Category: Superman

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Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 2


By Otto Binder, Jerry Coleman, Alvin Schwartz, Leo Dorfman, Robert Bernstein, Bill Finger, Curt Swan, Wayne Boring, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dick Sprang, Al Plastino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-812-4 (TPB)

In America during the 1950s and early 1960s being different was a bad thing. Conformity was sacrosanct, even in comic books, and everybody and thing was meant to keep to its assigned and intended role.

For the Superman family and extended cast that meant a highly strictured code of conduct and parameters: Daily Planet Editor Perry White was a stern, shouty elder statesman with a heart of gold, Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen was a brave and impulsive, unseasoned fool with a heart of gold – and plucky News-hen Lois Lane was nosy, impetuous and unscrupulous in her obsession to marry Superman, although she too was – deep down – another possessor of an Auric aorta. They were – of course – uniformly white and the Anglo-est of Saxons…

Yet somehow even with these mandates in place, talented writers and artists assigned to detail their wholesomely uncanny exploits managed to craft tales both beguiling and breathtakingly memorable – and usually as funny as they were exciting as seen in this second cunningly combined chronologically complete compendium. Here, collected in marvellous monochrome, are the affably all-ages tales from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #23-34 (September 1957-January 1959), Lois’s second try-out issue originally seen in Showcase #10 (September/October 1957) and #1-7 of her subsequent solo series Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane (March/April 1958-February 1959).

We commence with the Man of Steel’s Go-To Guy in three tales comprising issue #23 of his solo title: illustrated as almost always by the wonderful Curt Swan & Ray Burnley. ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Two Super-Pals’ was the first of three scripts by irrepressible Otto Binder, describing how our lad gains an other-dimensional Genie as another faithful Super-Friend. Of course with sinister radium bandits plaguing Metropolis there’s more to the cosmic companion than meets the eye…

Next comes ‘Jimmy Olsen, the Bearded Boy’ wherein boastful hubris and a magic potion inflict runaway whiskers on many Daily Planet staffers – even Clark Kent – prompting a flurry of face-saving secret feats from the identity conscious Man of Tomorrow.

As Jimmy’s series progressed, one of the most popular plot-themes (and most fondly remembered and referenced today by surviving Baby-Boomer fans) was the unlucky lad’s appalling talent for being warped, mutated and physically manipulated by fate, aliens, magic, mad science and even his friends …a fate which frequently befell Lois too, although Jimmy got far fewer marriage proposals (but not NONE!) from aliens, murderers of monsters…

The boy’s bits briefly conclude with ‘The Adventures of Private Olsen’, wherein the Cub Reporter is assigned to write articles on Army life and – with Superman’s assistance – teaches a nasty and unscrupulous drill sergeant a much-needed lesson…

When Lois Lane – arguably the oldest supporting character/star in the Superman mythology if not entire DC universe – finally received her own shot at a solo title, it was very much on the terms of the times. I must shamefacedly admit to a deep, nostalgic affection for her bright and breezy, fantastically fun adventures, but as a free-thinking, (nominally) adult liberal of the 21st century I’m often simultaneously shocked these days at the jollified, patronising, patriarchally misogynistic attitudes underpinning so many of the stories.

Yes, I’m fully aware that the series was intended for young readers at a time when “dizzy dames” like Lucille Ball or Doris Day played up to the popular American gestalt stereotype of Woman as jealous minx, silly goose, diffident wife and brood-hungry nester, but to ask kids to seriously accept that intelligent, courageous, ambitious, ethical and highly capable women would drop everything they’d worked hard for to lie, cheat, inveigle, manipulate and entrap a man just so that they could cook pot-roast and change super-diapers is plain crazy and tantamount to child abuse. They’re great, great comics but still… whooo… gah… splutter… I’m just saying…

Cover-dated September/October 1957 and illustrated by Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye, Showcase #10 was the second and final test appearance for what became  Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, opening with scripter Binder’s ‘The Jilting of Superman’, wherein the Action Ace almost falls for a most ancient ploy as Lois pretends to marry another man to make the Kryptonian clod realise what she means to him…

Written by Jerry Coleman, ‘The Sightless Lois Lane’ tells how a nuclear accident temporarily blinds the journalist, and how her sudden, unexpected recovery almost exposes Clark Kent’s secret when he callously changes to Superman in front of his “sightless” friend, after which Binder delightfully details the contents of ‘The Forbidden Box from Krypton’. Exhumed by a Smallville archaeologist, this hoard houses devices originally packed by Superman’s birth father Jor-El and intended to aid the infant Superbaby on Earth. Of course, when Lois opens the chest all she sees is a way to become as powerful as the Man of Steel. Before long, she’s addicted to being a super-champion in her own right…

Scant months later, the mercurial journo had her own title, clearly offering exactly what the reading public wanted…

Jimmy Olsen #24 featured another trio of top tales from Binder, Swan & Burnley beginning with ‘The Superman Hall of Trophies’ which finds a Kryptonite-paralysed Metropolis Marvel trapped in a museum and rescued by the brave boy reporter. ‘The Gorilla Reporter!’ sees the poor kid briefly brain-swapped with a mighty (confused) Great Ape before – as so often before – Superman must audaciously divert attention from his exposure-threatened alter ego by convincing the world at large that Jimmy is ‘The Luckiest Boy in the World’…

Issue #25 – by Binder, Swan & Burnley – features ‘The Secret of the Superman Dummies’ wherein a trip to a magic show results in Jimmy being inescapably handcuffed to the last man in the world Superman dares to approach, after which ‘The Second Superboy’ reveals how poor Jimmy is accidentally rocketed to an alien world where he gains incredible abilities courtesy of resident absent-minded genius Professor Potter. ‘The Day There Was No Jimmy Olsen’ then offers a tantalising hoax and mystery which ends with an unexpected promotion for the pluckily ingenious boy…

Jimmy began #26 subject to inexplicable bouts of deadly mass fluctuations and improbably became ‘The World’s “Heavyweight” Champ’ before – as newly appointed ‘Jimmy Olsen, Foreign Correspondent’ – uncovering a sinister scheme to defraud the Ruritanian Kingdom of Hoxana. Back home again though, he has to again undergo a well-intentioned con from his best pal after seeing Clark flying and subsequently – inadvertently – himself becoming ‘The Birdboy of Metropolis’…

Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #1 (March/April #1958) at last arrived, sporting three stunning yarns illustrated by sleek, slick comedically-inclined illustrator Kurt Schaffenberger, whose distinctive art-style would become synonymous with the woman reporter. Everything kicked off with ‘The Bombshell of the Boulevards’ (scripted by Leo Dorfman) wherein she dons a blonde wig to deceitfully secure a Hollywood interview and provokes a death-duel between rival enflamed suitors. Of course, it’s only another scheme by Superman and Jimmy to teach her a lesson in journalistic ethics. It’s a good thing reporters are so much less unscrupulous these days…

During this Silver Age period, with Superman a solid gold sensation of the newly ascendant television medium, many stories were draped in the wholesome trappings of Tinseltown – even more so than most of celebrity-obsessed America. It didn’t hurt that chief editor Whitney Ellsworth was a part-time screenwriter, script editor and producer, as well as National DC’s Hollywood point man.

