Category: Superman

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 3


By Jim Shooter, E. Nelson Bridwell, Otto Binder, Curt Swan, George Klein, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney & George Papp (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2185-0 (TPB)

Once upon a time, in the far future, a band of super-powered kids from a multitude of worlds took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and formed a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

And thus began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino in early 1958, just as the revived comicbook genre of superheroes was gathering an inexorable head of steam. Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten over and over again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This third sturdy, action-packed monochrome compendium gathers a chronological parade of futuristic delights from October 1966 to May 1968, as originally seen in Adventure Comics #349-368, and includes a Legion story from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106 (October 1967).

During this period the Club of Champions finally shed the last vestiges of wholesome, imaginative, humorous and generally safe science fiction strips to become a full-on dramatic action feature starring a grittily realistic combat force in constant, galaxy-threatening peril: a compelling force of valiant warriors ready and willing to pay the ultimate price for their courage and dedication…

The main architect of the transformation was teenaged sensation Jim Shooter, whose scripts and layouts (usually finished and inked by veterans Curt Swan & George Klein) made the series accessible to a generation of fans growing up in the Future…

The tense suspense begins with Adventure #349’s ‘The Rogue Legionnaire!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) wherein Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 hunt hypnotic villain Universo through five periods of Earth’s history, aided by boy-genius Rond Vidar, a brilliant scientist with a tragic secret…

This is followed by a stellar 2-parter from #350-351 scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell which restores a number of invalided or expelled members to the team. In ‘The Outcast Super-Heroes’, a cloud of Green Kryptonite particles envelope Earth and force Superboy and Supergirl to retire from the Legion just as demonic alien Evillo unleashes his squad of deadly metahuman minions on the universe.

The Kryptonian Cousins are mind-wiped and replaced by armoured and masked paladins Sir Prize and Miss Terious in ‘The Forgotten Legion!’ but quickly return when a solution to the K Cloud is found. With Evillo’s eventual defeat, the team discover the wicked overlord has healed one-armed Lightning Lad and restored Bouncing Boy’s power for his own nefarious purposes, and together with the reformed White Witch and rehabilitated Star Boy and Dream Girl, the Legion’s ranks grow and might swell to bursting point.

That’s a very good thing as in the next issue Shooter, Swan & Klein produce one of their most stunning epics. When a colossal cosmic entity known as the Sun Eater menaces the United Planets, the Legion are hopelessly outmatched and forced to recruit the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals to help them save civilisation.

However, The Persuader, Emerald Empress, Mano, Tharok and Validus are untrustworthy allies at best and form an alliance as ‘The Fatal Five!’, intending to save the galaxy only so that they can rule it…

Adventure #353 reveals how the Five seemingly seal their own fate through arrogance and treachery with the true cost of heroism paid when ‘The Doomed Legionnaire!’ sacrifices his life to destroy the solar parasite…

Issue #354 introduced ‘The Adult Legion!’ when Superman travelled into the future to visit his grown-up comrades – discovering tantalising hints of events that would torment and beguile LSH fans for decades to come – before the yarn concluded with #355’s ‘The War of the Legions!’ as Brainiac 5, Cosmic Man, Element Man, Polar Man, Saturn Woman and Timber Wolf, accompanied by the most unexpected allies of all, battled the Legion of Super-Villains.

The issue also included an extra tale in ‘The Six-Legged Legionnaire!’ (by Otto Binder, Swan & Klein) wherein Superboy brings his High School sweetie Lana Lang to the 30th century, where she joins in a mission against a science-tyrant as bug-based shape-shifting Insect Queen. Disaster soon strikes though when the alien ring which facilitates her changes is lost, trapping her in a hideous insectoid incarnation.

Issue #356 sees Dream Girl, Mon-El, Element Lad, Brainiac 5 and Superboy transformed into babies to become ‘The Five Legion Orphans!’: a cheeky, cunning Bridwell-scripted mystery leading into darker matters as repercussions and guilt of the Sun-Eater episode are explored and survivors of that mission are apparently haunted by ‘The Ghost of Ferro Lad!’ (#357, by Shooter, Swan & Klein), after which ‘The Hunter!’ (Shooter & George Papp) sees the LSH stalked by a murderously insane sportsman with a unique honour code.

Adventure #359 depicts the once-beloved champions disbanded and on the run as ‘The Outlawed Legionnaires!’ (Shooter, Swan & Klein) thanks to manipulations of a devious old foe, only to rousingly regroup, counter-attack and triumph in #360’s ‘The Legion Chain Gang!’.

Illustrated by Jim Mooney, and with the superhero squad once more a key component of United Planets Security, the Legion are assigned as secret service to protect alien ambassadors The Dominators from political agitators, assassins and a hidden traitor in tense thriller ‘The Unkillables!’, before ‘The Lone Wolf Legion Reporter!’ (from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #106, October 1967, by Shooter & Pete Costanza) finds the young newsman seconded to the 30th century to help with the club newspaper. Sadly, he’s far better at making news than publishing it…

The team is scattered across three worlds in Adventure Comics #362 as mad scientist Mantis Morlo refuses to let environmental safety interfere with his experiments in ‘The Chemoids are Coming!’, culminating in a lethally ‘Black Day for the Legion!’…

Shooter & Costanza then top that gripping 2-parter by uncovering ‘The Revolt of the Super-Pets!’ in #364, when the crafty rulers of planet Thanl seek to seduce the animal adventurers from their rightful – subordinate – positions with sweet words and palatial new homes.

When the isolated world of Talok 8 goes dark and becomes a militaristic threat to the UP, their planetary champion Shadow Lass leads Superboy, Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy and Karate Kid on a reconnaissance mission which results in the cataclysmic ‘Escape of the Fatal Five!’ (illustrated by Swan & Klein). The vicious quintet then nearly conquer the UP itself: only frustrated by the defiant, last-ditch efforts of the battered heroes in blistering conclusion ‘The Fight for the Championship of the Universe!’

In grateful thanks, the Legion are gifted a vast new HQ but before the paint is even dry, a vast paramilitary force attempts to invade, slowly reconstructing planet Earth in #367’s ‘No Escape from the Circle of Death!’ (Shooter, Swan, Klein & Sheldon Moldoff), before this volume ends on a note of political and social tension as a glamorous alien envoy attempts to suborn the diminished and downtrodden female Legionnaires in #368’s ‘The Mutiny of the Super-Heroines!’

The Legion of Super-Heroes is unquestionably one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in comic book history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became American Comics Fandom. These scintillating, seductively addictive stories, as much as Julie Schwartz’s Justice League, fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of readers to underpin the industry we all know today.

If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman – The Atomic Age Sundays volume 1: 1945-1953


By Alvin Schwartz, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye (IDW/DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-262-3 (HB)

It’s indisputable that the American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be an utterly unrecognisable thing without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s bold and unprecedented invention was fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation and quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. He was also shamelessly copied and adapted by many inspired writers and artists for numerous publishers, spawning an incomprehensible army of imitators and variations within three years of his summer 1938 debut.

The intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and triumphal wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel soon grew to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction, fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East also engulfed America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

In comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming and dictating the shape of the fledgling funnybook industry, the Man of Tomorrow relentlessly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as the epitome and acme of comics creation, the truth is that very soon after his debut in Action Comics #1 the Man of Steel became a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse.

Diehard comics fans regard our purest and most powerful icons in primarily graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Black Panther, The Avengers and all their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew four-colour origins and are now also fully mythologized modern mass media creatures, instantly familiar across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have viewed or heard the Man of Steel than have ever read his comic books. His globally syndicated newspaper strips alone reached untold millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around at the very start of what we know as the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial regular and starred in a series of astounding animated cartoons, as well as two films and a novel by George Lowther.

Superman was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and had just ended his first smash live-action television serial. In his future were three more shows (Superboy, Lois & Clark and Smallville), a stage musical, a franchise of blockbuster movies and an almost seamless succession of games, bubblegum cards and TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even superdog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

However, during his formative years the small screen was simply an expensive novelty so the Action Ace achieved true mass market fame through a different medium: one not that far removed from his print origins.

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for most of the last century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers aimed for. Syndicated across country – and frequently the planet – they were seen by millions of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books. Strips also paid far better and rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were made to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them consequently grew to be part of global culture. Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more evolved beyond humble, tawdry newsprint to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar.

Some still do…

Even so, it was always something of a risky double-edged sword when comic book characters become so popular that they swim against the tide (after all weren’t the funny-books invented just to reprint strips in cheap accessible form?) to became actual mass-entertainment – and often global – syndicated serial strips.

Superman was the first comic book character to make that leap – about six months after he exploded out of Action Comics – but only a few have ever successfully followed. Wonder Woman, Batman (eventually) and groundbreaking teen icon Archie Andrews made the jump in the 1940s with only a handful such as Spider-Man, Howard the Duck and Conan the Barbarian having done so since.

The daily Superman newspaper comic strip launched on 16th January 1939, augmented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by Siegel & Shuster and their studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth task soon required the additional artistic gifts of Jack Burnley and ancillary writers Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz. The McClure Syndicate feature ran from 1939 until May 1966 and at its peak appeared in over 300 daily and 90 Sunday newspapers: a combined readership surpassing 20 million.

For most of the post-war years, Boring & Stan Kaye illustrated the spectacular Sundays (latterly supplemented by Win Mortimer and Curt Swan). The majority of strips – from 1944 to 1958 – were written by still largely unsung scribe Alvin Schwartz. Born in 1916, Schwartz was an early maestro of comic books, writing Batman, Superman, Captain Marvel and for many other titles and companies. Whilst handling the Superman strip he also freelanced on Wonder Woman and other superheroes as well as DC genre titles such as Tomahawk, Buzzy, A Date with Judy and House of Mystery.

After numerous clashes with new superman Editor Mort Weisinger, Schwartz quit comics for commercial writing: selling novels, essays, documentaries and docudramas for the National Film Board of Canada. He worked miracles in advertising and market research, developing selling techniques like psychographics and typological identification. A member of the advisory committee to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, he died in 2011.

After too many years wallowing in obscurity most of Superman’s newspaper strip exploits are at last available to aficionados and the curious newcomer in tomes such as this compiled under the auspices of the Library of American Comics.

Showcasing Schwartz & artist Wayne Boring in their purest prime, these Sundays (numbered as pages #521 to #698 collectively spanning October 23rd 1949 to March 15th 1953) star a nigh-omnipotent Man of Steel in domestically-framed tales of emotional dilemma and pedestrian criminality rather than a parade of muscle-flexing bombast. Here humour, wit and satire comfortably replace angst and bludgeoning action.

