kid join his teammates to thwart ‘The Infinite Man Who Conquered the Legion!’: an extra-long blockbuster battle by Paul Levitz, James Sherman & Bob Wiacek, after which issue #259 (January 1980) drops Superboy and the… to become Legion of Super-Heroes #259, subsequently ending an era. ‘Psycho War!’ by Gerry Conway, Joe Staton & Dave Hunt then sees the time-lost teen targeted by a deranged war veteran using futuristic trauma weapons, forcing his legion chums to mindwipe Kal-El and return him to his original time forever…

In the mid-1980s, DC’s editorial hierarchy felt their vast 50-year continuity was stopping them winning new readers. The solution was a colossal braided-mega series to streamline, redefine and even add new characters to the mix.

The worlds-shattering, reality-altering bombast of Crisis on Infinite Earths resulted in such spectacular commercial success, those movers-&-shakers must have felt more than justified in revamping a number of their hoariest icons for their next 50 years of publishing. As well as Superman, Flash, & Wonder Woman, many moribund and directionless titles were reconsidered for a radical revision. It didn’t all go to plan…

The background on a new Boy of Steel is covered in the essay and stories comprising Part III 1985-2006: Dark Reflection, opening with twinned tales from DC Comics Presents #87 (November 1985) by Elliot S! Maggin, Swan & Al Williamson. In ‘Year of the Comet’ Superman of Earth-1 meets and mentors teen Clark from an alternate world: one previously devoid of superheroes and alien invaders, after which ‘The Origin of Superboy-Prime’ exposes crucial differences that would make Earth Prime’s Last Son of Krypton so memorable. Events culminated in ‘Touchdown’ by Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, Jerry Ordway, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, inkers Andy Lanning, Oclair Albert Marc Campos, Drew Geraci, Sean Parsons, Norm Rapmund & Art Thibert, from #6 of Infinite Crisis (May 2006). Teen Clark had evolved into Superboy-Prime: one of the most sadistic, unstoppable monsters in DCU history… but here he met his end battling another kid calling himself Superboy.

That hero gets his own out-of-chronology section: Part IV 1993-2019: The New Kid detailing how he grew out of another different publishing landmark. Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman was stripped-down and pared back to basics, grittily re-imagined by John Byrne, and marvellously built upon by a succession of immensely talented comics craftsmen, resulted in some genuine comics classics. Most significant was a 3-pronged story-arc which saw the martyrdom, loss, replacement and inevitable resurrection of the World’s Greatest Superhero in a stellar saga which broke all records and proved that a jaded general public still cared about the venerable, veteran icon of Truth, Justice and the American Way.

The dramatic events also provided a spectacular springboard for a resurgent burst of new characters who revitalised and reinvigorated more than one ailing franchise over the next decade, all exploding from braided mega-saga “Reign of the Supermen” which introduced a quartet of heroes each claiming the mantle of Superman (Don’t panic: the Real Deal Man of Steel returned too!).

The final contender for the S-shield cropped up in Adventures of Superman #501. ‘…When He Was a Boy!’ (by Kesel, Tom Grummett & Doug Hazlewood) reveals the secret history of a brash, cocky kid wearing an adaptation of the Man of Tomorrow’s outfit and claiming to be the deceased hero’s clone, recently escaped from top secret bio-factory Cadmus. After alienating everybody at the Daily Planet, the horny, inexperienced juvenile latches onto ambitious young journalist Tana Moon and falls under the spell of corrupt media mogul Vinnie Edge. Soon the kid is fighting crime live on TV to boost ratings…

Blending fast action with smart sassy humour, the clone Superboy was a breakout hit that ran for years, even infiltrating the established Superman Family. A key moment came in Superboy (volume 2) #59 by Kesel, Dusty Abell, Dexter Vines as a virtual ‘Mission to Krypton’ results in the clone finally earning a family name as Kon-El of the House of El…

In the build-up to DC’s Infinite Crisis crossover event, many long-running story-threads were pulled together ready for the big bang. Crafted by Geoff Johns, Matthew Clark & Art Thibert, ‘The Insiders Part 1’ (Teen Titans #24, July 2005) reveals how Kon-El’s belief that he was Superman’s clone is shattered after learning that half of his DNA comes courtesy of Luthor. Just as the traumatised kid is about to share the revelation with his Teen Titan team-mates, Lex activates deep psychological programming to override Superboy’s consciousness and make him evil and murderous…