Otto Binder then reunited with old Captain Marvel collaborator Schaffenberger for ‘Lois Lane, Super-Chef’ as she disastrously tries to master home cooking in another scheme to get the Man of Steel to propose, whilst in ‘The Witch of Metropolis’ a science assignment goes horrifically awry, transforming her into a wizened old hag every time the sun sets…

All courtesy of Binder, Swan & Burnley, SPJO #27 opens with ‘The Boy from Mars’ wherein the cub reporter gets his own lesson in integrity after trying to create a circulation-boosting hoax, and a refresher course on the perils of pride and over-confidence after messing up ‘A Date with Miss Metropolis’ before the issue ends in a riotous battle with his own evil duplicate after Professor Potter accidentally creates ‘The Outlaw Jimmy Olsen’…

Ever so slowly a more mature tone was developing in the kid’s adventures. In #28’s ‘The Spendthrift and the Miser’ an alien gift from Superman triggers wildly manic mood swings whilst an accidental time-trip incredibly reveals that Jimmy is destined to become ‘The Boy who Killed Superman’ after which in ‘The Human Skyscraper’, another botched Potter product enlarges the kid to monumental, city-endangering size.

Over in the second Lois Lane comic book she is apparently appalled to uncover ‘Superman’s Secret Sweetheart’ (uncredited here but possibly Bill Finger?), but is in fact on her very best mettle and helping a bullied college girl fight back against her mean sorority sisters.

The Binder recounts how Tinseltown improbably calls and the reporter becomes – eventually – an extremely high maintenance actress in ‘Lois Lane in Hollywood’…

‘Superman’s Forbidden Room’ closes proceedings with a cruel hoax played on her well-publicised infatuation, but this time it isn’t the Man of Steel doing the fooling and the stakes have never been higher than in this moody thriller illustrated by Boring & Kaye and probably written by Jerry Coleman.

In Jimmy Olsen #29 the usually adept reporter suffers a monumental writer’s block whilst working on a novel, but ‘The Superman Book that Couldn’t be Finished’ eventually is …with a little hands-on Kryptonian help. ‘Jimmy Olsen’s Super-Pet’ then sees the cub reporter adopted by super-hound Krypto in his twilight years: an act that is instrumental in rejuvenating the Dog of Steel for a new generation.

The issue ends with ‘The Amazing Spectacles of Doctor X’: a clever thriller seeing Jimmy appropriate goggles which can see the future and glimpsing something he wishes he hadn’t!

Crafted by Binder & Schaffenberger, The Rainbow Superman’ opens Lois Lane #3 portraying the “News-hen” at her very worst as a cosmic accident makes the Man of Tomorrow an ambulatory spectrum and she sets about seeking to see if Clark also glows, whilst ‘The Man who was Clark Kent’s Double’ (scripted by Coleman, as is the final tale here) breaks her heart after she again proves too nosy for her own good.

‘Lois Lane and the Babe of Steel’ then delivers a terrifying glimpse of her dreams come true when Superman trades temporal places with his toddler self, causing all manner of problems for the capable bachelorette…

In JO #30, ‘The Son of Superman’ – by Binder, Swan & Burnley – jerks our tears as an attempt by the Kryptonian to adopt the boy reporter goes tragically wrong, after which the creators prove equally adept at concocting mystery and tension when criminals scheme to destroy Jimmy by making him ‘The Cub who Cried Wolf’.

‘Superman’s Greatest Enemy’ – with Dick Sprang standing in for Swan – then discloses how the naive lad falls for a crook’s scam but has enough smarts to turn the tables at the end…

Binder & Schaffenberger open SGFLL #4 with a well-meaning Jimmy using hypnotism to get Clark to propose to Lois, utterly unaware who he is actually using these gimmicks on, and catastrophically leading to ‘The Super-Courtship of Lois Lane’…

Times have changed, but when Coleman scripted ‘Lois Lane, Working Girl’ he was simply referring to her being challenged to undertake a job in manual labour, so shame on you. Alvin Schwartz then crafts a canny conundrum in ‘Annie Oakley Gets her (Super)man’ for Boring & Kaye to illustrate, when a riding accident out West causes Lois to believe she is the legendary sharpshooter whilst hunting some very nasty gangsters with very real guns…

Jimmy Olsen #31 highlights the now mythic tale of ‘The E-L-A-S-T-I-C Lad’ (Binder, Swan & Burnley) wherein Superman is ultimately responsible for the reporter gaining stretching powers. He should have known better than to leave a chest of alien artefacts with the nosy, accident-prone kid…

‘The Mad Hatter of Metropolis’ sees the simple power of suggestion convince the kid that he can imitate the feats of famous folks simply by donning their characteristic chapeaus,  before ‘The Boy who Hoaxed Superman’ has him attempt to secure a pay raise by pretending to leave for the future. Sadly, it doesn’t work, and everybody seems to prefer the replacement Perry hired who is, of course, Jimmy in disguise…

For #32 Professor Potter’s latest chemical concoction makes Jimmy look like Pinocchio but does compensate by giving him ‘The Super Nose for News’, whilst an uncanny concatenation of crazy circumstances turns the sensibly staid Man of Tomorrow into ‘The Rock ‘n’ Roll Superman’ every time the kid reporter – masquerading as a pop star – twangs his old guitar. Then, Alvin Schwartz scripts ‘The Jimmy Olsen from Jupiter’, revealing how aliens mutate the cub reporter into one of their scaly selves: complete with extremely useful mind-reading abilities, much to Superman’s dismay…

Robert Bernstein & Schaffenberger’s ‘Superman’s Greatest Sacrifice’ leads in Lois Lane #5, as the journalist meets her millionaire double and seemingly loses her beloved sort-of lover to the rich witch, whilst in ‘The Girl of 100 Costumes’ the canny lass employs a myriad of new looks to catch his attention, in an uncredited story drawn by Al Plastino.

It was back to silly, disquieting (and fat-shaming) usual for Binder & Schaffenberger’s ‘The Fattest Girl in Metropolis’ as a plant growth ray “accidentally” super-sizes the valiant but vain reporter. Imagine her reaction when Lois learns Superman has deliberately expanded her dimensions… for good and solid reasons, of course…

Binder, Swan & Burnley were in sparkling form in JO #33, starting with ‘Legends that Came to Life’, wherein a nuclear accident animates the strangest foes from fairy tales and only Jimmy, but not his mighty mentor, can save the day, after which ‘The Lady-Killer from Metropolis’ offers a classic case of boyish arrogance and girlish gossip which leads to the boy reporter briefly becoming the sexiest thing in Hollywood. The horror and hilarity is capped by ‘The Human Flame-Thrower!’ as Potter’s latest experiment leaves Jimmy with the worst case of high-octane halitosis in history…

Coleman, Boring & Kaye opened LL #6 with ‘The Amazing Superman Junior’ as yet another attempt to teach Lois a lesson backfires on the pompous Man of Steel and she brings in a mysterious kid to show the Kryptonian what it feels like…

This is followed by a brace of tales by Bill Finger & Schaffenberger, starting with ‘Lois Lane… Convict!’ which seemingly sees the reporter take a bribe from gangster Baldy Pate and pay a terrible price, whilst in ‘Lieutenant Lois Lane, U.S. Army’ she and Clark join the military for a story only to have Lois’ (temporary) rank turn her into a man-hating bully. Surely some mistake, no…?

‘Superman’s Pal of Steel’  by Binder, Swan & Burnley, begins the last Jimmy Olsen issue in this marvellous monochrome collection, as another secret identity-preserving scheme takes a bizarre turn after the boy reporter genuinely gains an incredible power. Alvin Schwartz then fills ‘The Underworld Journal’ which see our kid inherit his own newspaper …and swiftly go off the journalistic rails.