Following an affable appreciation of the creators and the times in Mark Waid’s ‘An Introduction’, ‘A Wayne Boring Gallery’ offers a tantalising selection of contemporaneous Superman and Action Comics covers before weekly wonderment commences in all its vibrant glory. Sadly, the serials are untitled, so you’ll just have to manage with my meagre synopses of individual yarns…

Kicking off is a charming fantasy as the Metropolis Marvel is temporarily stranded in Arthurian Britain after a US government time travel experiment goes awry. Whilst living in the past he befriends and assists court magician Merlin: an old duffer whose conjuring tricks aren’t fooling anyone anymore…

The first new tale of 1950 begins on February 12th, detailing how swindler Joseph Porter cons the Man of Steel into taking his place and clearing up his problems with cops and numerous gulled victims. This includes a hilarious spoofing sequence as the hero plays un-matchmaker to a scandalously-affianced hillbilly ingenue that will delight fans of Li’l Abner…

The extended saga opening on May 28th offers another human-interest drama given a super-powered spin: two aging robber barons recalling their regulation-free heydays before embarking on a ruthless wager to see who will get “anything they wish for” first. The only limitations imposed are their imaginations and financial resources. Before long Superman is hard-pressed to keep collateral casualties to a minimum…

One of the few antagonists to transfer from funnybooks to the Funny pages was fifth dimensional prankster Mr. Mxyztplk who popped back to our third dimension and took instant umbrage to an arrogant Earth educator. Dr. Flipendale had the temerity to declare the imp a mass delusion and refused to believe or even acknowledge the escalating chaos his stark pronouncements triggered…

Strip #573 (October 22nd) offers a different take on the classic secret identity crisis as Clark is exposed as an invulnerable man to all of Metropolis. Although gangsters are convinced, Lois Lane is not, claiming the underworld is perpetrating a frame-up…

That yarn takes us to years’ end and 1951 opens on January 7th with a tale of suspicion and injustice as Clark heads back to childhood hometown Smallville to celebrate Superboy Week and encounters a young man nursing an ancient grudge. When the poison pen/rumour campaign looks set to spoil festivities, the hero’s investigations uncover a betrayed child, a framed, murdered father and nefarious clandestine misdeeds carried out by corporate rogues in the Boy of Steel’s name…

Another identity crisis bedevils Clark beginning on April 1st. A killer’s case of mistaken identity seemingly exposes the reporter as super-strong and bulletproof. Surely, he must be the indomitable Man of Steel in disguise? Not according to Professor Pinberry who believes our hapless scribe has been accidentally exposed to his new superpower ray machine, Clark is happy to grasp at the fortuitous alibi but trouble mounts after the public demands to see the machine in action again and the city’s biggest mobster goes after the gadget to make himself Superman’s equal.

Strip #609 commenced on July 1st as aged duffer Salem Cooley comes to Metropolis and enjoys the most miraculous winning streak in history. Even Superman’s astounding powers can’t keep up with the string of happy circumstances, fortuitously profitable accidents and close shaves. Everybody wants to be the old coot’s pal, so who then is behind the constant assassination attempts on superstitious Salem… and what reward could possibly tempt anyone to challenge the luckiest man alive?

September 9th saw Superman agree to write Daily Planet articles about some of his previous exploits to benefit crime prevention charities. However, when capers he cites are restaged by mysterious malefactors, the city soon turns against the Man of Tomorrow and it takes all his super-wits to uncover the mastermind behind it all and quash one of the boldest crimes in the city’s history…

To lure a crime boss out, the Action Ace agrees to be absent Metropolis for a few weeks in the next adventure (running November 18th 1951 – January 13th 1952). However, when a poverty-struck boy succumbs to disease and depression, the Man of Might opts to return undercover, inspiring the kid’s recovery by granting wishes made on a “magic wand”. The task becomes increasingly difficult after crooks get hold of the stick and the invisible hero has to play along to sustain little Teddy’s recuperation…

From January 20th, Superman plays guardian angel to former wastrel and drunken playboy Reggie de Peyster who swears he’s a reformed character. Nobody but Superman realises the trust fund brat is sincere and all the appalling, shameful scandals he’s currently implicated in are being manufactured to cut him out of a vast inheritance…

Lois Lane takes centre stage from April 6th as, after months of being sidelined, the daring reporter quits her job to find a career offering some real excitement. She’s soon assistant to private detective Mike Crain: catching crooks and bodyguarding glamourous stars, but the work seems dull and pedestrian. Of course, Lois is utterly oblivious to the fact Superman is secretly intervening: patriarchal efforts to get her back where she belongs. Ah, different times, eh?

When maverick Hollywood producer/director Hans Bower arrives in Metropolis, (from June 29th he promptly declares Clark to be his latest mega-sensational super-star. A force of nature unable to take no for an answer, Hans soon has the bewildered reporter helming his next box office blockbuster. As shooting progresses, however, Superman uncovers a covert agenda and shocking secret behind the mogul’s extraordinary actions.

Uncanny crime is the order of the day from September 21st when bizarre illusions plague Metropolis and scientist Dr. Wagonrod accuses Superman of perpetrating hoaxes and staging crises due to an undiagnosed split personality. The truth is far more devious than that…

Concluding this first Atomic Age collection, November 30th 1952 to March 15th 1953 found readers avidly watching the skies when an alien capsule fell to Earth and disgorged a succession of alien bio-weapons to test humanity. Superman was hard-pressed to defeat the army of bizarre beasts but did have one immeasurable advantage: the sage advice and input of life-long science fiction fan Sedgwick Ripple…

The Atomic Age Superman: – Sunday Pages 1949-1953! was the first of three huge (312 x 245 mm), lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Man of Steel and a welcome addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Lil Abner, Tarzan, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many of the abovementioned cartoon icons.

It’s an unimaginable joy to see these neglected Superman stories again, offering a far more measured, domesticated and comforting side of one of America’s most unique contributions to world culture. It’s also a pure delight to see some of the most engaging yesterdays of the Man of Tomorrow. Join me and see for yourself and agitate for the entire library to find time to release digital editions…
© 2015 DC Comics. All rights reserved. SUPERMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics.

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Blue Beetle Graduation Day


By Josh Trujillo & Adrián Gutiérrez, with Wil Quintana, Lucas Gattoni & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-2324-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

As the most recent incarnation of the vintage and venerable Blue Beetle brand at last makes the jump from comic book limbo and kids’ animation into live action movie madness, the event sparked a new comics miniseries bridging the teen hero’s old life and new comic book series. Here that is…

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1, published by Fox Comics and cover-dated August 1939. The eponymous lead character was created by Charles Nicholas (AKA Charles Wojtkowski) as a pulp-styled mystery man and born nomad. Over years and crafted by a Who’s Who of extremely talented creators, the Beetle was also inexplicably popular and hard to kill: surviving the collapse of numerous publishers before ending up as a Charlton Comics property in the mid-1950s.

After a few issues sporadically published, the company shelved him until the superhero revival of the early 1960s when Joe Gill, Roy Thomas, Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico revised and revived the character in a 10-issue run (June 1964, February 1966). Cop-turned-adventurer Dan Garrett was reinvented an archaeologist, educator and scientist who gained super-powers whenever he activated a magic scarab with the trigger phrase “Khaji Da!”

Some months later, Steve Ditko (with scripter Gary Friedrich) utterly reimagined the Blue Beetle. Ted Kord was an earnest and brilliant young researcher who had been a student and friend of Professor Garrett and when his mentor seemingly died in action, Kord trained himself to replace him: a purely human inventor/combat acrobat, bolstered by ingenious technology. This latter version joined DC’s pantheon during Crisis on Infinite Earths, earning a solo series and quirky immortality partnered with Booster Gold in Justice League International and beyond…

When Kord was murdered in the run up to Infinite Crisis, it led to all-out war across realities and at the height of the linked catastrophes El Paso high-schooler Jaime Reyes found a weird blue jewel shaped like a bug. That night, as he slept, it invaded him and turned him into a bizarre insectoid warrior. suddenly gifted with great powers, and revealed how some heroes are remade, not born – especially when a sentient scarab jewel affixes itself to your spine and transforms you into an armoured bio-weapon. Almost instantly, he was swept up in the chaos, joining Batman and other heroes in a climactic space battle.

Inexplicably returned home, Jaime revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in his hometown but had to rapidly adjust to huge changes. Best bud Paco had joined a gang of super-powered freaks, he learned the local crime mastermind was the foster-mom of his other best bud Brenda, and scary military dude named Christopher Smith (The Peacemaker) started hanging around. He claimed the thing in Jaime was malfunctioning alien tech, not life-affirming Egyptian magic that he also had an unwelcome and involuntary connection to…

That led to a secret war against an alien collective of conquerors called the Reach whose shady dealings and defeat have been covered in Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes volumes One & Two. You should get those also.

Gathering Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #1-6 (cover-dated January to June 2022), and including an excerpt from the new Blue Beetle series it leads into, this collection is also quite rightly available in a Spanish language edition.

In an effort to maximise your fun and save time let’s briefly hit the high notes here.

Crafted by scripter Josh Trujillo (Adventure Time, Captain America, Rick & Morty), illustrator Adrián Gutiérrez (Batman, The Flash), colourist Wil Quintana and letterer Lucas Gattoni, ‘Graduation Day’ is set following recent DC megaevent Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths with our neophyte champion at long last getting a handle on his other life. He’s even become pals with his sentient passenger bug Khaji Da, allowing them to seamlessly work together.

With school days practically done, as the story opens Jaime is currently wrecking downtown El Paso battling magical thief Fadeaway and worrying about his non-superhero future. After almost missing his own graduation ceremony, Reyes suddenly finds it all going wrong again when he receives a terrifying vision of The Reach and loses control, uncontrollably shifting to his blue battle form…

His family share his secret, but aren’t happy about it and when he returns to his own party hours later, the festivities are long over and his furious mother wants to know what he’s doing with his life. So does Superman, who “just” popped by to see if the alien conquerors had regained control of their greatest weapon…

Intel confirms that The Reach are coming back and the (adult) superhero community feels it might be prudent if Jaime doesn’t use his powers for the foreseeable future…

Benched, grounded, jobless and not destined for college any time soon, the frustrated lad is summarily packed off to toil in his aunts’ diner in Palmera City, but fate has other plans. Repeatedly targeted by extremely Reach-like and savage Beetle-morphs Dynastes and Nitida, BB is forced to fight back until the Justice League shut him down again…

Some salvation comes when mentor Ted and his terrifying older smarter sister Victoria Kord offer him an (unpaid!) internship at Kord Industries. Ted is laid back and cool but Jaime can’t stop thinking how Victoria has the largest collection of alien tech on Earth and keeps looking at him funny…

As Beetle catastrophes keep coming, Reyes and still-on-the-fritz Khaji Da encounter a splinter faction of The Reach. Unable to trust The Horizon, they instead put themselves in the hands of Teen Titans Starfire, Cyborg and their allies. At least they can keep Batman and his private superhero goon squad off their collective shiny blue buggy back. Or Not…

And that’s when Paco and Brenda show up, begging Jaime to help their new best buddy Fadeaway. That does not go well…

With imminent doom encroaching and everybody telling him what” they” should do, Jaime and Khaji Da finally unlock the root problem that’s been jamming them up, consequently evolving into whole new Blue Beetle able and ready to fix their own problems…

And that’s when the aliens all come screaming into Earth’s atmosphere…

An enticing extra offers an extract and sneak peek from the new Blue Beetle #1 (‘Scarab War!’) due for release in September 2023, before a gallery of covers and variants by Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque, David Marquez & Alejandro Sánchez, Ramon Villalobos, Gutiérrez & Quintana, Joe Quinones, Chokoo!, Danny Miki & Ivan Plascencia, Serg Acuña, Ricardo López Ortiz, Baldemar Rivas, Daniel Sampere & Alejandro Sánchez, Bruno Redondo, Jorge Corona & Sarah Stern segue into an extensive and expansive sketch gallery from Gutiérrez.