From November 2009, ‘The Boy of Steel Part Two’ (Adventure Comics vol 2 #2, by Johns & Francis Manapul) offers a gentler moment as Kon-El, now living in Smallville as Conner Kent, enjoys a potentially romantic interlude with team mate Wonder Girl before jumping to May 2019 and ‘Seven Crises Part Three’ from Young Justice volume 3 #3, by Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Gleason, Viktor Bogdanovic & Jonathan Glapion. Having skipped two universe-altering events (Flashpoint and Rebirth) the formerly erased-from-continuity Impulse has found old friend Conner living in a mystic realm as part of his quest to put his old band back together. It’s fast, furious, heart-warming and hilarious. You should really get all of this tale in its own compilation – Young Justice: Gemworld – even before I review it next year…

Wrapping up this saunter in Super-kids’ shoes is the freshest take on the concept in decades. Part V 2016 and Beyond: Like Father, Like Son offers a too short glimpse at Jon Kent, the child of Superman and Lois Lane, inserted into mainstream continuity after the New 52 Superman died. If this is making your brain hurt, don’t fret. It’s only unnecessary background for some truly exemplary comics yarns…

Superman (volume 4) #6, 10, 11 are by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray, Mark Morales & Christian Alamy, and firstly depict the ‘Son of Superman’ helping Dad defeat evil Kryptonian mechanoid The Eradicator before settling into outrageous action comedy beside, with and frequently against Damian Wayne: son of Bruce and the latest, most psychotic Robin yet. ‘In the Name of the Father: World’s Smallest Parts One and Two’ pits the junior odd couple against aliens, monsters and girls, but mostly each other. It’s unmissable stuff and you should expect me to wax delirious about the new Super Sons in the New Year…

Adding immeasurably to the wonderment is a superb gallery of covers by Swan with Stan Kaye & Abel, Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Dick Giordano, Eduardo Barreto, Jim Lee & Sandra Hope, Grummett, Kesel & Hazlewood, Mike McKone & Marlo Alquiza, Manapul, Doug Mahnke & Wil Quintana & Gleason with Alejandro Sanchez, Gray & John Kalisz.

Superboy has a long, proud history of shaking things up and providing off-kilter fun to offset the general angst level of superhero storytelling. Even with my petty caveats, this compelling primer of snapshots is staggeringly entertaining and a monolithic testament to the inestimable value of a strong core concept matured over decades of innovation.
© 1960, 1964, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1997, 2000, 2006, 2005, 2011, 2018, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Today in 1945 Go Nagai was born. You can meet him in our truly ancient review of Mazinger.

In 1956 Alex Raymond died today. We covered Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo volume 1: Sundays 1934-1937 recently, but this master also triumphed with Secret Agent X-9, Jungle Jim, Blondie and Rip Kirby.

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Adventures of Superman: José Luis García-López volume 1


By José Luis García-López, Martin Pasko, Gerry Conway, Elliot S. Maggin, David Michelinie, Len Wein, Denny O’Neil, Bob Oksner, Frank Springer, Vince Colletta, Dan Adkins, Joe Giella, Steve Mitchell, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3856-8 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The American comic book industry would be utterly unrecognisable if Superman had never been born. His unprecedented adoption by a desperate and joy-starved generation quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Within three years of his June 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of eye-popping action and social wish-fulfilment which hallmarked the early Man of Steel had grown to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East embroiled America, patriotic relevance.

In many ways Superman is still master of the world, having utterly changed the shape of a fledgling industry and modern entertainment in general. There have been newspaper strips, radio and TV shows, cartoons games, toys, merchandise and blockbusting movies. Everyone on Earth gets a picture in their heads when they hear the name. Moreover, he is a character endlessly revitalised by the creators who work on his never-ending exploits. One the most gifted and intoxicating is José Luis García-López. An industry professional since he was 13 years old, the master illustrator was born in Pontevedra, Spain on 26th March 1948. By age three he was living in Argentina, and reared on a steady diet of comics: especially the works of Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, Alberto Breccia, Milt Caniff and José Luis Salinas.

During the late 1960s, García-López broke into the US comics world, with anthological romance work and anodyne horror tales for Charlton Comics which led to mystery-suspense yarns for Gold Key. In 1974 he moved to New York City where Joe Orlando got him a crucial intro meeting with DC Comics. That turned into a near-exclusive 40-year association which not only generated astounding comics sagas, but also saw the artist become the corporation’s official reference artist: the fount of all style guides and merchandising materials. His art was DC’s interface with the wider world.