Finally for the boy, Potter’s newest invention turns Jimmy’s clunky old kit into ‘The Most Amazing Camera in the World’ (Binder, Swan & Burnley) – and a deadly danger to Superman’s greatest secret…

Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #7 ends this volume with three more mixed-message masterpieces. beginning with ‘Lois Lane’s Kiss of Death’ (by Bernstein & Schaffenberger), wherein a canny conman tries to fool the reporter into botching her biggest crime exposés. Schwartz then has Lois use hypnotism to wash her heroic obsession out of her mind in ‘When Lois Lane Forgot Superman’.

Illustrated by Boring & Kaye, the tale takes an unlikely turn when she turns her passionate, unfulfilled attentions on poor Clark, after which Lana Lang fully enters the Man of Steel’s modern mythology. When Lois took in the destitute, down-at-heel lass who once held the Boy of Steel’s heart, she seemingly allowed her to also become ‘The Girl who Stole Superman’ in a tense and clever tale from Coleman & Schaffenberger…

These spun-off, support series were highly popular, top-selling titles for more than two decades: blending action, adventure, broad, wacky comedy, fantasy and science fiction in the gently addictive whimsical manner that Binder and Schaffenberger had perfected at Fawcett Comics on the magnificent Marvel Family.

As well as containing some of the most delightful episodes of the jovial, pre angst-anointed, cosmically catastrophic DC, these fun, thrilling and yes, occasionally deeply moving, all-ages stories also perfectly depict the changing mores and tastes which reshaped comics from the safe 1950s to the seditious, rebellious 1970s, all the while keeping to the prime directive of the industry – keep them entertained and keep them wanting more…

I certainly do…
© 1957, 1958, 1959, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Captain Action: Classic Collection


By Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Jim Shooter & various (IDW)
ISBN: 978-1- (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-64936-046-5

These days comics are about kids of varying ages looking back. So too are toys, and baby boomers like me are particularly prone to the fabled golden age and certain “must-have” items – whether we ever actually owned them or not. An added bonus comes if those toys made it to comics and vice versa…

Back then, the ultimate acme for so many of us in the UK was – no, not the Johnny Seven multi-gun, or Man from U.N.C.L.E. briefcase – but the Captain Action nine-heroes-in-1 doll (sorry, Action Figure)… 

Once upon a time comics were considered the nigh-exlusive domain of children, with many scrupulously-policed genres and subdivisions catering to particular and stratified arenas such as fact, fantasy, adventure and humour. They were even further codified by age and gender.

A particular and popular recurring theme was tapping into the guaranteed and hopefully mutual sales boost offered by licensing and cross-marketing. West Coast outfit Dell/Gold Key had early on specialised in out-industry licensing deals and adaptations…

Many titles depended on a media celebrity like Howdy Doody, Charlie Chaplin or Mickey Mouse and in America that eventually spread to the marketing of products also aimed at kids… such as sweets, cartoons and toys…

By the end of that era, comics for kids were almost exclusively released as a minor strand of a major maketing strategy. That comics like Thundercats, Micronauts, Transformers, Rom and G.I. Joe were actually good and entertaining on strictly strip terms was a happy coincidence and thanks solely to the diligent pride and efforts of the creators involved. Sadly, it also led to publishers intensifying efforts to add a toy component to their own properties. Hands up anyone out there who owns a Spider-mobile, Batboat or Supermobile…

For DC, that trend really began in 1968. Although the company – known as National Periodical Publications back then – had long benefitted from creating comics adventures of movie stars like Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis or Dale Evans and shows such as Gang Busters, A Date with Judy and Mr. District Attorney, they had stayed away from the toy biz – unless you count two issues of Showcase (#53 & 54 Novenber/December 1964 and January/February 1965) that unofficially tied-in to Hasbro’s release of the first G.I. Joe line.

Then, just as costumed superheroes boomed, peaked and began an inexorable die-back, an old connection resurfaced…

In 1964 inventor and promotions wizard Stan Weston devised a way to sell dolls to boys: a dilemma that had stumped toymakers for centuries. He devised an articulated mannequin that would represent all branches of the military and could be aurmented by add-on uniforms and equipment. He called it an “action-figure” and sold the notion to Hasbro, who marketed it with great and lasting success as G.I. Joe (in Britain it was rebranded Action Man).

With his remuneration, Weston – whose promotions company Leisure Concepts had secured representation rights to DC, Marvel and King Features characters – devised a similar boys toy figure designed to ride the then-current global superhero wave triggered by the Batman TV show. “Captain Magic” was not only a superhero in his own right but could also transform into other superheroes via costumes and masks purchased seperately…

Released in waves, these alter egos included Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Sgt. Fury, The Phantom, 2 different Lone Rangers, Tonto, Steve Canyon, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and the Green Hornet.

Weston sold this concept to Hasbro’s rival Ideal Toy Company who went all-out in producing and marketing the range. It launched in 1966, redesignated Captain Action…

A huge success, an expansion line in 1967 introduced a kid sidekick, pet panther, villains, an Action-Cave, secret lairs, a super car and lots of other paraphenalia. Latterly, distaff partner Lady Action was joined by doll versions (“Super Queens”) of Wonder Woman, Mera, Supergirl and Batgirl…

The line was an early casualty of the downturn in superheroes and discontinued in 1968. It has, however, cemented itself in popular memory, with the core character returning on many occasions. He now enjoys a new marketing company seeking to rebuild the brand, Since 2005, Catain Action Enterprises have been testing the waters and some of their efforts can bee seen as ads and addenda throughout the book…

However, back at the height if the craze that DC link led to Editor in Chief Mort Weisinger commissioning a comic book tie-in. It turned out to be one of the most lovely, powerful, experimental and maturely sophisticated titles of the era and – finally – all the legal loopholes have been circumvented so you can see it at last …or if you’re truly blessed, once again…

Weisinger tapped his youngest writer – teenager Jim Shooter – and teamed him with veterans on the potentially colossal project. Miracle-working editor Julie Schwartz was in charge, and Wally Wood started the ball rolling artistically, but the real revelation came after replacement penciller Gil Kane took over the writing…

Born Eli Katz and a pre-WWII infant immigrant from Latvia, Kane was one of the pivotal players in the development of the American comics industry, and indeed of the art form itself. Working as an artist, and an increasingly more effective and influential one, he drew for many companies from the 1940s onwards, tackling superheroes, crime, action, war, mystery, romance, animal heroes (Streak and Rex the Wonder Dog!), movie adaptations and, most importantly perhaps, Westerns and Science Fiction tales.

In the late 1950s he became one of Schwartz’s key artists in regenerating and rebooting the superhero concept. Yet by 1968, at the top of his profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by the juvenile strictures of the industry that he struck out on bold new ventures that jettisoned the editorial and format bondage of comic books for new visions and media.

His Name Is Savage was an adult-oriented black & white magazine about a cold and ruthless super-spy in the James Bond/Matt Helm/Man Called Flint mould; co-written by friend and collaborator Archie Goodwin. It was very much a precursor in tone, treatment and subject matter of many of today’s adventure titles.

His other venture, Blackmark (1971, and also with Goodwin), not only ushered in the comic book age of Sword and Sorcery, but also became one of medium’s first Graphic Novels. Technically, as the series was commissioned by fantasy publisher Ballantine as eight volumes, it was also envisioned as America’s first comic Limited Series.