Here’s another smart, fast and joyous fun ride to delight fans of comics and other, lesser, media forms. So few series combine action and adventure with all-out fun and genuine wit, or can evoke shattering tragedy and poignant loss on command. Now read this even before you wallow in film fun…
© 2022, 2023 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Lex Luthor: A Celebration of 75 Years


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Bill Finger, Edmund Hamilton, Len Wein, Cary Bates, Elliot S. Maggin, John Byrne, Roger Stern, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Brian Azzarello, Paul Cornell, Geoff Johns, John Sikela, Wayne Boring, Curt Swan, Jackson Guice, Howard Porter, Matthew Clark, Lee Bermejo, Frank Quitely, Pete Woods, Doug Mahnke & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6207-5 (HB/Digital edition) 978-1- (TPB)

We’re all celebrating the anniversary of the ultimate superhero this year, but who’s thinking of his archenemy – the world’s first true supervillain? Time to address the balance, even if it’s actually two years until the mogul of menace is actually due his bit of candle-covered cake…

Closely paralleling the evolution of the groundbreaking Man of Steel, the exploits of the mercurial Lex Luthor are a vital aspect of comics’ very fabric. In whatever era you choose, the prototypical and ultimate mad scientist epitomises the eternal feud between Brains and Brawn and over eight decades has become the Metropolis Marvel’s true antithesis and nemesis. He’s also evolved into a social barometer and ideal perfect indicator of what different generations deem evil.

This stunning compilation – part of a dedicated series reintroducing and exploiting the comics pedigree of venerable DC icons – comes in Hardback, Trade Paperback and digital formats, sharing a sequence of snapshots detailing what Luthor is at key moments in his never-ending battle with Superman. Groundbreaking appearances are preceded by brief critical analyses of the significant stages in the villain’s development, beginning with Part I: 1940-1969 The Making of a Mastermind.

After history and deconstruction comes sinister adventure as the grim genius debuts in ‘Europe at War Part 2’ (Action Comics #23 April 1940 by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster). Although not included here, Action #22 had loudly declared ‘Europe at War’ – a tense, thinly-disguised call to arms for the still-neutral USA, and as the Man of Tomorrow sought to stem the bloodshed, the saga became a continued story (almost unheard of in the early days of funny-book publishing).

Spectacularly concluding in #23, Clark Kent’s European investigations revealed a red-headed fiend employing outlandish science to foment war for profit: intent on conquering the survivors as a modern-day Genghis Khan. The Man of Steel strenuously objected…

Next is ‘The Challenge of Luthor’ (Superman #4, Spring/March1940) and produced at almost the same time: a landmark clash with the rogue scientist who, back then, was still a roguish red-head with a bald and pudgy henchman.

Somehow in the heat of burgeoning deadlines, master got confused with servant in later adventures, and public perception of the villain irrevocably crystalized as the sinister slap-headed super-threat we know today. The fact that Superman was also a star of newspapers – which operated under a different inworld continuity – is widely considered the root cause of that confusion…

Siegel & Shuster’s story involves an earthquake machine and ends with Luthor exhausting his entire arsenal of death-dealing devices attempting to destroy his enemy… with negligible effect.

From Superman #17 (July 1942), ‘When Titans Clash’, by Siegel & John Sikela, depicts how the burly bald bandit uses a mystic “powerstone” to survive his justly earned execution by stealing Superman’s abilities. However, the Action Ace retains his wily intellect and outsmarts his titanically-empowered foe…

Jumping ahead 10 years, ‘Superman’s Super Hold-Up’ (by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring & Stan Kaye from World’s Finest Comics #59 July 1952) is a supremely typical duel of wits in which the Einstein of Evil renders the Metropolis Marvel helpless with the application of a devilish height- and pressure-sensitive mega explosive device… if only for a little while…

WFC #88 (June 1957 by Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang & Kaye) offers ‘Superman and Batman’s Greatest Foes!’ wherein “reformed” master criminals Lex and The Joker ostensibly set up in the commercial robot business. Nobody really believes them… as it happens, quite correctly!

As the mythology grew and Luthor became a crucial component of Superman’s story, the bad boy was retroactively inserted into the hero’s childhood. ‘How Luthor Met Superboy!’ (Siegel & Al Plastino in Adventure Comics #271, April 1960) details how Boy of Steel and budding genius were pals until a lab accident burned off Lex’s hair. In his prideful fury Lex blamed the Kryptonian and swore revenge…

In Finger, Curt Swan & John Forte’s ‘The Conquest of Superman’ (Action Comics #277, June 1961) the authorities parole Lex to help with an imminent crisis, only to have the double-dealer escape as soon as the problem is fixed. By the time Superman returns to Earth, Luthor is ready for him…

For October 1963, Superman #164 featured ‘The Showdown between Luthor and Superman’ (Hamilton, Swan & George Klein). The ultimate Silver Age confrontation between the Caped Kryptonian and ultimate antithesis pitted them in an unforgettable clash on devastated planet Lexor – a lost world of forgotten science and fantastic beasts – resulting in ‘The Super-Duel!’ and displayed a whole new side to the often two-dimensional arch-enemy.

Part II: 1970-1986 Luthor Unleashed previews how a more sophisticated readership demanded greater depth in their reading matter and how creators responded by adding a human dimension to the avaricious mad scientist. ‘The Man Who Murdered the Earth’ from Superman #248 (cover-dated February 1972, by Len Wein, Swan & Murphy Anderson). Here Luthor dictates his final testament after creating a Galactic Golem to destroy his sworn enemy, and ponders how his obsession caused the demise of humanity.

For Action Comics’ 45th anniversary, Superman’s two greatest foes – the other being Brainiac – were radically re-imagined for an increasingly harder, harsher world. ‘Luthor Unleashed’ in #544 (June 1983, by Cary Bates, Swan & Anderson) saw the eternal enmity between Lex and Superman lead to Lexor’s destruction and death of Luthor’s new family after the techno-terror once more chose vengeance over love.

Crushed by guilt and hatred, the maniacal genius reinvents himself as an implacable human engine of terror and destruction…

Elliot S. Maggin, Swan & Al Williamson offer a glimpse into the other motivating force in Luthor’s life, exposing ‘The Einstein Connection’ (Superman #416, February 1986) wherein a trawl through the outlaw’s life reveals a hidden link to the greatest physicist in history…

The Silver Age of comic books utterly revolutionised a flagging medium, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the returning sub-genre of masked mystery men. However, after decades of cosy wonderment, Crisis on Infinite Earths transformed the entire DC Universe, leading to a harder, tougher Superman. John Byrne’s radical re-imagining was most potently manifested in Luthor, who morphed from brilliant, obsessed bandit to ruthless billionaire capitalist as seen in the introduction to Part III: 1986-2000 Captain of Industry…

The tensions erupt in ‘The Secret Revealed’ (Superman volume 2 #2, February 1987 by Byrne, Terry Austin & Keith Williams) as the pitiless tycoon kidnaps everyone Superman loves to learn his secret. After collating all the data obtained by torture and other means, the corporate colossus jumps to the most mistaken conclusion of his misbegotten life…

‘Metropolis – 900 Miles’ (Superman vol. 2 #9, September 1987 by Byrne & Karl Kesel) then explores the sordid cruelty of the oligarch who cruelly torments a pretty waitress with a loathsome offer and promise of a new life…

‘Talking Heads’ appeared in Action Comics #678 (June 1992, by Roger Stern, Jackson Guice & Ande Parks), set after Luthor – riddled with cancer from wearing a green Kryptonite ring to keep Superman at arms’ length – secretly returned to Metropolis as his own son in a cloned (young and handsome) body. Acting as a philanthropist and with Supergirl as his girlfriend/arm candy, young Luthor has everybody fooled, Sadly, everything looks like falling apart when rogue geneticist Dabney Donovan is arrested and threatens to tell an incredible secret he knows about the richest man in town…

‘Hostile Takeover’ comes from JLA #11 1997) wherein Grant Morrison, Howard Porter & John Dell opened interstellar saga ‘Rock of Ages’ with the Justice League facing a newly-assembled, corporately-inspired Injustice Gang organised by Lex and run on his ruthlessly efficient business model.

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman are targeted by a coalition of arch-enemies comprising Chairman-of-the-Board Lex, Joker, Circe, Mirror Master, Ocean Master and Doctor Light, with ghastly doppelgangers of the World’s Greatest Heroes raining destruction down all over the globe.

Even with new members Aztek and second-generation Green Arrow Connor Hawke on board, the enemy are running the heroes ragged, but the stakes change radically when telepath J’onn J’onzz detects an extinction-level entity heading to Earth from deep space…

The action and tension intensify when the cabal press their advantage whilst New God Metron materialises, warning the JLA that the end of everything is approaching.

As ever, these snippets of a greater saga are more frustrating than fulfilling, so be prepared to hunt down the complete saga. You won’t regret it…

A true Teflon businessman, Lex met the millennium running for President and Part IV: 2000-Present 21st Century Man follows a prose appraisal with ‘The Why’ from President Luthor Secret Files and Origins #1 (2000, by Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark & Ray Snyder). Here the blueprint to power and road to the White House is deconstructed, with daily frustrations and provocations revealing what inspired the nefarious oligarch to throw his hat into the truly evil political ring…

The next (frustratingly incomplete) snippet comes from a miniseries where the antagonist was the star. ‘Lex Luthor Man of Steel Part 3’ by Brian Azzarello & Lee Bermejo offers a dark and brooding look into the heart and soul of Superman’s ultimate eternal foe: adding gravitas to villainy by explaining Lex’s actions in terms of his belief that the heroic Kryptonian is a real and permanent danger to the spirit of humanity.

Luthor – still believed by the world at large to be nothing more than a sharp and philanthropic industrial mogul – allows us a peek into his psyche: viewing the business and social (not to say criminal) machinations undertaken to get a monolithic skyscraper built in Metropolis. The necessary depths sunk to whilst achieving his ambition, and manipulating Superman into clashing with Batman, are powerful metaphors, but the semi-philosophical mutterings – so reminiscent of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead – although flavoursome, don’t really add anything to Luthor’s character and even serve to dilute much of the pure evil force of his character.

Flawed characters truly make more believable reading, especially in today’s cynical and sophisticated world, but such renovations shouldn’t be undertaken at the expense of the character’s heart. At the end Luthor is again defeated; diminished without travail and nothing has been risked, won or lost. The order restored is of an unsatisfactory and unstable kind, and our look into the villain’s soul has made him smaller, not more understandable.

Lee Bermejo’s art, however, is astoundingly lovely and fans of drawing should consider buying this simply to stare in wonder at the pages of beauty and power that he’s produced here. Or read the entire story in its own collected edition…

Rather more comprehensive and satisfying is ‘The Gospel According to Lex Luthor’ as first seen in All-Star Superman #5. Crafted by Morrison, Frank Quitely & Jamie Grant from September 2006, here an unrepentant Luthor on Death Row grants Clark Kent the interview of his career and scoop of a lifetime, after which ‘The Black Ring Part 5’ (Action Comics #894, December 2010 by Paul Cornell & Pete Woods) confirms his personal world view as Death of the Endless stops the universe just so she can have a little chat with Lex and see what he’s really like…

This epic trawl through the villain’s career concludes with a startling tale from Justice League volume 2, #31 (August 2014) as, post-Flashpoint, a radically-rebooted New 52 DCU again remade Lex into a villain for the latest generation: brilliant, super-rich, conflicted and hungry for public acclaim and approval. In ‘Injustice League Part 2: Power Players’ by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne & Christian Alamy, bad-guy Luthor has helped Earth from extradimensional invaders and now wants to be a hero. His solution? Make real superheroes invite him into the Justice League, which can be accomplished by ferreting out Batman’s secret identity and blackmailing the Dark Knight into championing his admission…

Lex Luthor is the most recognizable villain in comics and can justifiably claim that title in whatever era you choose to concentrate on; goggle-eyed Golden Age, sanitised Silver Age or malignant modern/Post-Modern milieux. This book captures just a fraction of all those superb stories and offers a delicious peek into the dark, unhealthy side of rivalry and competition…

This monolithic testament to the inestimable value of a good bad-guy is a true delight for fans of all ages and vintage.
© 1940, 1942, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1972, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved

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Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes Book Two


By John Rogers, J. Torres, Keith Giffen, Justin Peniston, Rafael Albuquerque, Freddie E. Williams II, Andy Kuhn, David Baldeón, Dan Davis, Steve Bird & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-2027-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

As the most recent incarnation of the venerable Blue Beetle brand makes the jump from comic book limbo and kids’ animation reruns into live action movie madness, here’s a recent collection from the superb 36-issue run that began in 2006: one of the most delightfully light-hearted and compelling iterations of the Golden Age stalwart and still pure joy to behold…

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1, published by Fox Comics and cover-dated August 1939. The eponymous lead character was created by Charles Nicholas (AKA Charles Wojtkowski): a pulp-styled mystery man who was a born nomad. Over the years and crafted by a Who’s Who of extremely talented creators, he was also inexplicably popular and hard to kill: surviving the failure of numerous publishers before ending up as a Charlton Comics property in the mid-1950s.

