Showcase Presents Jonah Hex volume 1


By John Albano, Michael Fleisher, Tony DeZuñiga, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1817-1

The Western is an odd genre that can almost be sub-divided into two discrete halves: the sparkly, shiny version that dominated kids’ books, comics and television for decades, best typified by Zane Grey stories and heroes such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry – and the other stuff.

That sort of cowboy tale, grimy, gritty, excessively dark, was done best for years by Europeans in such strips as Jean-Michel Charlier’s Lieutenant Blueberry or Bonelli and Galleppini’s Tex Willer which made their way into US culture through the films of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone. Jonah Hex is the latter sort.

DC (or National Periodicals as it then as) had run a stable (sorry!) of clean-cut gun-slingers since the collapse of the super-hero genre in 1949, with such dashing – and highly readable – luminaries as Johnny Thunder, The Trigger Twins, Nighthawk, Matt Savage and dozens of others in a marketplace that seemed limitless in its voracious hunger for chaps in chaps; but all things end, and by the early sixties the sagebrush brigade had dwindled to a few venerable properties.

As the 1960s closed, the thematic changes in the cinematic Cowboy filtered through to a comics industry suffering its second super-hero retreat in twenty years. Although a critical success, the light-hearted Western series Bat Lash couldn’t garner a solid following, but DC, desperate for a genre that readers would warm to, retrenched and revived an old title, gambling once again on heroes who were no longer simply boy scouts with six-guns.

All-Star Western #1 was released with an August/September 1970 cover date, filled with Pow-Wow Smith reprints, becoming an all-new anthology with its second bi-monthly issue. The magazine was allocated a large number of creative all-stars, including Robert Kanigher, Neal Adams, Gray Morrow, Al Williamson, Gil Kane, Angelo Torres, and Dick Giordano, working on such strips as Outlaw!, Billy the Kid and the cult sleeper hit El Diablo, which combined shoot-’em-up shenanigans with supernatural chills, in deference to the real hit genre-type that saved comics in those dark days.

But it wasn’t until issue #10 and the introduction of a disfigured and irascible bounty hunter created by writer John Albano and Tony DeZuniga that the company found its greatest and most enduring Western warrior. This superb collection of the early appearances of Jonah Hex has been around for a few years, with no apparent sign of a sequel yet, so consider this a heartfelt attempt to generate a few sales and lots of interest… But before we even get to the meat of the review let’s look at the back of this wonderfully economical black and white gun-fest where some of those abortive experimental series have been included at no added expense.

Outlaw was created by Kanigher and DeZuniga, a generation gap drama wherein Texas Ranger Sam Wilson was forced to hunt down his troubled and wayward son Rick. Over four stylish chapters – ‘Death Draw’, ‘Death Deals the Cards!’ (#3, illustrated by Gil Kane), ‘No Coffin for a Killer’ and the trenchant finale ‘Hangman Never Loses’ (#5, drawn by Jim Aparo), the eternal struggles of Good and Evil, Old and New were effectively played out, all strongly influenced by Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns.

The series was replaced by one of the best and definitely the most radical interpretation of Billy the Kid ever seen in comics; a sardonic, tragic vengeance-saga that began with the hunt for the killer of Billy’s father and developed into a poignant eulogy for the passing of an era. Billy’s quest (‘Billy the Kid… Killer’, Bullet for a Gambler’ and ‘The Scavenger’ all by Albano and DeZuniga) ran in issues #6-8. The book closes with a classic spooky Western tale from issue #7: ‘The Night of the Snake’ was written by Gil Kane and Denny O’Neil, and strikingly illustrated by Kane and DeZuniga, clearly showing each creator’s love for the genre…

As good as those lost gems are, the real star of this tome is the very model of the modern anti-hero, Jonah Hex, who first appeared in All-Star Comics #10, a coarse and callous bounty hunter clad in a battered Confederate Grey tunic and hat, half his face lost to some hideous past injury; a brutal thug little better than the scum he hunted – and certainly a man to avoid. ‘Welcome to Paradise’ by Albano and DeZuniga introduced the character and his world in a powerful action thriller, with a subtle sting of sentimentality that anyone who has seen the classic western “Shane” cannot fail to appreciate.