Before them, though, there was Captain Action…

Edited by Schwartz with covers by Irv Novick, Wood, Kane & Dick Giordano, the entire DC run is collected here, preceded by a fulsome and informative Introduction from Mark Waid.

Unable to play with the toy’s major attraction – multiple super-personalities – Shooter & Wood instead went with classical drama for issue #1’s ‘Origin of Captain Action!’: revealing how archaeologist Clive Arno and his assistant Krellik uncover a chest of coins left in antiquity by incredible superbeings remembered by humanity as gods.

These coins allow the holder to access the incredible powers of countless deities, but the temptation proves too much for the scheming assistant.

However, when he tries to steal them, an ancient failsafe painfully prevents him…

Driven away, the scoundrel is then found by the coin vindictively created by primal God of Evil Chernobog: one which imparts astounding magical abilities and feeds his hatred. As Arno designs a costumed identity to help the world via the coins, Krellik spies on and steals his thunder, resolved to taint the project before it even begins…

Returning to America, Arno learns ‘Where the Action is’ from his son Carl, as Krellik plunders museums dressed in Arno’s proposed uniform. A swift chase then results in a cataclysmic clash and brief cameo by Superman…

Trailing his enemy, the true Captain cannot stop Krellik obtaining more deadly artefacts of the lost gods. As the first issue ends he is savagely beaten and apparently defeated before he’s even started …

With Kane pencilling Shooter’s script and Wood inking, the saga concludes in #2 as ‘The Battle Begins!’ with the victorious villain repeatedly failing to appropriate the power coins: stymied by the remarkably astute and valiant Action Boy. When Krellik’s frustration boils over and he starts wrecking the city, our recently returned hero goes all out and at last overcomes in ‘Captain Action’s Reactions!’ Kane was eager to stretch his creative muscles in a period of great change and challenge and Schwartz was happy to oblige…

Although already distressingly high in drama and calamity, the series went into overdrive with #3 as the toy company’s preferred archfoe debuted. A blue skinned humanoid with an exposed brain. Dr Evil was fleshed out as Kane wrote and pencilled ‘…And Evil This Way Comes!’, revealing how a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco caused hundreds of deaths and triggered an evolutionary aberration in the laboratory of Dr. Stefan Tracy…

The Nobel Laureate was also Arno’s father-in-law and both were united in grief over the death of his daughter (and Arno’s wife) Kathryn. They also shared an abiding love for Carl Arno.

All that seemed over when Tracy was elevated to the status of a futureman resolved to similarly improve mankind, no matter how many perished in the process…

The most telling consequence of the quake is the loss of all but a handful of power coins. Action Boy is given the superspeed inducing Mercury artefact, whilst his dad keeps the tokens of Zeus, Hercules and Heimdall (rationalising why the Captain needs cool tools like his supercar the Silver Streak), and they deploy to save lives in the aftershocks.

They are hindered and countered by Tracy/Dr. Evil: using his devices to amplify the natural disaster. His deed almost kills his grandson, until a fast-fading final shred of humanity hampers his deeds and hold back his damning hand…

The act is his last as a human being and allows the Captain a desperate chance to drive him away…

From this issue on a letters page – Action Line – was included, and they are reprinted from here on.

Kane went even more deeply into mature themes with #4 as ‘Evil at Dead World’s End!’, sees the hyper-evolved savant drawn across the universe to a dying planet peopled with beings just like him. Well, not quite: these beings are at the end of existence on a dying planet, worn out by eons and resolutely awaiting death. Dr. Evil refuses to let them go, inspiring their brief rejection of well-earned rest with the promise of a fresh young world: Earth. To offset his son-in-law’s interference, the mind master distracts the hero with a trio of rampaging monsters and cruel resurrection of dead Kathryn. The alluring spectre then implores her husband to forsake life and join her in the beyond…

The high impact dramas were far from what any kid might expect, and the series closed on an even more shocking premise as ‘A Mind Divided’ revealed a nation torn apart by a racist demagogue inciting insurrection and racial purity: a campaign polarising America’s youth and encapsulated in a single father’s descent into madness. Captain Action might be able to rescue victims, stop bombers, break up riots and beat uniformed thugs but saving a twisted soul from self-inflicted tragedy was beyond even the reach of gods…

Now, rush out and buy the Captain Action Parachute Mortar, kids…

The comics material closes with text and letters page Action Line and a reader competition – ‘The Two Faces of Dr. Evil’ – before even more avarice-inspiring found-features fill out the Captain Action Gallery.

The comics stories preceding this section were packed with ads for old and new Cap merch in the gaps originally filled by DC comics releases (some contemporarily crafted by Michael Polis) for dolls/action figures, toys, accessories, costumes, “Captain Action Action Facts!”, card & board games, choco bars, breakfast cereal, freezer pops and vintage comic book house ads and TV promos for the franchise.

Here however are full-page delights such as paintings of Captain Action; toy ads from the comics for Action Boy, Dr. Evil. Lady Action and pages from the Captain Action Yellow Book by Murphy Anderson, Kurt Schaffenberger, & Chic Stone, plus astondingly lovely original art pages and pencil art by Kane & Wood.

Although Captain Action couldn’t sustain a readership or toy-buying clientele, DC would dabble again and again with related topics (like Alex Toth & Neal Adams’s sublime Hot Wheels comic in 1970, MASK, Masters of the Universe, and DC in-house properties Mego Superheroes and Kenner’s Super Powers action figures) and publishing properities now make a large paart of every successful comics company…

The 1960s was the era when all the assorted facets of “cool-for-kids” finally started to coalesce into a comprehensive assault on our minds and our parents’ pockets. TV, movies, comics, bubble-gum cards and toys all began concertedly feeding off each other, building a unified and combined fantasy-land no kid could resist. That nostalgic force has never been more wonderfully expressed than in the stories in this book and you would be mad to miss it.
Captain Action: Classic Collection © & ™ 2022 Captain Action Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1969-1972!


By Whitney Ellsworth, E. Nelson Bridwell, Al Plastino, Nick Cardy & various (IDW)
ISBN: 987-1-63140-263-0 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Nuggets of Nostalgia to Delight All Ages… 8/10

For nearly eight decades in America newspaper comic strips were the Holy Grail cartoonists and graphic-narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country and often the planet, winning millions of readers and accepted (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books, it also paid better, with the greatest rewards and accolades being reserved for the full-colour Sunday page.

So it was always something of a poisoned chalice when a comic book character became so popular that it swam against the tide (after all, weren’t funny-books invented just to reprint strips in cheap, accessible form?) and became a syndicated serial. Superman, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle and Archie Andrews made the jump soon after their debuts and many features have done so since.

Due to war-time complications, the first Batman and Robin newspaper strip was a late entry, but when the Dynamic Duo finally hit the Funny Pages, the feature proved to be one of the best-regarded, highest quality examples of the trend, both in Daily and Sunday formats.

Somehow, it never achieved the circulation it deserved, but at least the Sundays were eventually given a new lease of life when DC began issuing complete vintage stories in the Batman 80-page Giants and Annuals in the 1960s. The exceedingly excellent all-purpose adventures were ideal short stories that added an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by simply seeing tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

Such was not the case in the mid-1960s when, for a relatively brief moment, mankind went bananas for superheroes in general and most especially went “Bat-Mad”. The comic book Silver Age revolutionised a creatively moribund medium cosily snoozing in unchallenging complacency, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the revived genre of mystery men.