After releasing a few issues sporadically, the company eventually shelved him until the superhero revival of the early 1960s when Joe Gill, Roy Thomas, Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico revised and revived the character in a 10-issue run (June 1964, February 1966). Cop-turned-adventurer Dan Garrett was reinvented an archaeologist, educator and scientist who gained super-powers whenever he activated a magic scarab with the trigger phrase “Khaji Da!”

Later that year, Steve Ditko (with scripter Gary Friedrich) utterly reimagined the Blue Beetle. Ted Kord was an earnest and brilliant young researcher who had been a student and friend of Professor Garrett. When his mentor seemingly died in action, Kord trained himself to replace him: a purely human inventor/combat acrobat, bolstered by ingenious technology. This latter version joined DC’s pantheon during Crisis on Infinite Earths, earning a solo series and quirky immortality partnered with Booster Gold in Justice League International and beyond…

Collecting Blue Beetle (volume 7) #13-25 and spanning June 2007 to May 2008 – the saga follows the hallowed formula of a teenager suddenly gifted with great powers, and reveals how some heroes are remade, not born – especially when a sentient scarab jewel affixes itself to your spine and transforms you into an armoured bio-weapon.

At the height of the Infinite Crisis, El Paso high-schooler Jaime Reyes found a weird blue jewel shaped like a bug. That night, as he slept, it invaded him and turned him into a bizarre insectoid warrior.

Almost instantly, he was swept up in the chaos, joining Batman and other heroes in a climactic space battle. Inexplicably returned home, Jaime revealed his secret to his family and tried to do some good in his hometown of El Paso but had to rapidly adjust to huge changes. Best bud Paco had joined a gang of super-powered freaks, he learned that the local crime mastermind was his other best bud Brenda’s foster-mom, and a really scary military dude named Christopher Smith AKA Peacemaker started hanging around. He claimed the thing in Jaime’s back was malfunctioning alien tech, not life-affirming Egyptian magic and that he also had an unwelcome and involuntary connection to it…

We resume this cinematically-inspired return engagement with John Rogers, Rafael Albuquerque, David Baldeón & colourist Dan Davis’ ‘Defective’. Here a benevolent (seeming) alien from an interstellar collective named The Reach introduces himself and reveals that the scarab is an invitation used to prepare endangered worlds like Earth for trade and commerce as part of a greater pan-galactic civilisation. Unfortunately the one attached to Jaime has been damaged over the centuries it was here and isn’t working properly.

The Reach envoy is a big fat liar…

The Scarab should have paved the way for a full invasion and once they discover this, Jaime and Peacemaker grasp that The Reach are the worst kind of alien invaders; patient, subtle, deceptive and stocked with plenty of space-tech to sell to Earth’s greedy governments. The only hope of defeating the marauders is to expose their real scheme to the public – which is currently too dazzled by the intergalactic newcomers’ media blitz to listen…

‘Mister Nice Guy’ (Rogers & Albuquerque) finds the Beetle teamed again with erratic Guy Gardner: a Green Lantern who knows all about The Reach and their Trojan Agenda. Here the unhappy allies must defeat the macabre Ultra-Humanite who has sold his telepathic services to the prospective new overlords.

Seeking allies and solutions, Jaime meets Superman in guest creators J. Torres & Freddie Williams Jr.’s ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’: battling electrical anti-villain Livewire before one of the DCU’s gravest menaces manifests in Rogers & Albuquerque’s startlingly powerful change of pace tale ‘Total Eclipso: the Heart’.

‘Something in the Water’ sees elemental menace Typhoon employed by The Reach to endanger a coastal city – and Bruce Wayne’s off-shore oil wells – in a clever, insightful tale packing plenty of punch, before ‘Away Game’ – with contributions from Baldeón & Davis – finds the Beetle and Teen Titans in pitched and pithy battle against the unbeatable alien biker-punk Lobo.

Weirdly whimsical Keith Giffen joins Rogers & Albuquerque next, focusing on Brenda, who has blithely lived her entire life unaware that her surrogate parental unit is El Paso’s crime boss supreme. La Dama is also a hoarder and supplier of alien, futuristic and magical weaponry. The distraught lass learns ‘Hard Truths’ when rival mob Intergang declare war: sending 50-foot woman Giganta to smash La Dama’s family to gooey pulp… until the Beetle buzzes in…

The previous tales were first collected in 2008 as Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars and are accompanied here by most of sequel volume End Game, which finds the blue boy fighting a very secret war against the seemingly saintly visitors from the stars.

What the Green Lantern Corps already know is that The Reach are rapacious conquerors who follow near-sacrosanct ancient “strategies” to increase their empire. First a scarab converts an indigenous inhabitant into a pathfinder – a devastating marauding bug warrior – before the undetectably orbiting Reach “arrive”, offering weapons and planet-changing technologies to any who want them. And in the interim, the benefactors build world-ripper engines to eventually tear planet and remaining resources into manageable, marketable portions…

Rogers & Albuquerque set up the climactic counterstrike to Armageddon in ‘Fear to Live’, as Peacemaker is selected by a Sinestro Corps power ring due to his ability to “instil great fear”, just as Reach’s Chief Negotiator seeks to take him out. The silent invaders are terrified: desperate to learn why after countless millennia a scarab has rebelled against their infallible programming and created a disobedient, destructive maverick in Reyes.

Having finally deduced the part Peacemaker plays in the rebellion of his strategic weapon, the Negotiator infects Smith with a fully-obedient scarab and transforms him into a monstrous killer-drone. However, the terrifying “Infiltrator” is still no match for Jaime and his now sentient and liberated inner bug, especially after the yellow ring and alien Green Lantern Brik join the struggle…

Before Jaime’s meticulously constructed masterplan to save Earth gets underway, Justin Penniston & Andy Kuhn step in with a powerful tale of mistakes and consequences in #21’s ‘Ghost of a Chance’. Stepping in to quell a riot at a Federal Correctional facility, The Beetle finds the latest incarnation of The Spectre impatiently executing murderers the authorities haven’t got around to yet. Severely outmatched and deeply emotionally conflicted, Jaime needs the sage advice of his father and sorceress girlfriend Traci 13 to a get a handle on the Why as much as the How and Who of this crisis…

After almost a year of preparation, the fate of Earth is resolved in End Game parts one to four, by Rogers, Albuquerque & Majors, starting out ‘Under Pressure’ as Earth’s leaders get deeper in debt to the so-amenable Reach, whilst the Beetle and his allies – his parents, Peacemaker, Paco, Brenda and Danni Garrett (granddaughter of the first Blue Beetle) – try to expose the hidden world-ripper stations and uncover a hidden race who are far from what they seem…

The unravelling eternal strategies have sown discord amongst the Reach with Chief Negotiator’s subordinate openly displaying defiance and advocating abandoning the texts and a century of invisible sedition for total savage warfare right now. Pushed into rash action, the big boss targets the Reyes family, but too late…

‘World Tour’ reveals how Blue Beetle has already invaded their orbiting cloaked base, using a tactic and weapon the scarabs have never before used…

All too soon the boy is defeated, captured, tortured and deprived of the malfunctioning scarab designated Khaji Da. As the Negotiator sadistically gloats, he’s unaware that this was the plan: to strike from ‘Outside-In’…

With Traci 13 shielding the Reyes from retaliation, Jaime and his now-sentient symbiotic scarab are methodically taking the Reach apart, provoking a rash public attack on El Paso, the abrupt exposure of the formerly-shielded Reach legions and bases and a gathering of heroes. Can it be merely coincidence that the first responders in concluding clash ‘A Little Help From…’ are Ted Kord’s closest friends and allies, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner and Booster Gold, or that Jaime has outwitted the perfidious purveyors of illicit high technology with the most primitive methods ever devised by humanity?

… And as Jaime and Khaji Da are plucked from certain death, the rebels leave behind something that will have devastating repercussions for The Reach…

To Be Continued

With covers by Cully Hamner, and Albuquerque this is a smart, fast and joyous thrill ride to delight fans of comics and other, lesser, media forms. There are so few series combining action and adventure with all-out fun and genuine wit, or which can evoke shattering tragedy and poignant loss on command. John Rogers and his stand-ins excel in this innovative and impossibly readable saga and the art is always top notch. With the climactic final battle against the Reach only setting the scene for more and better to come, this is a second chance you probably don’t deserve but should reach out and grab onto with all you’ve got.
© 2007, 2008, 2023 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman Adventures volumes 1


By Paul Dini, Scott McCloud, Rick Burchett, Bret Blevins, Mike Manley & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5867-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

At their primal hearts heroes like Batman and Superman appeal directly and powerfully to the little kids in us all, who helplessly rail at forces that boss us around and don’t let us be ourselves. Maybe that’s why the versions ostensibly and specifically made for youngsters are so often the most vivid and rewarding…

Almost a decade after John Byrne re-galvanised, reinvigorated and reinvented the look and feel of the Man of Steel, animator Bruce Timm returned to comicbook country to meld modern sensibility and classic mythology with Superman: The Animated Series.

With Paul Dini, he had already designed and overseen Batman: The Animated Series: a 1993 TV show which captivated young and old alike, breathing vibrant new life into an old concept. In 1996 lightning struck a second time. The show was another masterpiece and led to a tranche of sequels and spin-off including The New Batman/Superman Adventures, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

Although the Superman cartoon show (originally airing in the USA from September 6th 1996 to February 12th 2000) never got the airplay it deserved in Britain, it remains a highpoint in the character’s long, long animation history, second only to 17 astounding, groundbreaking shorts produced by the Max Fleischer Studio in the 1940s.

These stylish modern visualisations became the norm, extending to the Teen Titans, Legion of Super Heroes, Young Justice and Brave and the Bold animation series that so successfully followed.

The broad stylisation – dubbed “Ocean Liner Art Deco” – also worked magnificently in static two dimensions for the spin-off comic book produced by DC as seen in this first of four compilations, curating Superman Adventures #1-10 (November 1996-August 1997).

With no further ado, the all-ages action opens with ‘Men of Steel’ by show writer Paul Dini, illustrated with dash and verve by Rick Burchett & Terry Austin. Because they know their audience, the editors wisely treated prior animated episodes and comic releases as equally canonical, and here shady mega-billionaire Lex Luthor is a public hero even whilst covertly organising clandestine criminal deals, international coups and a secret war against the Man of Tomorrow.