From the first set-up Albano was constantly hinting at the tortured depths hidden behind Hex’s hellishly scarred visage and deadly proficiency. In ‘The Hundred Dollar Deal’ (#11) the human killing machine encountered a wholesome young couple who weren’t what they seemed and the scripts took on an even darker tone from #12. The comic had been re-titled Weird Western Tales (aligning it with the company’s highly successful horror/mystery books and ‘Promise to a Princess’ combined charm and tragedy in the tale of a little Pawnee girl and the White Man’s insatiable greed and devilish ingenuity.

From the very start the series sought to redress some of the most unpalatable motifs of old style cowboy literature and any fan of films like Soldier Blue and Little Big Man or Dee Brown’s iconoclastic book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee will feel a grim sense of vicarious satisfaction and redress at most of the stories here. There’s also a huge degree of world-weary cynicism that wasn’t to be found in other comics until well past the Watergate Scandal, when America as whole lost its social and political innocence…

Issue #13 ‘The Killer’s Last Wish!’ again touched the heartstrings in the tale of a lovable old man and his greedy, impatient son, with Hex the unlikely arbiter of final justice. ‘Killers Die Alone!’ is an vicious tear jerker of a tale as Hex’s only friend dies to save him the vengeance of killers who blame the bounty hunter for their brother’s death, whilst ‘Grasshopper Courage’(#16 – Hex didn’t appear in #15) shows a shrewd grasp of human nature as Hex and an inept young sheriff track a gang of stagecoach robbers.

‘The Hangin’ Woman’ in #17 is a classy thriller wherein Hex runs afoul of a sadistic harridan who rules her hometown with hemp and hot lead, whilst ‘The Hoax’ finds him embroiled in a gold-rush scam that as usual ends bloody. With this tale the length of the stories, always growing, finally reached the stage where they pushed everything else out of the comic for the first time. Before too long the situation would become permanent. ‘Demon on my Trail’ in #19 dealt with kidnapping and racism, whilst ‘Blood Brothers’ (written by Arnold Drake) again addressed Indian injustice as Hex was hired by the US Cavalry to hunt down a woman stolen by a charismatic “redskin”.

Albano returned for ‘The Gunfighter’, as an injured Hex at last hinted about his veiled past while tracking a gang of killers, but it was new writer Michael Fleisher (assisted at first by Russell Carley) who would reveal Hex’s secrets beginning with Weird Western Tales #22’s ‘Showdown at Hard Times’. A chance meeting in a stagecoach put a cabal of ex-Confederate soldiers on the trail of their ex-comrade for some unrevealed betrayal that inevitably ended in a six-gun bloodbath, and introduced a returning nemesis for the grizzled gunslinger.

More was revealed in ‘The Point Pyrrhus Massacre!’ as another gang of Southern malcontents attempted to assassinate President Ulysses Grant, with Hex crossing their gun-sights for good measure. Issue #24 was illustrated by Noly Panaligan, and ‘The Point Pyrrhus Aftermath!’ found a severely wounded Hex a sitting duck for every gunman hot to make his reputation, depending for his life on the actions of a down-and-out actor…

‘Showdown with the Dangling Man’ looked at shady land deals and greedy businessmen with a typically jaundiced eye – and grisly imagination – whilst train-robbers were the bad-guys in the superb ‘Face-Off with the Gallagher Boys!’ illustrated by the inimitable Doug Wildey. Issue #27, by Fleisher and Panaligan featured ‘The Meadow Springs Crusade’ as the bounty hunter was hired to protect suffragettes agitating for women’s rights in oh-so-liberal Kansas, ‘Stagecoach to Oblivion’ (drawn by George Moliterni) saw him performing the same service for a gold-shipping company.