For quite some time the changes instigated by Julius Schwartz (in Showcase #4, October 1956) which rippled out in the last years of that decade to affect all of National/DC Comics’ superhero characters generally passed by Batman and Robin. Fans buying Detective Comics, Batman, World’s Finest Comics and latterly Justice League of America would read adventures that – in look and tone – were largely unchanged from the safely anodyne fantasies that had turned the Dark Knight into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed Boy Scout just as the 1940s turned into the 1950s.

By the end of 1963, however, Schwartz having – either personally or by example – revived and revitalised the majority of DC’s line (and, by extension and imitation, the entire industry) with his reinvention of the Superhero, was asked to work his magic with the creatively stalled and near-cancellation Caped Crusaders.

Installing his usual team of top-notch creators, the Editor stripped down the accumulated luggage and rebooted the core-concept. Down – and usually out – went the outlandish villains, aliens and weird-transformation tales in favour of a coolly modern concentration on crime and detection. Even the art-style itself underwent a sleek streamlining and rationalisation. The most visible change for us kids was a yellow circle around the Bat-symbol but, far more importantly, the stories changed. A subtle aura of genuine menace crept back in.

At the same time, Hollywood was in production of a TV series based on Batman and, through the sheer karmic insanity that permeates the universe, the studio executives had based their interpretation not upon the “New Look Batman” currently enthralling readers, but the wacky, addictively daft material DC was emphatically turning its editorial back on.

The Batman show premiered on January 12th 1966 and ran for three seasons of 120 episodes: airing twice weekly for the first two. It was a monumental, world-wide hit that sparked a vast wave of trendy imitation. Resultant media hysteria and fan frenzy generated an insane amount of Bat-awareness, no end of spin-offs and merchandise – including a cinema movie – and introduced us all to the phenomenon of overkill.

No matter how much we comics fans might squeal and froth about it, to a huge portion of this planet’s population Batman is always going to be that “Zap! Biff! Pow!” buffoonish costumed Boy Scout…

“Batmania” exploded across Earth and then as almost as quickly became toxic and vanished, but at its height led to the creation of a fresh newspaper strip incarnation. That strip was a huge syndication success and even reached fuddy-duddy Britain, not in our papers and journals but as cover feature of weekly comic Smash! (from issue #20 onwards).

The TV show ended in March 1968. As the series foundered and faded away, global fascination with “camp” superheroes – and no, the term had nothing to do with sexual stereotyping no matter what you and Mel Brooks might think – burst as quickly as it had boomed and the Caped Crusader was left with a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who now wanted their hero back…

That ennui also finally finished the Syndicated comic strip (at least until the 1989 Batman movie), but as this final compilation proves, by the end it was – if not a failed kidnap recovery – a mercy killing…

This third hardback compilation gathers the last hurrahs of the strip, from the time when the Gotham Guardians were being pushed out of their own series and highlights a time when contracts and copyrights proved far more potent than Truth, Justice and the American Way…

As well as re-presenting the last bright and breezy, sometimes zany cartoon classics of Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder, this tome is augmented by a wealth of background material, topped up with oodles of unseen scenes and background detail to delight the most ardent Baby-boomer nostalgia-freak as well as captivating contemporary examples of the massed merchandise the TV series and comic strip spawned – such as adhesive Adventures Stickers, and house ads from Smash!…

The fun-fest opens with more informative and picture-packed, candidly cool revelations from comics historian Joe Desris in ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Newspaper Strip: Part 3’; sharing the communications between principal players and discussing how E. Nelson Bridwell became editor and then scripter on the rapidly evolving feature.

In January 1972, growing disputes between NPP (National Periodical Publications: DC’s parent company) and the Ledger Syndicate led to the latter attempting to exclude the former from the deal. When NPP withheld the strips it was contracted to produce, LS brought in an uncredited replacement creative team and published unsanctioned “bootleg” material that infringed DC’s copyright, beginning with the January 3rd episode. By the 31st, LS was completely rogue and as well as a generating a huge drop in both story and art quality, the replacements actively worked to undo all of Bridwell’s efforts to crosspollinate the strip and comic book continuities. On April 8th the syndicate dropped DC’s copyright from the strips prior to introducing their own hero – Galexo – to the feature on April 11th.

Although Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson still occasionally appeared and the title masthead stubbornly remained attention-grabbing “Batman”, the newcomer and his sidekicks Solaria and Paul were now the panel-hogging stars.

Eventually, NPP secured their intellectual property and walked away, and the strip staggered to a natural demise without DC heroes. Full details are provided by Desris in his introduction, which also shares its ultimate fate and where the feature continued until it ended…

The Introduction also offers a wonderful taste of what might have been via the unpublished episodes by Bridwell, Al Plastino & Nick Cardy that should have run from January 3rd – 15th 1972, to counterbalance the actual published material seen at the end of the volume…

Chronologically incorporating monochrome 2-4 panel dailies and full-page full colour Sundays, the series was originally scripted by former DC editor (and the company’s Hollywood liaison) Whitney Ellsworth, who’s still in charge as we recommence with a saga that began in the previous volume, drawn as ever by Plastino.

Alfred John “Al” Plastino was a prodigious artist with a stellar career. He had been active in early comic books, with credits including Captain America and Dynamic Man before serving in the US Army. His design talents were quickly recognised and he was seconded to Grumman Aerospace, The National Inventors Council and latterly The Pentagon, where he designed war posters and field manuals for the Adjutant General’s office.

In 1948, he joined DC and soon became one of Superman’s key artists. He drew many landmark stories and, with writer Otto Binder, co-created Brainiac, The Legion of Super-Heroes and Supergirl. From 1960-1969 Plastino ghosted the syndicated Superman newspaper strip and whilst still drawing Batman, also took over Ferd’nand in 1970: drawing it until his retirement in 1989.

He was extremely versatile and seemingly tireless: in 1982-1983 he drew Nancy Sundays after creator Ernie Bushmiller passed away and was controversially hired by United Media to produce fill-in episodes of Peanuts when Charles Schulz was in dispute with the company. Al Plastino died in 2013.

The new policy of guest stars from DC’s comics pantheon made Plastino the ideal choice as the strip transitioned to a tone of straight dramatic adventure and away from the campy comedy shenanigans of the TV show…

The first week of ‘My Campaign to Ruin Bruce Wayne’ (May 31st December 25th 1969) saw spoiled snob heiress Paula Vanderbroke and her brother Paul move into Wayne Manor and announce her intention of marrying Bruce. Here, when he tells her no, Paula – despite being bankrupt – dedicates all her remaining resources to crushing him and making him sorry.

Before she’s stopped, Wayne’s latest enterprise is sunk and the entire city suffers for her wounded pride and the Caped Crusader has succumbed to life-changing injuries…

Guest starring Superman, ‘Batman’s Back Is Broken!’ (December 26th 1969 to March 19th 1970) sees the Gotham Guardian laid low with the only surgeon who could fix him stuck in Mexico and unable to fly. That hurdle – amongst many others – is surmounted by the Man of Tomorrow who the steps in to impersonate Batman while he recuperates. Part of that program involves visiting a travelling show, sparking bad memories for Robin in ‘The Circus is Still Not For Sale!’ (March 20th – September 7th) as his senior partner retrains with the Fiore Family Circus. Almost immediately, a series of accidents imperil one and all, and physical therapy must give way to investigation and deduction. What that turns up is Mafia involvement…

When Wayne moves to end the threat by purchasing the show, a hidden mastermind makes a bold move by hiring a hitman to “cancel” him, but does not realise who he’s dealing with…

Bridwell began being credited as writer with the July 22nd instalment and immediately began dialling back the humorous tone in favour of darker drama, bringing the serial to a swift conclusion. With skulduggery exposed and thwarted the writer then began a bold move…

As DC’s continuity master, Bridwell began mirroring the dynamic changes punctuating a new age of relevancy in the company’s comic books, and adapted the big break-up between Batman and Robin as Dick Grayson went off to college.