The devil’s brew of dark deeds culminates here in the oligarch’s creation of a new secret weapon: a hyper-powerful robot-duplicate of Superman, which he uses to initially discredit and ultimately attack the Caped Kryptonian. If it manages to kill him, Lex can mass-produce them and sell them to warlords around the world…

Comics grand master Scott McCloud came aboard as regular scripter with the second issue as ‘Be Careful What You Wish For…’ sees the return of Kryptonite-powered cyborg Metallo. The mechanical maniac – like the rest of Metropolis – erroneously believes lonely, attention-seeking Kelly to be Superman’s girlfriend, but his sadistic revenge scheme hasn’t factored in how Lois Lane might react to the fraudulent claim…

Computerised Kryptonian relic Brainiac resurfaces in ‘Distant Thunder’, having placed its malign consciousness into Earth artefacts (such as robot cats!) before building a new body to facilitate a renewed assault on the Metropolis Marvel. As ever, Brainiac’s end goal is assimilating data, but Superman quickly realises how to turn that programmed compulsion into a weapon ensuring the computer tyrant’s defeat…

Apprentice photo-journalist Jimmy Olsen’s dreams of success and stardom get a big boost in issue #4’s ‘Eye to Eye’. After Luthor orchestrates another lethal attack on Superman – with an enhanced gravity-weapon – the cub reporter learns his job is as much about grit and guts as being in the right place at the right time…

Bret Blevins pencils ‘Balance of Power’ as electrical villain Livewire awakes from a coma and sets about equalizing gender inequality by taking over the world’s broadcast airwaves. With all male presences edited out thanks to her galvanic gifts, the sparky ideologue returns to her original agenda and attempts to eradicate too-powerful men like Superman and Luthor…

McCloud, Burchett & Austin reunite for the astoundingly gripping ‘Seonimod’ wherein Superman utterly fails to save Metropolis from complete annihilation. All is not lost, however, as Fifth Dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk has trapped the hero in a backwards-spiralling time-loop, allowing the Man of Tomorrow one last chance to track a concatenation of disasters back to the inconsequential event that initially triggered the string of accidents which wiped out everything he cherishes…

‘All Creatures Great and Small part 1’ opens a titanic 2-part tale which sees Krypton’s Phantom Zone villains General Zod and Mala escape a miniaturised prison Superman had incarcerated them in. In the process they also shrink our hero to a few centimetres in height, but the endgame is far more devilish that that.

When scientific savant Professor Hamilton and top cop Dan “Terrible” Turpin join Lois in using a growth ray to restore Superman, Zod intercepts them and transforms himself into a towering colossus of chaos and carnage. Utterly overmatched and without options, the tiny Man of Tomorrow is forced into the most disgusting and risky manoeuvre of his career to bring the gigantic General low in the concluding ‘All Creatures Great and Small part 2’…

Mike Manley pencils Superman Adventures #9 as ‘Return of the Hero’ focuses on an idealistic boy whose two heroes are Superman and Lex Luthor. However, as a series of arson attacks plagues his neighbourhood, Francisco Torres learns some unpleasant truths about the billionaire that shatter his worldview and almost destroy his family. Happily, the Caped Kryptonian proves to be a far more reliable role model…

Wrapping up this first cartoon collection is a classic clash between indomitable hero and deadly maniac, as a twisted techno-terrorist y returns, peddling Superman action figures designed to plunder and rob their owners’ parents. ‘Don’t Try This at Home!’ – by McCloud, Burchett & Austin – once again proves that no amount of devious deviltry can long deter the champion of Truth, Justice and the American Way…

Breathtakingly written and spectacularly illustrated, these stripped-down, hyper-charged rollercoaster-romps are pure, irresistible examples of the most primal kind of comics storytelling, capturing the idealised essence of what every Superman story should be. It’s a treasury every fan of any age and vintage will adore.
© 1996, 1997, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Jack Kirby Omnibus volume 2 – starring The Super Powers


By Jack Kirby, with Mike Royer, D. Bruce Berry, Wally Wood, Pablo Marcos, Adrian Gonzalez, Greg Theakston, Alex Toth, Vince Colletta, Joe Simon, Denny O’Neil, Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Michael Fleisher, Joey Cavalieri, Paul & Alan Kupperberg, Bob Rozakis & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3833-9 (HB)

Famed for larger-than-life characters and gigantic, cosmic imaginings, Jack Kirby was an astute, imaginative, spiritual man who lived through poverty, gangsterism, the Depression, Post-War optimism, Cold War paranoia, political cynicism and the birth and death of peace-seeking counter-cultures. He was open-minded and utterly wedded to the making of comics stories on every imaginable subject. He always believed that sequential narrative was worthy of being published as real books beside mankind’s other literary art forms.

History has proved him right, and showed us just how ahead of the times he always was.

There’s a magnificent abundance of Kirby commemorative collections around these days (though still not all of it, so I remain a partially disgruntled dedicated fan). This particular magnificent hardback compendium re-presents most of the miscellaneous oddments of the “King’s DC Canon”; or at least those the company still retains rights for. The licenses on stuff like his run on pulp adaptation Justice Inc. (and indeed Marvel’s 2001: A Space Odyssey comic) will not be forthcoming any time soon…

Some of the material here is also available in 2019’s absolutely monster DC Universe Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby, but since it isn’t available digitally either (yet), you’d best have strong wrists and a sturdy desk at hand for that one.

Happily, this less massive tome from 2013 is less of a strain physically or financially. It opens with pages of hyper-kinetic Kirby pencil pages and a moving ‘Introduction by John Morrow’ before hurtling straight into moody mystery with a range of twice told tales.

On returning from WWII, Kirby reconnected with long-term creative partner Joe Simon. National Comics/DC was no longer a welcoming place for the reunited dream team supreme and by 1947 they had formed their own studio. Subsequently enjoying a long and productive relationship with Harvey Comics (Stuntman, Boy’s Ranch, Captain 3-D, Lancelot Strong, The Shield, The Fly, Three Rocketeers and more) the duo generated a stunning variety of genre features for Crestwood/Pines supplied by their “Essankay”/ “Mainline” studio shop.

Triumphs included Justice Traps the Guilty, Fighting American, Bullseye, Police Trap, Foxhole, Headline Comics and especially Young Romance amongst many more: a veritable mountain of mature, challenging strip material in a variety of popular genres.

One was mystery and horror, and amongst the dynamic duo’s Prize Comics concoctions was noir-informed, psychologically-underpinned supernatural anthology Black Magic – and latterly, short-lived yet fascinating companion title Strange World of Your Dreams.

These comics anthologies eschewed traditional gory, heavy-handed morality plays and simplistic cautionary tales for deeper, stranger fare, and – until the EC comics line hit their peak – were far and away the best mystery titles on the market.

When the King quit Marvel for DC in 1970, his new bosses accepted suggestions for a supernatural-themed mature-reading magazine. Spirit World was a superb but poorly received and largely undistributed monochrome magazine. Issue #1 – and only – appeared in the summer of 1971, but editorial cowardice and backsliding scuppered the project before it could get going.

Material from a second, unpublished issue eventually appeared in colour comic books Weird Mystery Tales and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, but with his ideas misunderstood, ignored or side-lined by the company, Kirby reverted to more traditional fare. Never truly defeated though, he cannily blended his belief in the marketability of the supernatural with flamboyant superheroics to create another unique and lasting mainstay for the DC universe. The Demon only ran a couple of years but was a concept later talents would make a pivotal figure of the company’s continuity.

Jack’s collaborations with fellow industry pioneer Joe Simon always produced dynamite concepts, unforgettable characters, astounding stories and huge sales, no matter what genre avenues they pursued, blazing trails for so many others to follow and always reshaping the very nature of American comics with their innovations and sheer quality.

As with all their endeavours, Simon & Kirby offered stories shaped by their own sensibilities. Identifying a “mature market” gap in the line of magazines they autonomously packaged for publishers Crestwood and Prize, they realised the sales potential of high-quality spooky material. Thus superb, eerily seminal Black Magic debuted with an October/November 1950 cover-date; supplemented in 1952 by boldly obscure psychological drama anthology The Strange World of Your Dreams. This title was inspired by studio-mate Mort Meskin’s vivid and punishing night terrors: dealing with fantastic situations and – too frequently for comfort – unable or unwilling to provide pat conclusions or happy endings. There was no cosmic justice or calming explanations available to avid readers. Sometimes The Unknown just blew up in your face and you survived – or didn’t. No one escaped whole or unchanged…

Thus, this colossal compendium of cult cartoon capers commences with DC’s revival of Black Magic as a cheap, modified and toned down reprint title.

The second #1 launched with an October/November 1973 cover-date, offering crudely re-mastered versions of some astounding classics. Benefitting from far better reproduction technology here is ‘Maniac!’ (originating in Black Magic #32 September/October 1973): an artistic tour de force and a tale much “homaged” by others in later years, detailing how and why a loving brother stops villagers taking his simple-minded sibling away. This is followed by ‘The Head of the Family!’ (BM #30 May/June 1954, by Kirby & Bruno Premiani) exposing the appalling secret shame of a most inbred clan…

DC’s premier outing ended with a disturbing tale first seen in Black Magic #29 (March-April 1954). Specifically cited in 1954’s anti-comic book Senate Hearings, ‘The Greatest Horror of them All!’ told a tragic tale of a freak hiding amongst lesser freaks…

Cover-dated December 1973/January 1974, DC’s second shot opened with ‘Fool’s Paradise!’ (BM #26, September/October 1953) as a petty thug stumbles into a Mephistophelean deal and reveals how ‘The Cat People’ (#27 November/December 1953) mesmerised and forever marked an unwary tourist in rural Spain before ‘Birth After Death’ (#20 January 1953) retold the true tale of how Sir Walter Scott’s mother survived premature burial, and ‘Those Who Are About to Die!’ (#23 April 1953) sketched out how a painter could predict imminent doom…

‘Nasty Little Man!’ (#18 November 1952) fronted DC’s third foray and gets my vote for creepiest horror art job of all time. Here three hobos discover to their everlasting regret why you shouldn’t pick on short old men with Irish accents. ‘The Angel of Death!’ (#15 August 1952) then details an horrific medical mystery far darker than mere mystic menace…

In the 1950s, as their efforts grew in popularity, S & K were stretched thin. Utilising a staff of assistants and crafting fewer stories themselves meant they could keep all their deadlines.

The ‘Cover art for Black Magic #4, June/July 1974’ swiftly segues into ‘Last Second of Life!’(Black Magic volume 1 #1, October-November 1950 and their only narrative contribution to that particular DC issue) wherein a rich man, obsessed over what the dying see at their final breath, soon regrets the unsavoury lengths he went to in finding out…

There were two in the next issue. ‘Strange Old Bird!’(courtesy of Black Magic #25 June/July 1953) is a gently eerie thriller of a little old lady who gets the gift of renewed life from her tatty and extremely flammable feathered old friend and ‘Up There!’ from the landmark 13th issue (June 1952) – the saga of a beguiling siren stalking the upper stratosphere and scaring the bejabbers out of a cool test pilot…

DC issue #6 reprises ‘The Girl Who Walked on Water!’ (BM #11 April 1952), exposing the immense but fragile power of self-belief whilst the ‘Cover art for Black Magic #7, December 1974/January 1975’ (originally #17 October 1952) provides a chilling report on satanic vestment ‘The Cloak!’ (BM #2 December 1950/January 1951) and ‘Freak!’ (also from #17) shares a country doctor’s deepest shame…

DC’s #8 revisited The Strange World of Your Dreams, beginning with “typical insecurity nightmare” ‘The Girl in the Grave!’ (#2, September/October 1952). The Meskin-inspired anthology of oneiric apparitions eschewed cheap shocks, mindless gore and goofy pun-inspired twist-ending yarns in favour of dark, oppressive suspense, soaked in psychological unease and tension over teasing…

Following up with ‘Send Us Your Dreams’ from the same source (requesting readers’ ideas for spokes-parapsychologist Richard Temple to analyse), DC’s vintage fear-fest concludes with # 9 (April/May 1975) and ‘The Woman in the Tower!’ as originally seen in SWoYD #3, (November/December 1952) detailing the symbolism of oppressive illness…

When his Fourth World Saga stalled, Kirby continued creating new material with Kamandi – his only long-running DC success – and explored WWII in The Losers whilst creating the radical, scarily prophetic, utterly magnificent Omac: One Man Army Corps, but still could not achieve the all-important sales the company demanded. Eventually he was lured back to Marvel and new challenges like Black Panther, Captain America, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man and especially The Eternals.