Hex’s past was finally revealed in #29’s ‘Breakout at Fort Charlotte’, a two-part extravaganza that gorily concluded with ‘The Trial’ (illustrated by Moliterni), as a battalion of Confederate veterans passed judgement on the man they believed to be the worst traitor in the history of the South.

‘Gunfight at Wolverine’ is a powerful variation on the legend of “Doc Holliday” and the Hex portion of the book concludes with a two-part adventure from Weird Western Tales #32 and 33, drawn by the great Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. ‘Bigfoot’s War’ and ‘Day of the Tomahawk’ is a compelling tale of intrigue, honour and double-cross as the bounty-hunter is again hired to rescue a white girl from those incorrigible “injuns” – and as usual hasn’t been told the full story…

Jonah Hex is the most unique and original character in cowboy comics, darkly comedic, rousing, chilling and cathartically satisfying. It’s a Western for those who despise the form whilst being the perfect modern interpretation of a great storytelling tradition. No matter what your reading preference, this is a collection you don’t want to miss.

© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown


By Arnold Drake, Ed Herron, Bob Brown & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1725-9

The Challengers of the Unknown was a bridging concept. As superheroes were being revived in 1956 here was a super-team – the first of the Silver Age – with no powers, the most basic and utilitarian of costumes and the most dubious of motives – Suicide by Mystery. Yet they were a huge hit and struck a chord that lasted for more than a decade before they finally died… only to rise again and yet again. The idea of them was stirring enough, but their initial execution made their success all but inevitable. Springing from one-man hit-factory Jack Kirby, before his move across town to co-create the Marvel Universe, the solid adventure concept and perfect action heroes he left behind were ideal everyman characters for the tumultuous 1960s – an era before super-heroes obtained a virtual chokehold on the comic-book pages.

Kirby had developed a brilliantly feasible concept and heroically archetypical characters in cool pilot Ace Morgan, indomitable strongman Rocky Davis, intellectual aquanaut Prof. Haley and daredevil acrobat Red Ryan. The Challengers of the Unknown were four ordinary mortals; heroic adventurers and explorers who walked away unscathed from a terrible plane crash. Already obviously what we now call “adrenaline junkies”, they decided that since they were all living on borrowed time, they would dedicate what remained of their lives to testing themselves and fate. They would risk their lives for Knowledge and naturally, Justice. They were joined by an occasional fifth member, beautiful (of course) scientist June Robbins in their second appearance (‘Ultivac is Loose!’ Showcase #7, March/April 1957), and she became a hardy perennial always popping up to solve puzzles, catch criminals and generally deal with Aliens, Monsters and assorted supernatural threats (see previous volume ISBN: 978-1-4012-1087-8).

A number of writers, many sadly lost to posterity, wrote these tales, including Bill Finger, Ed Herron, Jack Miller, Bob Haney and Arnold Drake, but one man handled the artwork: Bob Brown. To our shame very little is known about this wonderfully capable artist. I can’t even confirm his date of birth, although he died in 1977 following a long illness. He co-created the long-running Space Ranger, drew Tomahawk, Vigilante, Batman, Superboy, Doom Patrol, World’s Finest Comics and a host of other features and genre shorts for DC before moving to Marvel in the 1970s where he drew Warlock, Daredevil and the Avengers among others. He was a consummate professional and drew every issue of the Challs from #9 – 63, a near-decade of high-octane fantasy and adventure that ranged from leftover Nazis, ravaging aliens, super-villain, cute-and-fuzzy space beasts and supernatural horrors.

This second volume collecting the contents of Challengers of the Unknown #18 – #37 starts off with ‘The Menace of Mystery Island’ originally released in February/March 1961, which found the team fighting crooks on a tropical island where an alien probe had crashed, depositing an test animal with uncanny powers. In the manner of the times the victorious troubleshooters adopted the fuzzy li’l space-tyke, naming him Cosmo. The second story in that issue was darker fare however, as they were shanghaied through time to save ‘The Doomed World of Tomorrow’.