‘Everything Will Be Different’ (September 8th 1970 – January 8th 1971) saw Wayne become a social activist, using his wealth to create the “Victim’s Incorporated Program” to help those who had suffered through crime. Shutting down the Batcave and Manor to work and live in the heart of Gotham City, Wayne and Alfred retooled to help the innocent as well as punish the guilty. The first survivor of crime was recent widow Mrs Whipp whose son Jeff had run away after his father was killed. She thought he might have gone to Star City to enlist the aid of Green Arrow…

Meanwhile, Dick had settled in at nearby Hudson University, meeting scientist Dr Kirk Langstrom even as Batman joined his JLA comrade there. All three heroes’ paths converged when student radicals sought to kill the runaway in their murderous efforts to create chaos and bring down “the Establishment”.

Bridwell also began overlapping storylines and before Jeff could be saved, ‘I am… Man-Bat!’ (January 8th – 14th April 1971) saw Langstrom’s experiments mutate scholar into monster, with his frantic attempts to find a cure contributing to the plot’s failure and heroes’ triumph…

Trapped in freak form, Man-Bat stows away with Batman and Jeff, and stalks Gotham in ‘Too Many Riddles – Two Many Villains’ (15th April-October 5th 1971): inadvertently stopping The Penguin killing Batman before enlisting the Dark Knight’s aid in saving himself before further mutating and flying off in panic just as Robin meets Langstrom’s fiancée Francine Lee at Hudson U.

As they all converge on Gotham, the Bird Bandit rejoins Catwoman, Riddler and The Joker who ally with another old Bat-foe for a major coup…

Despondent Francine has found Kirk and is pondering a horrific life change, whilst an army of former Bat-foes assaults Gotham, seeking to restage the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party for profit. The sinister soiree has attracted Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Killer Moth and Two-Face, but also called Batgirl out of retirement …

With Nick Cardy adding powerful moody tones to the mix, the drama built to a potent crescendo as a massive heroin deal was exposed as prompting the evil army’s antics, but in the end the assembled Bat Squad proved sufficient to the task…

The slow-boiling Man-Bat plot then overheated in ‘Hideous Newlyweds’ (October 6th – November 4th 1971) as the heroes learned of Francine’s fate after she had willing become a monster like Kirk, and the era technically ended with ‘The Secrets in Grandma Chilton’s Scrapbook’ (November 5th 1971 – January 28th 1972). Extrapolated from a character from comics, the tale revealed how a young thug inherits Chilton’s worldly goods and sees in her scrapbook that she was the mother of the man who murdered Thomas and Martha Wayne… and turned their son Bruce into Batman…

As the housekeeper of his Uncle Philip Wayne, she had reared the orphan in his formative years and deduced his secret. Now, with her death, the son of “Joe Chill” learned how his own father died because of the Dark Knight and the cycle of vengeance begins again as the young man – armed with deadly knowledge – targets Wayne and everything he loves…

We’ll never know how that so-promising, tension-drenched drama should have concluded, as pinch hitters parachuted in during the aforementioned dispute wrap up the tale on autopilot and plunge straight into feeble fable ‘Dick Grayson: Kidnapped!’ (January 29th-March 7th).

When Wayne’s ward is snatched from college the distressed hero calls in Batgirl and Superman – but only in their plainclothes personas of Babs Gordon and Clark Kent -gratuitously along to pad out the done-by-numbers rescue…

The teen has no luck but bad and ‘Dick Grayson: Skyjacked!’ (March 8th – April 3rd 1972) then sees his passenger flight home seized by a terrorist, before the kid steps in to save himself this time…

The end comes none too soon in ‘The Duo Becomes a Trio’ (April 4th – 1972 and beyond) with Bruce and Dick recruiting mystery champion Galexo to help them put the team on a global footing. The World’s Worst dressed telepath has his own team but will join for now, beginning with the mastermind igniting volcanoes in Antarctica…

The book stops here but the strip apparently continued awhile longer in overseas papers – represented here in another 17 full pages of Batman with Robin and Galexo from Australian and Singapore papers. I found them utterly unreadable but maybe you’re tough enough to handle it…

The majority of stories in this compendium reveal how gentler, stranger times and an editorial policy focusing as much on broad humour as Batman’s reputation as a crime-fighter was swiftly turned to all-out action adventure once Batmania gave way to global overload and ennui. That was bad for the strip at the time but happily resulted in some truly wonderful adventures for die-hard fans of the comic book Caped Crusader. If you’re of a certain age or open to timeless thrills, spills and chills this a truly stunning collection well worth your attention.

Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1969-1972! concludes huge (305 x 236 mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Caped Crusaders, and is a glorious addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and so many other cartoon icons.

If you love the era, the medium or just graphic narratives, these stories are great comics reading, and this is a book you simply must have.
© 2016 DC Comics. All rights reserved. Batman and all related characters and elements ™ DC Comics

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Super-Friends: Saturday Morning Comics volume 2


By E. Nelson Bridwell, Bob Rozakis, Martin Pasko, Bob Oksner, Ramona Fradon, Kurt Schaffenberger, Romeo Tanghal, Joe Staton, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta & Kim DeMulder with Alex Toth & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0592-7 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Absolute Entertainment Perfection… 9/10

Once upon a time comics were primarily created with kids in mind and, whilst I’d never advocate exclusively going back to those days, the modern industry has for the longest time sinned by not properly addressing the needs and tastes of younger fans these days. Happily, DC has latterly been rectifying the situation with a number of 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 massive tome. And don’t stress the title: it may celebrate the joys of past childhood shows but this is definitely a great big Sunday “settle back and luxuriate” treat…

The Super Friends: Saturday Morning Comics gathers comic book tales spun off from a popular Saturday Morning TV Cartoon show of the 1970s: one that – thanks to the canny craftsmanship and loving invention of primary scripter E. Nelson Bridwell – became an integral and unmissable component of the greater DC Universe, as a well a key supplier of fresh fodder to enhance its all-encompassing omniverse. So very many of his supporting characters became superstars in their own right and trappings such as the junior characters, villains and the Hall of Justice are now key components of today’s overarching continuity…

The Super Friends was also one of the most universally thrilling and satisfying superhero titles of the period for older fans: featuring the type of smart and 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…

Under various guises, the TV show Super Friends ran from 1973 to 1986: a vehicle for established television-alumni Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, supplemented by a succession of studio-originated kids as student crimebusters. The show also offered airtime to occasional guest stars from the DCU on a case by case basis. The animated show made a hugely successful transition to print as part of the publisher’s 1976 foray into “boutiqued” comics which saw titles with television connections cross-marketed as “DC TV Comics”.