Before that though, he unleashed new concepts and even filled in on established titles. As previously moaned about, however, his 3-issue run on Justice Inc. – adapting 1930s’ licensed pulp star The Avenger – is not included here, but at least his frankly astounding all-action dalliance with martial arts heroics is…

Inked by D. Bruce Berry and debuting in all-new try-out title 1st Issue Special #1 (April 1975), ‘Atlas the Great!’ harked back to the dawn of human civilisation and followed the blockbusting trail of mankind’s first super-powered champion in a blazing Sword & Sorcery yarn.

1st Issue Special #5 (August 1975, Berry) highlighted the passing of a torch as a devout evil-crusher working for an ancient justice-cult retired and tipped his nephew – Public Defender Mark Shaw – to become the latest super-powered ‘Manhunter’, after which a rare but welcome digression into comedy manifested as ‘The Dingbats of Danger Street (1st Issue Special #6, September 1975). With Mike Royer inking, Kirby unleashed a bizarre and hilarious revival of his Kid Gang genre, starring four multi-racial street urchins united for survival and to battle surreal super threats…

Kirby – and Berry – limned the third issue of troubled martial arts series Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter (August/September 1975). Scripted by Denny O’Neil, the savage shocker pits the lone warrior against an army of assassins in ‘Claws of the Dragon!’…

‘Fangs of the Kobra!’ comes from Kobra #1, released with a February/March 1976 cover-date. The tale is strange in both execution and delivery, with Kirby’s original updating of Dumas’ tale The Corsican Brothers reworked by Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman and artists Pablo Marcos & Berry.

It introduces brothers separated at birth. Jason Burr grew up a normal American kid whilst his twin – stolen by an Indian death cult – was reared as Kobra, the most dangerous man alive. Sadly for the super-criminal, young adult Jason is recruited by the authorities because of a psychic connection to the snake lord: a link allowing them to track each other and also feel and experience any harm or hurt the other experiences…

When Simon & Kirby came to National/DC in 1942 one of their earliest projects was revitalising the moribund Sandman strip in Adventure Comics. Their unique blend of atmosphere and dynamism made it one of the most memorable, moody and action-packed series of the period (as you can see by reading their companion volume The Sandman by Simon & Kirby).

The band was brought back together for The Sandman #1 (cover-dated Winter 1974): a one-shot project which kept the name but created a whole new mythology. Scripted by Simon and inked by Royer, ‘General Electric’ revealed how the realm of dreams was policed by a scarlet-&-gold super-crusader dedicated to preventing nightmares escaping into the physical world. With unwilling assistants Glob and Brute, the Sandman also battled real world villains exploiting the unconscious Great Unknown. The heady mix was completed by frail orphan Jed, whose active sleeping imagination seemed to draw trouble to him.

The proposed one-off was a minor hit at a tenuous time in comics publishing, and DC kept it going, even though the originators were not interested. Kirby & Royer did produce the ‘Cover art Sandman #2, April/May 1975’ and ‘Cover art Sandman #3, June/July 1975’ before the King returned to the series with #4.

‘Panic in the Dream Stream’ – August/September 1975 – was scripted by Michael Fleisher, and revealed how a sleepless alien race attempted to conquer Earth through Jed’s fervent dreams: a traumatic channel that also allowed them to invade Sandman’s Dream Realm. The next issue (October/November 1975) heralded an ‘Invasion of the Frog Men!’ into an idyllic parallel dimension whilst the next reunited a classic art team. Wally Wood inked Jack for Fleisher’s ‘The Plot to Destroy Washington D.C.!’. Here mind-bending cyborg Doctor Spider subverted and enslaved Glob and Brute in his eccentric ambition to take over America…

Although Sandman #6 (December 1975/January 1976) was the last published issue, another tale was already completed. It finally appeared in reprint digest Best of DC #22 (March 1982). ‘The Seal Men’s War on Santa Claus’ with Fleisher scripting and Royer handling the brushwork was a sinister seasonal romp with Jed’s wicked foster-family abusing him in classic Scrooge style before the Weaver of Dreams summons him to help save Christmas from bellicose well-armed aquatic mammals…

During the 1980s costumed heroes stopped being an exclusively print cash cow. Many toy companies licensed Fights ‘n’ Tights titans and reaped the benefits of ready-made comic book spin-offs. DC’s most recognizable characters morphed into a top-selling action figure line and were inevitably hived off into a brisk and breezy, fight-frenzied miniseries.

Super Powers launched in July 1984 as a 5-issue miniseries with Kirby covers and his signature characters prominently represented. Jack also plotted the stellar saga with scripter Joey Cavalieri providing dialogue, and Adrian Gonzales & Pablo Marcos illustrating a heady cosmic quest comprising numerous inconclusive battles between agents of Good and Evil.

In ‘Power Beyond Price!’, ultimate nemesis Darkseid despatches four Emissaries of Doom to destroy Earth’s superheroes. Sponsoring Lex Luthor, The Penguin, Brainiac and The Joker the monsters jointly target Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Hawkman…

The combat escalates in #2’s ‘Clash Against Chaos’ with the Man of Steel and Scarlet Speedster tackling Luthor, whilst Aquaman and Green Lantern pummel the Penguin as Dark Knight and Winged Wonder confront a cosmically-enhanced Harlequin of Hate…

With Alan Kupperberg inking, an inconclusive outcome leads to a regrouping of evil and an attack by Brainiac on Paradise Island. With the ‘Amazons at War’ the Justice League rally until Superman is devolved into a brutal beast who attacks his former allies. All-out battle ensues in ‘Earth’s Last Stand’, before Kirby stepped up to write and illustrate the fateful finale: cosmos-shaking conclusion ‘Spaceship Earth – We’re All on It!’  (November 1984, with Greg Theakston suppling inks)…

A bombastic Super Powers Promotional Poster leads into a nostalgic reunion as DC Comics Presents #84 (August 1985) reunited Jack with his first “Fantastic Four”. ‘Give Me Power… Give Me Your World!’ – written by Bob Rozakis, Kirby & Theakston (with additional art by the legendary Alex Toth) – pits Superman and the Challengers of The Unknown against mind-bending Kryptonian villain Zo-Mar, after which the ‘Cover art for Super DC Giant S-25, July/ August 1971’ (inked by Vince Colletta) segues into the Super Powers miniseries, spanning September 1985 to February 1986.

Scripted by Paul Kupperberg the Kirby/Theakston saga ‘Seeds of Doom!’ recounts how deadly Darkseid despatches techno-organic bombs to destroy Earth, requiring practically every DC hero to unite to end the threat.

With squads of Super Powers travelling to England, Rome, New York, Easter Island and Arizona the danger is magnified ‘When Past and Present Meet!’ as the seeds warp time and send Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter back to days of King Arthur…

Issue #3 (November 1985) finds Red Tornado, Hawkman and Green Arrow plunged back 75 million years in ‘Time Upon Time Upon Time!’ even as Doctor Fate, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are trapped in 1087 AD, battling stony-faced giant aliens on Easter Island.

Superman and Firestorm discover ‘There’s No Place Like Rome!’as they battle Darkseid’s agent Steppenwolf in the first century whilst Batman, Robin and Flash visit a future where Earth is the new Apokolips for #5’s ‘Once Upon Tomorrow’, before Earth’s scattered champions converge on Luna to spectacularly squash the schemes-within-schemes of ‘Darkseid of the Moon!’ …

Rounding out the astounding cavalcade of wonders is a selection of Kirby-crafted Profiles pages from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe 1985-1987: specifically, Ben Boxer, the Boy Commandos, Challengers of the Unknown, Crazy Quilt, Etrigan the Demon, Kamandi, The Newsboy Legion, Sandman (the Dream Stream version from 1974), Sandy, the Golden Boy and Witchboy Klarion.

Kirby was and remains unique and uncompromising. His words and pictures comprise an unparalleled, hearts-and-minds grabbing delight no comics lover can possibly resist. If you’re not a fan or simply not prepared to see for yourself what all the fuss has been about then no words of mine will change your mind.

That doesn’t alter the fact that his life’s work from 1937 to his death in 1994 shaped the entire American comics scene – and indeed the entire comics planet – affecting the lives of billions of readers and thousands of creators in all areas of artistic endeavour for generations and is still winning new fans and apostles every day, from the young and naive to the most cerebral of intellectuals. His work is instantly accessible, irresistibly visceral, deceptively deep and simultaneously mythic and human.

He is the King and will never be supplanted.
© 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2013 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman Sunday Classics Strips 1-183 (1939-1943)


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster & the Superman Studio (DC/Kitchen Sink Press: Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.)
ISBN: 978-1-40273-786-2 (Sterling) 978-1-56389-472-5(DC/KS)

It’s indisputable that the American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would have been an utterly unrecognisable thing without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s unprecedented invention was rapturously adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation, quite literally giving birth to a genre if not an actual art form.

Within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and wish-fulfilment that epitomised the early Man of Tomorrow spawned an impossible army of imitators. The original’s antics and variations grew to encompass cops-and-robbers crime-busting, socially reforming dramas, science fiction fantasies, and whimsical comedy. Once the war in Europe and the East ensnared America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters exploded: all dedicated to exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

In comicbook terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook industry, the Metropolis Marvel relentlessly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as the epitome and acme of comicbook creation, the truth is that very soon after his debut in Action Comics #1, the Man of Steel became a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest, most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, The Avengers and their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew four-colour origins and are now fully mythologized media creatures instantly familiar in mass markets, across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have seen or heard an actor as Superman than have ever read his comicbooks. The globally syndicated newspaper strips alone reached untold millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around at the very start of what we know as the Silver Age of Comics, Superman was a thrice-weekly radio serial regular and starred in an astounding animated cartoon series, two films, on TV and a prose novel by George Lowther.

He was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers and had just ended that first smash live-action television presence. In his future were three more shows (Superboy, Lois & Clark and Smallville), a stage musical, a string of blockbuster movie franchises and an almost seamless succession of games, bubble gum cards and TV cartoons beginning with The New Adventures of Superman in 1966 and continuing ever since. Even his superdog Krypto got in on the small-screen act…

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the last century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and often the planet – it was seen by millions, if not billions, of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books. It also paid better.

And rightly so: some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture.

Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped their humble tawdry newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar. Most of them still do…

However it was considered something of a risky double-edged sword when a comicbook character became so popular that it swam against the tide (after all, weren’t the funny-books invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?) to become a genuinely mass-entertainment syndicated serial strip.

Superman was the first comic book star to make that leap – six months after exploding out of Action Comics – with only a few ever successfully following. Wonder Woman, Batman (eventually) and teen icon Archie Andrews made the jump in the 1940s with only a handful like Spider-Man, Howard the Duck and Conan the Barbarian doing so since.

The Superman daily newspaper comic strip launched on 16th January 1939, supplemented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by Siegel & Shuster – whose primary focus switched immediately from comic books to the more prestigious and lucrative tabloid iteration – and their hand-picked studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth daily grind soon required the additional talents of Jack Burnley and supplementary writers including Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz.