‘The Alien Who Stole a Planet’ teamed the heroes with refugees from a doomed world, but things turned sour when one of the survivors decided that Earth would be suitable replacement, whilst ‘The Beasts from the Fabulous Gem’ pitted the gang against a soldier-of-fortune who had stolen a mystic jewel used to imprison monsters in ancient times. Their very own super-villain resurfaced as ‘Multi-Man Strikes Again’ in issue #20, and June joined them for a spot of monster-bashing in the hectic riddle of ‘The Cosmic-Powered Creature’ and although in the next issue it was apparently just the lads who were shanghaied to ‘The Weird World that Didn’t Exist’ she played a major role when Cosmo returned in ‘The Challengers’ Space-Pet Ally’.

‘The Curse of the Golden God’ was the usual action-packed crime-drama in the South American jungles, but #22’s second tale hit much closer to home as their secret base was compromised by ‘The Thing in Challenger Mountain’ and the team found that ‘Death Guarded the Doom Box’ in the form of ancient but still deadly mechanical devices, before more aliens began kidnapping humans to ‘The Island in the Sky’.

In ‘The Challengers Die at Dawn’ the hunt for a swindler led the team to a lost tribe of oriental pirates in the South China Seas, but the big story in #24 was ‘Multi-Man, Master of Earth’ a good old-fashioned battle for justice against a seemingly unstoppable foe. Although the stories were becoming a touch formulaic by this stage, the equation was a trusted one, and Brown’s art was always improving.

Challengers of the Unknown #25 (April/May 1962) was right at the cusp of the moment full-blown superhero mania was beginning and, although ‘Return of the Invincible Pharaoh’ is a story of ancient mystery and slumbering menaces, its plot of a lost secret bestowing superpowers was to become a recurring staple in such “normal, human heroes” comics such as the Challs, Blackhawk – and even the Batman titles. The second tale ‘Captives of the Alien Hunter’ featured another thieving extraterrestrial up to no good and once more both June and Cosmo were needed to foil the fiend.

‘Death Crowns the Challenger King’ is a bizarre variation on the Prisoner of Zenda’s plot, set in a hidden Mongol city with Prof replacing the true ruler in a series of ceremonial ordeals, and the rest of the gang running interference against the scurvy villains, whilst a flamboyant impresario was shown to have an out of this world new act in ‘The Secret of the Space Spectaculars’. Issue #27 led off with ‘The 1,001 Impossible Inventions’, wherein two convicts bamboozle a wounded alien into using his advanced science for crime, whilst ‘Master of the Volcano Men’ (the first story for which we have a confirmed writer – Arnold Drake) introduced another perennial villain: marauding lava beings from the centre of the earth.

It was once more rebellious robots causing a destructive fuss in ‘The Revolt of the Terrible FX-1’ but the real show-stealer of #28 was a classic time-travel romp sending the team back to ancient Egypt to solve ‘The Riddle of the Faceless Man.’ The next issue brought ‘Four Roads to Doomsday (again written by Drake) wherein satellite sabotage led the team to a plot by alien criminals to conquer Earth, whilst the antagonistic nature of the team was highlighted (this team was bickering and in-fighting years before Fantastic Four #1) in Ed “France” Herron’s ‘The War Between the Challenger Teams’ as Ace and Red battle Prof and Rocky to end a war between two sub-sea races.

‘Multi-Man… Villain Turned Hero’ turned out to be just another evil ploy by the shape-changing charlatan, but #30’s real treat was the introduction of Gaylord Clayburn, spoiled multimillionaire playboy who wanted to become ‘The Fifth Challenger’.

‘The Man Who Saved the Challengers’ Lives’ in #31 was the first full length story since 1960, impressively retelling their dramatic origin, and revealed the debt they possibly owed to a shady industrialist, whilst #32 was business as usual in Drake’s ‘One Challenger Must Die!’ as the boys fiercely competed to find who would sacrifice themselves to stop another rampaging Volcano Man, before rediscovering the power of teamwork, which was just as well since the second tale revealed how and why ‘Cosmo Turns Traitor.’