Child-friendly Golden Age revival Shazam! – the Original Captain Marvel had been adapted into a popular live action series and its Saturday Morning silver screen stablemate The Secrets of Isis consequently reversed the process by becoming 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 little 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 10 issues…

This massive mega-extravaganza (the second of 2) gathers Super Friends #27-47, The Super Friends Special #1, The Best of DC: Blur Ribbon Digest #3, Limited Collectors’ Edition C-41 and Super Friends!: Truth Justice and Peace! (collectively spanning December 1979 to August 1981), ending the initial run whilst sharing material from assorted reprints and one-shots.

The majority of stories were by E. Nelson Bridwell & Ramona Fradon (Aquaman; Batman; Metamorpho the Element Man; The Brave and the Bold; Brenda Starr, Reporter). Bridwell (Secret Six; Inferior Five; Batman; Superman; The Flash; Batman and Robin newspaper strip; Legion of Super-Heroes; Captain Marvel/Shazam!) had been one of the art form’s earliest mega-fans, turning his hobby into a career in the 1950s.

He was justly renowned as DC’s Keeper of Lore and Continuity Cop – thanks to an astoundingly encyclopaedic knowledge of publishing minutiae and ability to instantly recall every damn thing about anything! Thankfully, he was also an ingenious and supremely witty writer. Fradon was a pioneering artist who also got her start in the 1950s, graced with a uniquely smooth and accessible style. She became one of comics’ earliest (acknowledged!) female artists and was a fan-favourite for generations.

Neither Bridwell or Fradon considered working at the junior end of the market as in any way less important or prestigious than the auteur/adult drama sector just starting to manifest in the American industry…

When Super Friends first aired, the costumed champions were mentors to two kids and their pet: tasked with training the next generation of superheroes. Without warning or explanation, Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog were replaced for the second television season by alien shapeshifters Zan and Jayna and their elastic-tailed space monkey Gleek. In the comics – with more room to extrapolate and far more consideration for the fans – Bridwell turned the cast change into an extended epic.

When 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 – came to Earth with an urgent warning they saved the world and were marooned here.

Their integration became an ongoing plot strand with the adults (and Robin) not only training Zan and Jayna, but also jointly acclimating them and introducing them into human society…

This concluding compilation of thrilling fun resumes with The Super Friends #27 and ‘The Spacemen Who Stole Atlantis!’ (Bridwell, Fradon & inker Bob Smith) sees domed undersea city Poseidonis stolen away by ruthlessly curious alien scientists who had not factored in Earth’s greatest defenders.

Inked by Vince Colletta, the next issue detailed a ‘Masquerade of Madness!’ in a Halloween yarn packed with guest stars (including Etrigan the Demon, Solomon Grundy, Man-Bat, Swamp Thing and Jimmy “wolfboy” Olsen) as mystic malcontent Felix Faust crashes a costume ball, trapping attendees in their outfits until Bruce Wayne hands over a certain magical gem… And that’s when the other – untransformed – Super Friends step in…

Another extraterrestrial invasion by colonising invaders seeking to evict humanity manifests in #29, with the new bosses wielding technology that seems to make all resistance futile. However, Wonder Woman and the Wonder Twins find a work-around meaning the war can be won by the heroes making themselves ‘Invisible Defenders of Earth!’

The issue also offers an adventure of the Wonder Twins, who now have secret identities and live in the home of guardian Professor Carter Nichols – Bruce Wayne’s science advisor/time travel expert who debuted in Batman #24, August 1944.

Here Bridwell, Kurt Schaffenberger & Smith establish the ‘Scholars from the Stars’ as transfer students at Gotham Central High, but John and Joanna Fleming are soon being stalked by curious classmates eager to learn all they can about the strange newcomers…

Nichols plays a major role in #30 as Fradon-illustrated ‘Gorilla Warfare Against the Humans!’ sees the heroes battle super-primate Grodd and his ally Giganta as they deploy their new tech to transform men into apes…

Guest stars were always a big draw and #31’s ‘How to Trap an Orchid!’ (inked by Colletta) saw DC’s most enigmatic hero targeted and framed by a ruthless enemy and helped by the Friends before Schaffenberger pencilled and Smith inked #32’s ‘The Scarecrow Fights with Fear!’ as the Tyrant of Terror afflicts the heroes with crippling weaponised personal phobias that only teamwork and determination can overcome

Fradon & Colletta combine for ‘The Secret of the Stolen Solitaire!’ as obsessive old enemy Menagerie Man returns, still using trained animals to commit spectacular robberies. His schemes are derailed when Jayna becomes a famously extinct creature and is “captured”, leading the heroes and visiting VIP Hawkman to his lair and the Winged Wonder’s captive sidekick Big Red…

With #34, two stories per issue became the norm, leading with Bridwell, Fradon & Colletta’s ‘The Creature That Slept a Million Years!’, in which a hibernating beast awakened on Earth causes inadvertent chaos, balanced by ‘The Boss and the Beast’ as John and Joanna Fleming help their favourite teacher by saving her husband from a crooked boss fitting him up for a life of crime…

Romeo Tanghal & Smith illustrate full-length spectacle ‘Circus of the Super-Stars’ as the Super Friends and their showbiz impersonators trade places to outwit crooks targeting a massive charity event, before #36 bifurcates with a brace of tales limned by Tanghal & Colletta. First up is ‘Warhead Strikes at Gotham’ with Plastic Man and Woozy Winks tracking a war-mongering maniac and overlapping with the Super Friends battle to stop a paramilitary criminal force, after which The Wonder Twins visit a museum in their school personas and discover the shocking truth about ‘The Dinosaur Demon!’

Fradon & Colletta depict #37’s ‘Bad Weather for Supergirl!’ as the Kryptonian Crime-crusher (in her then-current day job as teacher) brings a class to Gotham just as the Weather Wizard goes on a rampage. Kara’s problem is not the villain’s outrages but that her kids seem far more impressed by the late-arriving superteam than their own hometown hero…

Drama is balanced by rampant fantasy in support story ‘The Giant Who Shrunk Ireland!’, with Bridwell’s creation Jack O’Lantern using his magical gifts to save the Celtic fairy realms from an awakened Fomorean Giant.

Jack was one of a number of international heroes Bridwell and Fradon devised, who grew in popularity and were eventually retrofitted into a team dubbed the Global Guardians. Another debuted in a solo spot at the back of #38, after ‘The Fate of the Phantom Super Friends’ (art by Fradon & Colletta), which saw alien tyrant Grax recruit and arm Earth gangsters to take revenge on his enemies. Then Bob Oksner & DeMulder illustrate ‘The Seraph’s Day of Atonement’ as Bridwell relocates his Israeli holy warrior to a new Jewish settlement in disputed territory just in time to save it from bandits pretending to be Arab terrorists. When, in his righteous anger, he goes too far in punishing the evildoers, he faces divine consequences…

Another former foe resurfaces in #39 with a sinister scheme to create hyper-evolved clones of the only being he trusts… himself. However, ‘The ‘Future’ Son of Overlord!’ (Fradon & Colletta) proves insufficient to the demands and the demise of “Futurio” only results in Overlord cruelly retrenching, after which the human-seeming Wonder Twins discover nightclubs are another place crazy crime can occur in ‘The Boogie Mania Will Get You’ (Tanghal & Collett)…

Inked by Kim DeMulder, #40’s lead tale ‘Menace of the Mixed-Up Senses!’ pits the heroes against a vindictive scientist creating disasters by scrambling perceptions, before Jack O’Lantern returns to teach a smooth-talking conman a life lesson in ‘Blarney for Sale!’ (Bridwell, Tanghal & DeMulder)