This superb collection – doubly out-of-print and still not available digitally, despite its superb quality and sublime content – opens with an Introduction by contemporary Super-Scribe Roger Stern. He effusively recaps the sensation and spotlights his creators, before we see the first 19 complete tales of the primal powerhouse in stunning full colour stupendously unfold.

Whether in pamphlet or local periodical, these tales of the modern Hercules exploded into the consciousness of the world. No one had ever seen a fictionalised hero throw all the rules of physics away and burst into unstoppable, improbable action on every page. In fact, editors and publishers’ greatest concern was that the implausible antics would turn off audiences. Clearly, they could not have been more wrong…

Thus early episodes simply establish the set-up of an Alien Wonder among us, masquerading as an extremely puny human at a “great metropolitan newspaper”… when not crushing evil as his flamboyant alter-ego. These stories are all about constant action and escalating spectacle, displaying the incredible power of a bombastic, heroic man of the people…

On the first Sunday in November 1939 the parade of marvels commenced with a single introductory page describing Superman’s origins in ‘The Man of Tomorrow’ followed seven days later by initial adventure ‘Twenty-Four Hours to Ruin’ which found the Action Ace in a non-stop rush of blood and thunder, saving a logging concern from sabotage and hostile takeover by gangsters.

Crime segued into scientific fantasy when Superman saved ‘The Mindless Slaves of Dr. Grout’ from forced labour as the villain fomented a coup against America…

Inklings of true comic book themes and more complex storylines arrived as Clark Kent and Lois Lane were despatched to investigate the ‘Giants of Doom Valley’: discovering a race of hostile subterranean invaders for Superman to discourage, before ‘Assassins and Spies’ took them into the most pressing concern of the era after agents of a foreign power spread sedition and terror on America’s shores to bolster a European war.

A mysterious mastermind then employed super-science, coercion, abduction and giant insects to ensure ‘The Chosen’ carried out his plans of global financial dominance before a more bucolic tale saw Superman helping Lois escape fatal consequences as ‘The Dangerous Inheritance’ left her with 5,000 acres of seemingly worthless scrubland. Not everyone agreed with the assessment and the Man of Steel was never busier…

Woe in the wilderness gave way to big city bombast as ‘The Bandit Robots of Metropolis’ caused carnage in search of cash, pushing the Man of Steel to his physical and intellectual limits and priming him for a landmark clash against ‘Luthor, Master of Evil’ who turns the weather into a weapon in his escalating war against mankind.

A cunning murderer sought to frame a professional automobile driver in ‘Death Race’ whilst a high-tech propaganda campaign almost destabilised the city when ‘The Committee for a New Order’ pirated the airwaves. Crushing their campaign of terror, Superman was embroiled in a blistering battle against vile enemy agents who knew Lois was his Achilles’ Heel…

Another corporate assault on trade is exposed when freight drivers are poisoned by crooks trying to ‘Destroy All Trucks’ of a businessman’s rivals, after which a mirage-making super-villain pillages Metropolis until her galvanic guardian saw through ‘The Image’…

When Clark’s ‘Arson Evidence’ convicts an innocent man, his other self moves Heaven and Earth to exonerate the jailbird and ferret out the true fire-fiend, after which – it being almost three years since his debut – Superman spent two weeks reminding old readers and informing new ones why and how he was ‘The Champion of Democracy’.

To a large extent mention of World War II was kept to a minimum on the Action Ace’s funny pages, but now ‘The Superman Truck’ – detailing how a prototype military transport was relentlessly targeted by saboteurs – plunged right in to conflict with a subplot about a reluctant taxi driver enlisting in the Army Transport Corps. Tracing his induction and training, this yarn was a cunningly-conceived weekly ad and plea for appropriately patriotic readers to enlist…

Military motifs continued as a ship full of diplomats and war correspondents was set afire by an incendiary madman allied to in-over-their-heads Fifth Columnists. It’s not long before ‘The Blaze’ is in critical timberland, acting on his own deranged impulses and leaving the Metropolis Marvel with the huge job of saving America’s war effort…

Showbiz raised its glamorous head when Clark and Lois were sent to cover the morale-boosting ‘Hollywood Victory Caravan’ tour, only to stumble into backbiting, sabotage, intrigue and murder at the hands of Nazi infiltrators.

Wrapping up the vintage spills and thrills is another fervent comics call to arms as Superman – and Clark – take a well-intentioned but lazy and perpetually backsliding wastrel in hand. How he is shepherded through aviator ‘Cadet Training’ to a useful existence as a warrior of Democracy is a rousing wonder to behold.

Supplementing the gloriously rip-roaring, pell-mell adventure are spellbinding extra features including ‘How Superman Would End World War II’ (first seen in the February 27th 1940 issue of mainstream icon Look magazine), promo ads and a 1942 ‘Superman Pinup’.

This specific Sterling Publishing volume is a reissue of the 1999 DC/Kitchen Sink co-production, but either edition offers timeless wonders and mesmerising excitement for lovers of action and fantasy. If you love the era or just crave simpler stories from less angst-wracked times, these yarns are perfect comics reading, and this a book you simply must have.
Superman and all related names, characters and elements are ™ & © DC Comics © 2006. All rights reserved.

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Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes volume 1


By Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Robert Bernstein, Edmond Hamilton, Al Plastino, Curt Swan, John Forte, Jim Mooney, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1- 4012-1382-4 (TPB)

Once upon a time in the far future, super-powered kids from many alien civilisations took inspiration from the greatest legend of all time and banded together as a club of heroes. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited that legend to join them…

Thus, began the vast and epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder & artist Al Plastino when the many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), just as the revived superhero genre was gathering an inexorable head of steam in America. Happy 65th Anniversary, team!

Since that time the fortunes and popularity of the Legion have perpetually waxed and waned, with their future history tweaked and rebooted, retconned and overwritten again and again to comply with editorial diktat and popular whim.

This glorious, far-and-wide ranging collection assembles the preliminary appearances of the valiant Tomorrow People, tracking their progress towards and attainment of their own feature. It re-presents in stunning monochrome all pertinent tales from Adventure Comics #247, 267, 282, 290, 293, 300-321, Action Comics #267, 276, 287, 289, Superboy #86, 89, 98, Superman #147, Superman Annual #4 and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 and 76.

As already stated, the many-handed mob of youthful worlds-savers debuted in Adventure #247, dreamed up for a Superboy tale wherein three mysterious kids invite the Boy of Steel to the 30th century. He is being vetted to join a team of metahuman champions unanimously inspired by his historic career. Binder & Plastino’s throwaway concept inflamed public imagination and after a slew of further appearances throughout Superman Family titles, the LSH eventually took over Superboy’s lead spot in Adventure: thereafter enjoying their own far-flung, quirky escapades, with the Kid Kryptonian reduced to “one of the in-crowd”…

However here the excitement was still gradually building as the kids returned for an encore 18 months later, Adventure #267 (December 1959) saw Jerry Siegel & George Papp make the Boy of Steel ‘Prisoner of the Super-Heroes!’ when the teen wonders attacked and incarcerated Superboy of Steel because of a misunderstood ancient historical record…

The following summer Supergirl met the Legion in Action Comics #267 (Siegel & Jim Mooney, August 1960) as Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy secretly travelled to “modern day” America to invite the Maid of Might onto the team, in a repetition of their offer to Superboy 15 years previously (in nit-picking fact they claimed to be the children of the original team – a fact glossed over and forgotten these days. Don’t time-travel stories make your head hurt?).

Due to a dubious technicality, young and eager Kara Zor-El failed her initiation at the hands of ‘The Three Super-Heroes’ and was asked to reapply later – but at least we got to meet a few more Legionnaires, including Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid and Colossal Boy.

With the editors still cautiously testing the waters, it was Superboy #86 (January 1961) before the ‘The Army of Living Kryptonite Men!’ by Siegel & Papp turned the LSH into a last-minute Deus ex Machina to save the Smallville Sentinel from juvenile delinquent Lex Luthor’s most insidious assault. Two months later, in Adventure #282, Binder & Papp introduced Star Boy as a romantic rival for the Krypton Kid in ‘Lana Lang and the Legion of Super-Heroes!’

Action Comics #276 (May 1961) debuted Supergirl’s Three Super Girl-Friends’ (Siegel & Mooney) which finally saw her crack the plasti-glass ceiling and join the team, sponsored by Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl and Triplicate Girl. We also met for the first time Bouncing Boy, Shrinking Violet, Sun Boy and potential bad-boy love-interest Brainiac 5 (well at least his distant ancestor Brainiac was a very bad boy…)

Next comes pivotal 2-part tale ‘Superboy’s Big Brother’ (by Robert Bernstein & Papp from Superboy #89 and June 1961) in which an amnesiac, super-powered space traveller crashes in Smallville, speaking Kryptonese and carrying star-maps written by the Boy of Steel’s long-dead father…

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

Sporting an August 1961 cover-date, Superman #147 unleashed ‘The Legion of Super-Villains’ (Siegel, Curt Swan & Sheldon Moldoff): a stand-out thriller featuring Luthor and an evil adult Legion coming far too close to destroying the Action Ace until the temporal cavalry arrives…

In Adventure #290 (November), Bernstein & Papp seemingly gave Sun Boy a starring role in ‘The Secret of the Seventh Super-Hero!’ – a clever tale of redemption and second chances, which is followed in #293 (February 1962) by a gripping thriller from Siegel, Swan & George Klein. ‘The Legion of Super-Traitors’ sees the future heroes turn evil, prompting Saturn Girl to recruit a Legion of Super-Pets – comprising Krypto, Streaky the Super Cat, Beppo, the monkey from Krypton and magical Super-horse Comet to save the world…

‘Supergirl’s Greatest Challenge!’ (Siegel & Mooney, Action #287 April) sees her visit the Legion (quibblers be warned: for some reason it was mis-determined as the 21st century in here) to save future Earth from invasion). She also meets a telepathic descendent of her cat Streaky. His name is Whizzy (I could have omitted that fact but chose not to – once more for smug, comedic effect and in sympathy with all humans-with-cats everywhere)…

Action #289 featured ‘Superman’s Super-Courtship!’ wherein the Girl of Steel scours the universe to locate an ideal mate for her cousin. One highly possible candidate is adult Saturn Woman, but her husband Lightning Man objects…

Perhaps charming at the time, although modern sensibilities might quail at the conclusion that his perfect match is a doppelganger of Kara herself… albeit – and thankfully – a bit older…

By the release of Superboy #98 (July 1962), the decision had been made. The buying public wanted more Legion stories and after ‘The Boy With Ultra-Powers’ by Siegel, Swan & Klein introduces an enigmatic lad with greater powers than the Boy of Steel, focus shifted to Adventure Comics #300 (cover dated September 1962) where the super-squad finally landed their own gig; even occasionally taking an alternating cover-spot from still top-featured Superboy.

Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes opened its stellar run with Siegel, John Forte & Plastino’s ‘The Face Behind the Lead Mask!’; a fast-paced premier pitting Superboy and the 30th century champions against an unbeatable foe until Mon-El, long-trapped in the Phantom Zone, temporarily escapes a millennium of confinement to save the day…

In those halcyon days humour was as important as action, imagination and drama, so many early exploits were light-hearted – if a little  moralistic. Issue #301 offered hope and role model to fat kids everywhere with ‘The Secret Origin of Bouncing Boy!’ by regular creative team Siegel & Forte. This yarn formalised a process of open auditions – providing devoted fans with loads of truly bizarre and memorable applicants over the years – whilst allowing the rebounding human rotunda to give a salutary pep talk and inspirational recount of heroism persevering over adversity.