After a few tentative inking jobs, García-López debuted as a DC penciller and inker on a Hawkman back-up in Detective Comics #452 in October 1975, and a month later was illustrating post-apocalyptic doomsday thriller Hercules Unbound. His sumptuous art could also encompass grim & gritty and he was drafted in to end the run on the company’s Tarzan title, and was afterwards handed western antihero Jonah Hex when the gunslinger – bucking all industry sales trends – graduated to his own solo title in early 1977.

The artist’s star was on the rise. While filling in all across the DCU – his assorted Superman tales are all in this stunning hardback/digital compilation – García-López was increasingly first choice for major publishing projects and events, such as the Marvel-DC Batman/Hulk tabloid crossover, prestige specials such the Superman/Wonder Woman clash included here and such breakthrough/breakout miniseries and graphic novels as Cinder & Ashe, Atari Force, Twilight, Star Raiders, Road to Perdition and many more. Paradoxically, he remains one of the company’s greatest artists and yet largely unknown and under-appreciated.

This splendid tome gathers the contents of Superman #294, 301-302, 307-309, 347; All-New Collectors’ Edition C-54 and DC Comics Presents #1-4, 17, 20, 24, 31: collectively spanning December 1975 through March 1981. Hopefully by the time I get to the sequel Superman and companion Batman volumes there will also be a DC Universe of… edition…

What we have here, though, is a boldly exuberant celebration of the Man of Steel, many with guest stars and all splendidly accessible to veteran fans and casual acquaintances alike.

The wonderment opens with a short back-up from Superman #294. Scripted by Martin Pasko and inked by Vince Colletta, ‘The Tattoo Switcheroo!’ details how Clark Kent escapes secret identity exposure after being nabbed by gangsters. Such pedestrian concerns are forgotten in Superman #301 (July 76) where Gerry Conway & Bob Oksner help prove ‘Solomon Grundy Wins on a Monday!’, as Earth-2’s monstrous zombie horror sideslips to Earth-1 to wreak havoc in Metropolis, thereby forcing the Action Ace to use brains rather than brawn to win the day.

An issue later, Elliot S. Maggin scripted ‘Seven-Foot-Two… and Still Growing!’ as fiendish scientist Lex Luthor finds a way to diminish the hero’s intellect by enlarging him to the point where his brain no longer efficiently connects to his dinosaur-dimensioned body. Thankfully, size-shifting hero The Atom is only a phone call away…

Curt Swan was Superman’s premiere artist for decades: a supremely gifted and conscientious illustrator who made the character his own. He was not, however, superhuman and while he was drawing what was then billed as “the longest Superman story ever” for DC Special Series #5 (Superman Spectacular 1977) García-López united with Conway and inker Frank Springer for issues #307-309 (January – March 1977), wherein the Man of Steel was deceived and deluded into believing his alien origins to be a comfortable fabrication to ease a human mutant’s twisted mind. In ‘Krypton – No More!’ Kal-El waged a war to save the environment from big business and their multipowered minions Radion & Protector, even battling his cousin Supergirl to disprove ‘This Planet is Mine!’ before the true story is revealed, just in time to tackle an alien invasion in ‘Blind Hero’s Bluff!’ as the Girl of Steel joined the now clear-headed hero and his faithful dog Krypto…

Following that is one of the most impressive and fun comics sagas of the era. Written by Conway and inked by Dan Adkins, All-New Collectors’ Edition C-54 (January 1978) sees ‘Superman vs. Wonder Woman’ take us back to World War II, as Man of Steel and Amazing Amazon meet for the first time after Nazi Übermensch Baron Blitzkrieg and Japan’s infallible assassin Sumo the Samurai unite to steal a prototype atomic device. Although they should be allies, the heroes are quickly and cataclysmically at odds over the dispensation of the nuke so, once they stop fighting, they still must defeat the Axis Powers’ most fanatical operatives…

From the moment a kid first sees his second superhero the only thing they want is to see how the new gaudy gladiator stacks up against the first. From the earliest days of comic books (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 archenemies in a united front…

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 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. It was the publicity-drenched weeks before release of Superman: The Movie and Tim Burton’s Batman (which, BTW, García-López also provided designs for) was over a decade away…

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

Star-studded new monthly DC Comics Presents was a big deal at the time, so only the utterly astounding and series-unattached José Luis García-López (inked by Adkins) could conceivably open the show. Silver Age Flash Barry Allen had been Superman’s first co-star in that aforementioned World’s Finest Comics run and he reprised his role in ‘Chase to the End of Time!’ and ‘Race to the End of Time!’ (DCCP #1 & 2: July/August & September/October 1978), with scripter Marty Pasko detailing how warring alien races trick both heroes into speeding relentlessly through the timestream to prevent Earth’s history being erased. As if that isn’t dangerous enough, nobody could predict the deadly intervention of the Scarlet Speedster’s most dangerous foe, Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash, who tries to turn the race against time to his own advantage.