Bob Rozakis joins Fradon & Colletta in detailing ‘The Toyman’s Tricky Thefts!’ as the veteran villain attacks a Christmas toy convention as prelude to his true diabolical plan, whilst the rear guard of #41 witnesses Oksner write & illustrate ‘Dry Earth… Stolen Waters’ as The Seraph foils an industrial spy stealing the secrets of an experimental desalination device…

In Seasonal Special #42, Bridwell, Tanghal & Colletta debut Brazilian hero Beatriz Da Costa (AKA Green Fury, Green Flame and/or Fire) who joins the Wayne Foundation just in time to help the Super Friends defeat a vegetation-controlling villain in ‘How Green Was My Gotham!’ and still leave room for the Wonder Twins to enjoy ‘A Christmas with Everything!’ in a heartwarming tale of family and little miracles…

Overlord tries again in #43, unleashing ‘Futurio Times Ten!’ to destroy the collegiate heroes, (and Green Fury) but fails when the over-evolved clone develops an unholy fascination with potential mate Wonder Woman, after which Plastic Man bounces back in ‘Mouth-Trap!’ by Pasko, Staton & Smith, taking down thieving shock jock Lou Kwashus – AKA Chatterbox…

Issue #44 leads with Bridwell, Tanghal & Colletta’s ‘Peril of the Forgotten Identities!’ as a menace from the Wonder Twins’ homeworld warps the memories of the team leaving Zan, Jayna & Beatriz to save the day. As counterpoint, Jack O’Lantern then solves a snag in the (super)natural order by ensuring ‘The Death-Cry of the Banshee!’ is heard by the right person…

The “International Heroes” who would become Global Guardians (Rising Sun, Bushmaster, Olympian, Wild Huntsman, Godiva and Little Mermaid) were formally gathered by immortal wizard Doctor Mist in #45 and united with the Super Friends to defeat ‘The Man Who Collected Villains!’

Another classic by Bridwell, Tanghal & Colletta, it pits the merged squads against uber-baddie The Conqueror and his personal Doom Legion – Hector Hammond, Kanjar Ro, Queen Bee, Sinestro, Time Trapper and World-Beater – in a brutal clash that concludes in the next issue.

Before that though, courtesy of Pasko, Staton & Smith, Plastic Man & Woozy discover ‘One of Our Barbarians Is Missing!’ and must halt the rampage of a temporarily-deranged movie swordsman being manipulated by devious crooks…

The frantic Fights ‘n’ Tights clash then results in ‘The Conqueror’s Greatest Conquest!’ (Bridwell, Tanghal & Colletta) – and ultimate downfall before The Seraph battles an ‘Echo of Evil’ and the ghosts of Masada (look it up) in an all-Oksner thriller.

The comic book Super Friends ended with #47: a 25-page epic by Bridwell, Tanghal & Colletta detailing the origin of Green Fury, a plane of animal spirits and ‘The Demons from the Green Hell!’ whose actions sought to unmake the world until the team stepped up…

Times and tastes were changing and it would be years until superheroes – and not toy tie-ins – for kids were a viable option again: when once again TV led that march with breakthrough adaptations of Batman, Superman and Justice League Animated Series…

Here and now, this epic collation closes with series designer Alex Toth’s 1976 cover for Limited Collectors’ Edition C-41 and The Best of DC: Blur Ribbon Digest #3 (January-February 1980) cover by José Luis García-López & Bob Smith. Also on view is Ross Andru & Dick Giordano’s cover from The Super Friends Special #1 1981 and Toth’s frontage from the 2003 Super Friends!: Truth Justice and Peace! trade paperback collection.

Sublimely resplendent in the rich flavours and simple joys of DC’s Silver Age boom, and with covers by Fradon, Smith, Schaffenberger, Tanghal, & Colletta, this concluding 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.
© 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 2003, 2020 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Boo$ter Gold: Future Lost


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Superman vs. Shazam!


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Superman: Strange Attractors


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Other History of the DC Universe


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Superman & Batman vs Vampires & Werewolves


By Kevin VanHook & Tom Mandrake (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2292-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

The Man of Tomorrow and the Dark Knight are two characters who have, for the most part, escaped their lowly comics origins to join a meta-fictional literary landscape populated by the likes of Mickey Mouse, Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes. As such their recognition factor outside our industry means that they get to work in places and with other properties that might not appeal to funny-book purists.

Take for example this out-of-print tale that piles on heaped helpings of monster-bashing, and which, despite a host of guest-stars, felt on release more like a test launch than a assured hit and has since become as vanishingly vaporous as its arcane antagonists…

Superman & Batman vs. Vampires & Werewolves is an intriguing, if flawed, oddment (with one of the clunkiest titles ever imagined) that should have appealed to the casual reader, especially if they’re not too adamantly wedded to the comic book roots and continuity of the DC Universe.

Prowling the streets of Gotham City, Batman comes across a partially devoured corpse and is promptly boots-deep in an invasion of mindless berserker vampires and werewolves who turn the city into a charnel house. Helpless to combat or contain the undead rampage, the Caped Crimebuster accepts the aid of enigmatic (but rational) vampire Marius Dimeter and his lycanthropic counterpart Janko who grudgingly ally themselves with the hero to track down Herbert Combs – a truly deranged scientist resolved to traffic with the Realms Beyond.

To facilitate his goals, Combs turned Janko and Dimeter into the accursed creatures they are and unleashed his plague of horrors on America to further his research. The bonkers boffin is infecting more helpless humans and has become an actual portal for Lovecraftian beasts to invade our reality…

Superman joins the fray just as one of these Elder God nightmares is unleashed, but even after its defeat he’s no real help: hampered more by his ethical nature than utter vulnerability to magic. Far greater aid is provided by super-naturalist Jason Blood and his Demonic alter-ego, whilst Kirk Langstrom – who can transform into the monstrous Man-Bat at will – provides both scientific and brutally efficient clean-up assistance.

Fellow harder-edged heroes such as Wonder Woman, Nightwing and Green Arrow turn up and join the battle to great effect, but after their admittedly impressive cameos and participatory contributions inexplicably wander off before the overarching threat is ended…

Nuh-uuh! Once a team-up begins, comics guys (who aren’t paid big bucks like big-name guest actors) don’t leave until the day is saved!!

So it’s up to the headliners – with Dimeter and Janko – to finally restore order and normality, even though the cost is high both in blood and convictions…

At the last, the superheroes are – relatively – victorious, but the ending is rather ambiguous and leaves the impression that the whole affair has been a pilot for a Dimeter spin-off…

This was clearly a break-out publishing project, aimed at drawing in new readerships like those occasional movie tie-ins that drive professional fans crazy, and on that level the daft and inconsistent plot can be permitted, if not fully forgiven.

VanHook (Flash Gordon, Bloodshot, G.I. Joe, Red Tornado) makes more films than comics these days and the tale is certainly most effective on the kind of action and emotional set-pieces one sees in blockbuster flicks: so even if there are far too many plot holes big enough to drive a hearse through, the sensorial ride should carry most readers through. Most importantly, the moody art of Tom Mandrake (Grimjack, The Spectre, Batman, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter) is – as ever – astoundingly powerful: dark, brooding and fully charged for triumph and tragedy…

So if not perhaps for every reader, there’s a great deal of sinful pleasure to be found here. And let’s face it: who doesn’t like monster stories or finding out “who would win if”…
© 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.