Adventure #302 featured ‘Sun Boy’s Lost Power!’, as the golden boy is forced to resign until fortune and boldness restore his abilities, whilst ‘The Fantastic Spy!’ in #303 provides a tense tale of espionage and possible betrayal by new member Matter-Eater Lad.

The readership was stunned by the events of #304 when Saturn Girl engineers ‘The Stolen Super-Powers!’ to make herself a one-woman Legion. Of course, it was for the best possible reasons, but still doesn’t prevent the shocking murder of Lightning Lad…

With cosy complacency utterly destroyed, #305 further shook everything up with ‘The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!’ who turns out to be the long-suffering Mon-El finally cured and freed from his Phantom Zone prison.

Normally I’d try to be more obscure about story details – after all my intention is to get new people reading old comics, but these “spoiler” revelations are key to further understanding here and you all know these characters are still around, don’t you?

Pulp science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton took over the major scripting role with #306, and introducing ‘The Legion of Substitute Heroes!’ (quirkily, perfectly illustrated by John Forte). This is a group of rejected applicants who selflessly band together to clandestinely assist the champions who spurned them, after which transmuting orphan Element Lad joins the major team. He seeks vengeance on space pirates who had wiped out his entire species in ‘The Secret Power of the Mystery Super-Hero!’ before #308 seemingly sees ‘The Return of Lightning Lad!’

Actual Spoiler Warning: skip to the next paragraph NOW!!! if you don’t want to know it’s actually his similarly empowered sister who – once unmasked and unmanned – takes her brother’s place as Lightning Lass…

‘The Legion of Super-Monsters!’ is a straightforward clash with embittered applicant Jungle King who takes rejection far too personally and gathers a deadly clutch of space beasts to wreak havoc and vengeance, whilst #310’s ‘The Doom of the Super-Heroes!’: a frantic battle for survival against an impossible foe.

Adventure #311 opens ‘The War Between the Substitute Heroes and the Legionnaires!’ with a cease-and-desist order from the A-Team that turns into secret salvation as the plucky, stubborn outcasts carry on regardless under the very noses of the blithely oblivious LSH…

The next issue (September 1963) features the ‘The Super-Sacrifice of the Legionnaires!’ and inevitable resurrection of Lightning Lad – but only after the harrowing sacrifice of one devoted team-member, after which Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #72 (October, by Siegel, Swan & Klein) visits ‘The World of Doomed Olsens!’ Depicting an intriguing enigma as the cub-reporter is confronted by materialisations of his most memorable metamorphoses, it’s all just a prank by those naughty Legion scamps – but one with a serious purpose behind the jolly japery…

Adventure #313’s ‘The Condemned Legionnaires!’ (Hamilton, Swan, Klein & Forte) affords Supergirl a starring role after the sinister Satan Girl infects the team with a deadly plague, forcing them all into perpetual quarantine, before ‘The Super-Villains of All Ages!’ (art by Forte) reveals how a manic mastermind steals a Legion Time-Bubble to recruit the greatest monsters and malcontents of history – Nero, Hitler and John Dillinger – as his irresistible army of crime.

Why he’s surprised when they double-cross him and possess Superboy, Mon-El and Ultra Boy is beyond me , but happily, the lesser legionnaires still prove more a match for the brain-switched rogues. Then ‘The Legionnaires Super-Contest!’ in #315 finally sees the Substitute Heroes go public, for which the primary team offer to allow one of them to join the big boys. Which one? That’s the contest part…

Issue #316’s ‘The Renegade Super-Hero!’ outs one trusted teammate as a career criminal who then goes on the run, but there’s more to the tale than at first appears, after which the heroes confront ‘The Menace of Dream Girl!’: a ravishing clairvoyant who beguiles her way into the Legion for her own obscure, arcane reasons. In her knowing way she presages the coming of deadly foe The Time Trapper and even finds time to convert electrically redundant sister of recently-resurrected Lightning Lad into gravity-warping Light Lass.

Adventure #318 sees ‘The Mutiny of the Legionnaires!’ as Sun Boy succumbs to battle fatigue and became a draconian Captain Bligh during an extended rescue mission, whilst in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #76 (April 1964) Siegel & Forte describe ‘Elastic Lad Jimmy and his Legion Romances!’ wherein the plucky journo is inveigled into the future and finds himself inexplicably irresistible to the costumed champions of Tomorrow. It isn’t his primitive charm, though…

Hamilton & Forte began a strong run of grittier tales from #319 on, beginning with ‘The Legion’s Suicide Squad!’ as the Science Police ask the team to destroy, at all costs, a monolithic space fortress, whilst #320 debuts daring new character in Dev-Em, a forgotten survivor of Superman’s dead homeworld who was little more than a petty thug when Superboy first defeated him. Now in ‘The Revenge of the Knave From Krypton!’ ( Siegel, Forte, Papp, Moldoff & Plastino), the rapscallion returns as either a reformed undercover cop or the greatest traitor in history…

The story portion of this titanic tome concludes with Adventure Comics #321 and Hamilton, Forte & Plastino’s ‘The Code of the Legion!’, revealing the team’s underlying Articles of Procedure during a dire espionage flap, simultaneously testing one Legionnaire to the limits of his honour and ingenuity and actually ending another’s service forever.

Perhaps. Sort of…

An appropriate extra from Superman Annual #4, follows: featuring a 2-page informational guide and pictorial check-list illustrated by Swan & Klein which was amended and supplemented in Adventure #316 with additional pages of stunning micro-pin-ups, all faithfully included here. This fabulously innocent and imaginative chronicle also includes every cover the team starred on: mostly the work of honorary Legionnaire Curt Swan and inkers George Klein, Stan Kaye & Sheldon Moldoff.

The Legion is undoubtedly one of the most beloved and bewildering creations in American comic book history and largely responsible for the growth of the groundswell movement that became Comics Fandom. Moreover, these sparkling, simplistic and devastatingly addictive stories as much as the legendary Julie Schwartz Justice League fired up the interest and imaginations of a generation of young readers and built the industry we all know today.

These naive, silly, joyous, stirring and utterly compelling yarns are precious and fun beyond any ability to explain – even if we old lags gently mock them to ourselves and one another. If you love comics and haven’t read this stuff, you are the poorer for it and need to enrich your future life as soon as possible.
© 1958-1964, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Pride 2021


By Vita Ayala, Sina Grace, Sam Johns, Danny Lore, Nicole Maines, Steve Orlando, Andrea Shea, Mariko Tamika, James Tynion IV, Andrew Wheeler, Stephen Byrne, Elena Casagrande, Klaus Janson, Nic Klein, Trung Le Nguyen, Amancay Nahuelpan, Slylar Patridge, Amy Reeder, Ro Stein & Ted Brandt, Lisa Sterle, Rachael Stott, Luciano Vecchio & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-88456-804-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Since the 1960s and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement, comics have always been at the forefront of the battle for equality. Maybe more so in terms of racial issues at the start and not so much on gender disparity or sexual complexity, but now most print and screen superheroes work towards greater diversity and inclusion. The most noticeable strides and breakthroughs have come from industry leaders DC and Marvel, but maybe it’s just that more is expected of them…

In 2021, the former celebrated accumulated personal freedoms by collecting one-shot DC Pride #1 and select material from similarly-themed specials New Years Evil #1, Mysteries of Love in Space #1 and Young Monsters in Love #1 (cumulatively spanning 2018-2021), celebrating the infinite variety of interpersonal relationships focusing on LGBTQIA+ characters in the DC catalogue as interpreted by creators equally all-embracing.

The compilation – variously lettered by Aditya Bidikar, Josh Reed, Arian Maher, Becca Carey, Steve Wands, Tom Napolitano and Dave Sharpe – opens with a fulsome Foreword from Out & Proud bestselling author and comics scribe Mark Andreyko before we plunge into assorted antics…

James Tynion IV & Trung Le Nguyen begin the festivities with ‘The Wrong Side of the Looking Glass’ as Batwoman Kate Kane confronts memories of her twin sister/deranged arch nemesis Alice and how her enforced solitude after Beth Kane seemingly died may have affected her own life path, after which John Constantine meets magician Extraño in a pub and starts chatting. Gregorio de la Vega was officially DC’s first openly gay super-character, debuting in weekly megaseries Millennium #2 (January 1988) and latterly as a member of The New Guardians. For ‘Time in a Bottle’ creators Steve Orlando & Stephen Byrne pit him in a tall tale contest co-starring Midnighter and featuring queer Nazi vampire cultist Count Berlin…

Vita Ayala, Skylar Patridge and colourist José Villarrubia then set lesbian cop Renee Montoya and her alter ego The Question on the trail of a missing politician in ‘Try the Girl’ whilst Mariko Tamaki, Amy Reeder & Marissa Louise have Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy spectacularly and near-lethally address their unique relationship problems in ‘Another Word for a Truck to Move Your Furniture’.

After being in the closet since the 1930s, original Green Lantern Alan Scott shares the story of his first love with openly out son Todd AKA Obsidian. As related by Sam Johns, Klaus Janson & colourist Dave McCaig, ‘He’s the Light of My Life!’ is a sweet romantic interlude balanced by ‘Clothes Makeup Gift’ – by Danny Lore, Lisa Sterle & Enrica Angiolini – a female wherein future Flash multitasks prepping for a date with a new girlfriend and taking down a Mirror Master knockoff Reflek…

The Flash connection continues with reformed Rogue Pied Piper foiling and then mentoring social activist outlaw Drummer Boy in wry caper ‘Be Gay, Do Crime’ by Sina Grace, Ro Stein & Ted Brandt before DCTV superhero Dreamer makes their comic book debut in ‘Date Night’, courtesy of Nicole Maines, Rachael Stott and Angiolini.

Arch villains Monsieur Mallah and The Brain prove to gay cop Maggie Sawyer that love truly comes in all forms in Orlando & Nic Klein’s moving confrontation ‘Visibility’ after which Lobo’s troubled, long-abandoned daughter Crush learns some hard truths from the wrong role model in ‘Crushed’ by Andrea Shea and Amancay Nahuelpan Trish Mulvihill…

Harley Quinn offers her particular seasonal felicitations to Renee Montoya and Gotham City in Ayala, Elena Casagrande & Jordie Bellaire’s rendition of ‘Little Christmas Tree’ prior to a host of gay heroes attending a Pride March and forming a team of their own to battle Eclipso in ‘Love Life’ by Andrew Wheeler, Luciano Vecchio & Rez Lokus.

The combination of Aqualad Jackson Hyde, Aerie, Wink, Apollo & Midnighter, Bunker, Tasmanian Devil, The Ray, Shining Knight, Steel/Natasha Irons, Sylvan Ortega, Tremor, Traci 13, Extraño, Batwoman and Crush proved unbeatable and led to them proudly declaring themselves Justice League Queer…

This award-winning collection also comes with a cover gallery including 17 variant covers for DC titles during Pride Month and featuring many other out stars, crafted by David Talaski, Brittney Williams, Kevin Wada, Kris Anka, Nick Robles, Sophie Campbell, Travis Moore & Alejandro Sánchez, Jen Bartel, Paulina Ganucheau, Stephen Byrne and Yoshi Yoshitani and closes with a screen-loaded fact feature.

‘DCTV: The Pride Profiles’ offers brief interviews, and Q-&-As of LGBTQ characters in The CW shows – including Batwoman/Ryan Wilder (played by Javicia Leslie), Dreamer (Nicole Maines), White Canary/Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), John Constantine (Matt Ryan), Thunder (Nafessa Williams) and Negative Man (Matt Bomer).

Forthright, fun, thrilling and fabulous, feel free to find and feast on these comics and stories.
© 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.