David Michelinie wrote a tantalising pastiche of classic Adam Strange/Mystery in Space thrillers for García-López to draw and ink in ‘The Riddle of Little Earth Lost’, wherein the Man of Two Worlds and Man of Tomorrow foil the diabolical cosmic catastrophe scheme of deranged military genius Kaskor who intended to transpose and subjugate or destroy Earth and light-years-distant planet Rann.

Len Wein wrote the superb ‘Sun-Stroke!’ as the Man of Steel and madly-malleable Metal Men joined forces to thwart solar-fuelled genius I.Q. and toxic elemental menace Chemo after an ill-considered plan to enhance Earth’s solar radiation exposure provoked cataclysmic solar flares. With the title on solid ground the artist moved on, but returned with Gerry Conway and inker Steve Mitchell to herald the return of Firestorm in DCCP #17’s ‘The Ice Slaves of Killer Frost!’: a bombastic, saves-the-day epic returning the Nuclear Man to active DC pantheon service after a long hiatus.

In DCCP #20, Green Arrow steals the show in gripping, Big Business-busting eco-thriller ‘Inferno from the Sky!’ (Denny O’Neil, García-López & Joe Giella), after which the artist filled in with Conway on Superman #347 (May 1980) as the Last Son of Krypton clashes with a mythic cosmic courier in ‘The Sleeper Out of Time!’

In his peregrinations around the DCU, García-López had particularly distinguished himself with numerous episodes and fill-ins starring murdered aerialist Deadman. One of the very best came in DC Comics Presents #24 (August 1980) wherein scripter Wein reveals the tragic, chilling story of ‘The Man Who Was the World!’ as the grim ghost is forced to possess Superman and save the Earth… but fouls up badly…

Wrapping up this superb Fights ‘n’ Tights festival is ‘The Deadliest Show on Earth!’ (DCCP #31); written by Conway and inked by Dick Giordano, teaming Man of Steel and original Robin, the Teen Wonder Dick Grayson to conclusively crush a perfidious psychic vampire predating on the performers at the troubled Sterling Circus…

These tales are gripping fare elevated to epic heights by the magnificent art of one of the world’s finest artists. How could any fan possibly resist?
© 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: The Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude


By Jerry Siegel, Jerry Coleman, Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, Mark Schultz, Geoff Johns & Richard Donner, John Sikela, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, Ross Andru & Romeo Tanghal, John Statema, George Peréz, Mike Mignola, Curt Swan, Brett Breeding, Doug Mahnke & Tom Nguyen, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3423-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Superman is comics’ champion crusader: the hero who heralded and defined a genre. In the decades since his spectacular launch in April 1938 (cover-dated June), one who has survived every kind of menace imaginable. With this in mind it’s tempting and very rewarding to gather up whole swathes of his prodigious back-catalogue and re-present them in specifically-themed collections, such as this fun but far from comprehensive chronicling of someone who’s become his latter-day Kryptonian antithesis: a monstrous militaristic madman with the same abilities but far more sinister values and motivations.

For fans and creators alike, continuity can be a harsh mistress. These days, when maintaining a faux-historical cloak of rational integrity for the made-up worlds we inhabit is paramount, the greatest casualty of the semi-regular sweeping changes, rationalisations and reboots is those terrific tales which suddenly “never happened”.

The most painful example of this – for me at least – was a wholesale loss of the entire charm-drenched mythology which had evolved around Superman’s birthworld in the wonder years between 1948 and 1986. Happily, DC post Future State/Infinite Frontier/other recent publishing events are far more inclusive, all-encompassing and history-embracing…

Silver Age readers buying Superman, Action Comics, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, World’s Finest Comics and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (not forgetting Superboy and Adventure Comics) would delight every time some fascinating snippet of information was revealed. We spent our rainy days filling in the incredible blanks about the lost world through the delightful and thrilling tales from those halcyon publications.