Each an expert in some field of human endeavour, in #33, the Challs were confronted by a superior individual in Drake’s ‘The Challengers Meet their Master’, but as with ‘The Threat of the Trojan Robot’, teamwork proved the solution to any problem. Ed Herron scripted the terse thriller ‘Beachhead, USA’ which opened #34, as a sub full of Nazis frozen since World War II tried to complete their last mission – blowing up the East Coast of America, with only the Chall’s in place to stop them, whilst Multi-Man discovered that no matter how smart you are, building the “perfect mate” is a very bad idea in ‘Multi-Woman, Queen of Disaster.’

‘The War Against the Moon Beast’ was a spectacular sci-fi yarn, balanced by the quirky prognostications of a Carnival Seer whose crystal ball revealed an adventure of the ‘Sons of the Challengers’ and whilst one of the boys became a monster in #36’s ‘The Giant in Challenger Mountain’, he recovered in time to join the others as ‘Bodyguards to a Star’ on the location of a dinosaur infested movie-epic.

This volume ends with #37 and ‘The Triple Terror of Mr. Dimension’ – a petty thug who found a reality-altering weapon, whilst Herron scripted the taut drama of ‘The Last Days of the Challengers’ as the team struggled to destroy giant robots and thwart an execution-list with their names on it…

Challengers of the Unknown is sheer escapist wonderment, and no fan of the medium should ignore the graphic exploits of these ideal adventurer-heroes in the evocative setting of the recent now; a simpler, better world than ours. Reader-friendly to anyone with a love of wild thrills, these long-neglected tales would make the perfect kids cartoon series too…
© 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents the Flash vol. 2


By John Broome, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella & Murphy Anderson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1805-8

The second Flash triggered the Silver Age of comics, and for the first ten years or so, in terms of artistic quality and story originality, it was always the book to watch. Following his debut in Showcase #4 (cover-dated October 1956) police scientist Barry Allen was characteristically slow in winning his own title but finally after three more trial issues stood on his own wing-tipped feet in The Flash #105 ( a February-March 1959 cover-date so it was out for Christmas 1958).

He never looked back and his first experimental endeavours can – and should – be economically yours by purchasing the previous volume of this series (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1327-5, covering Showcase #4, 8, 13 and 14 and Flash #105-119).

The comic-book had gelled into a comfortable pattern of two tales per issue alternating with semi-regular book-length thrillers and this volume begins with a glorious example of the latter from Flash #120 (May 1961). The majority of adventures were produced by peripatetic scripter John Broome and the slickly innovative art-team of Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, and ‘Land of Golden Giants!’ saw them at their very best in a fanciful science fiction drama where a small expedition of explorers including Barry and his protégé Wally West – AKA Kid Flash – were catapulted back millennia to the very moment when the primal super-continent (or at least the parts that would become Africa and South America) was splitting apart.

Flash stories always found a way to make cutting-edge science integral and interesting. A regular filler-feature was the speed-themed “Flash-Facts” which became a component of the stories themselves via quirky little footnotes. How many fan-boys turned a “C” to a “B” by dint of their recreational reading? I know I certainly impressed the heck out of a few nuns at the convent school I attended! (But let’s not visualise; simply move on…)

Issue #121 saw the return of a novel old foe as ‘The Trickster Strikes Back!’. The costumed criminality was balanced by Cold War skulduggery in the gripping ‘Secret of the Stolen Blueprint!’ (guest inked by the brilliant Murphy Anderson). Another contemporary zeitgeist undoubtedly led to ‘Beware the Atomic Grenade!’, a witty yarn that introduced a new member to Flash’s burgeoning Rogues Gallery when The Top turned from second-rate thief to global extortionist by means of a rather baroque thermonuclear device.