Thankfully DC was never as slavishly wedded to continuity as its readership and understood that a good story is worth cherishing. This captivating compilation gathers material from

Superman #17: Action Comics #241 & 261; Action Comics Annual #2; Superman Man of Steel #100 and Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude All New Collector’s Edition/DC Special Series #26 spanning 1942 to 2000, and focusing on landmark, rare, and notionally non-canonical tales of his astounding home-away-from-home/Super Mancave: all crafted by some of the countless gifted writers and artists to have contributed to the mythology of the Man of Tomorrow over the years.

Without preamble we open with Jerry Siegel & John Sikela’s ‘Muscles for Sale!’ (from Superman #17, cover-dated July/August 1942) which offered the very first revelation that the ultra-busy champion of the weak had built himself a little retreat. Here, located in a remote US mountain, the Action Ace enjoyed some Me-time in his new “Secret Citadel”, exercising, letting off super-steam and wandering about his Trophy Room before battling a mad mesmerist turning ordinary citizens into dangerously overconfident louts, bullies and thieves…

Then, an era later and after the Metropolis Marvel had become a small screen star, the Silver Age officially began with Action Comics #241 cover-dated June 1958. Scripted by Jerry Coleman and limned by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye ‘The Super-Key to Fort Superman’ is a fascinating, clever puzzle-play guest-featuring Batman as an impossible intruder vexes, taunts and baffles the Man of Steel in his most sacrosanct sanctuary: a place packed with fascinating wonders for Space Age kids…

February 1960 offered a classic return to the icy palace in ‘Superman’s Fortress of Solitude!’ (Action Comics #261 by Siegel, Boring & Kaye) as linked but previously untold anecdotes detail the secret history of the citadel of wonders to foil a cunning criminal plot against the indomitable hero…

Next, from 1981 and in its 64-pages + covers entirety, is an epic time travel excursion catered and curated by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Romeo Tanghal, and only previously seen in film-inspired oversized tabloid treat Superman and His Incredible Fortress of Solitude All New Collectors Edition (DC Special Series #26). A cunning excuse to revisit past stories and glories and enjoy a room-by-room meander, ‘Fortress of Fear!’ finds the Man of Steel scouring his vast domicile for a clue to prevent the imminent explosive demise – 59 minutes and counting! – of his second homeworld! He’s also planning on thoroughly chastising mystery villain Dominus for risking all of humanity for simple vengeance…

Co-crafted by Jerry Ordway, John Statema, George Peréz, Mike Mignola, Roger Stern, Curt Swan & Brett Breeding, ‘Memories of Krypton’s Past’ (Action Comics Annual #2 1989) was a way-station moment in an absolutely epic endeavour wherein the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman finally learned why he was the last and only Kryptonian.

Previously. when trapped in a pocket dimension he had been forced to execute three super-criminals who had killed every living thing on their Earth and were determined to do the same to ours. Although given no choice, Superman’s actions plagued him, and on his return his subconscious caused him to stalk the streets in a fugue-state dealing out brutal justice to criminals in the guise of Gangbuster. When finally made aware of his schizophrenic state, Kal-El banished himself before he could do any lasting harm to Earth.

For months the exile roamed space, losing his abilities (deprived of Sol’s rays his powers quickly fade), before being enslaved by tyrant Mongul and forced into gladiatorial games on giant battle-planet Warworld…

Not seen here is the aftermath of those revelations wherein Superman overthrows the despot, liberates the hordes of the Warworld and returns to Earth with the most powerful device in Kryptonian history…

Closing the vacation trips comes the last chapter of another extended epic as first seen in Superman: Man of Steel #100 (May 2000). In Mark Schultz, Doug Mahnke & Tom Nguyen’s ‘Creation Story’, semi-retired inventor hero John Henry Irons AKA Steel and his brilliant niece Natasha continue their battle against electronic packrat cult the Cybermoths: foiling the theft of future tech. Their efforts and resultant struggle happily lead to a brand new extra-dimensional opportunity for the astounded and late-arriving Caped Kryptonian as a freshly discovered pocket dimension discovered by Steel is filled and repurposed with the last Kryptonian remnants of the original Fortress of Solitude. Sadly, the astounding architectural feat draws rapacious Cybermoths and their anarchic queen Luna into action again, with neither Superman nor his engineering associates aware that a horrifying old enemy is behind her repeated attempts to seize this new citadel in a “Phantom Zone”…

No trip is complete without a little keepsake, and here we finish with double page cutaway diagram spread ‘Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude’ by Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning, taken from Action Comics Annual #10 in 2007. Be assured, should you ever get lost in the astounding arctic sanctuary, this should keep you out of the Interplanetary Zoo and well away from the Phantom Zone portal.

You’re welcome…
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