In counterpoint Kid Flash dealt with smaller scale catastrophe in ‘The Face Behind the Mask’ wherein a pop-star with a secret identity (based, I believe, on a young David Soul who began his showbiz career as a folk singer known as “the Covered Man” because he performed wearing a mask) was blackmailed by a villainous gang of old school friends.

Gardner Fox didn’t write many Flash scripts at this time, but those few he did were all dynamite. None more so than the full-length epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever. ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ introduced the theory of alternate Earths to the continuity and by extension resulted in the pivotal multiversal structure of the DCU, Crisis on Infinite Earths and all the succeeding cosmos-shaking crossover sagas that grew from it. And of course where DC led, others followed…

During a benefit gig Flash accidentally slips into another dimension where he finds that the comic-book hero he based his own superhero identity upon actually exists. Every adventure he had absorbed as an eager child was grim reality to Jay Garrick and his mystery men comrades on the controversially named Earth-2. Locating his idol Barry convinces the elder to come out of retirement just as three Golden Age villains, Shade, Thinker and the Fiddler make their own wicked comeback. And above all else, Flash #123 is a great read that still stands up today.

Utterly unaware of the stir that was brewing in fandom’s ranks, it was business as usual with #124’s alien invasion thriller ‘Space Boomerang Trap!’ which featured an uneasy alliance between the Scarlet Speedster, Elongated Man and the sinister Captain Boomerang whilst the back-up ‘Vengeance Via Television!’ tested our hero’s wits when a mad scientist used TV waves to expose his secret identity.

‘The Conquerors of Time!’ (Flash #125 December 1961) was another mind-boggling classic as time-travelling aliens attempted to subjugate Earth in 2287AD by preventing fissionable elements from forming in 100,842,246BC. Antediluvian lost races, another pivotal role for Kid Flash (easily the most trusted and responsible sidekick of the Silver Age), the introduction of the insanely cool Cosmic Treadmill plus spectacular action make this a benchmark of quality graphic narrative.

The drama continued unabated in the next issue when Mirror Master resurfaced in ‘The Doom of the Mirror Flash!’ whilst the second story looked into Barry Allen’s past in ‘Snare of the Headline Huntress!’ wherein childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean tries to rekindle Barry’s love to boost her Hollywood profile. In #127 ‘Reign of the Super-Gorilla!’ saw Grodd return, using his telepathy to run for Governor (not as daft as it sounds, honest!) whilst Kid Flash resolved parental problems in ‘The Mystery of the Troubled Boy!’ Flash #128 introduced time-travelling magician and psychotic egotist Abra Kadabra in ‘The Case of the Real-Gone Flash!’ but still had room for the intriguing vignette ‘The Origin of Flash’s Masked Identity!’

Fox and Earth-2 returned in #129’s ‘Double Danger on Earth!’ as Jay Garrick ventured to Earth-1 to save his own world from a doom comet, only to fall foul of Captain Cold and the Trickster. As well as double Flash action, this tale pictorially reintroduced Justice Society stalwarts Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

For the meantime though it was back to basics with ‘Who Doomed the Flash?’; an intriguing mystery that seemingly pooled the threats of Trickster, Captain Cold, the Top, Captain Boomerang and the Mirror Master in a superb conundrum, brilliantly solved by the Vizier of Velocity whilst his junior partner had problems enough with the Weather Wizard when ‘Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man!’

RSVP-ing to a landmark guest-shot in Green Lantern #13 (‘Duel of the Super-Heroes!’ – see Showcase Presents Green Lantern vol. 1, ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0759-5) the Emerald Crusader again joined with our hero to defeat alien invaders in the engrossing feature-length ‘Captives of the Cosmic Ray!’ whilst #132’s lead ‘The Heaviest Man Alive!’ returned the speedster to the dimension of Gobdor (‘The Man Who Stole Central City’ from #116 and the previous volume) for another tense, super-scientific puzzle that was also a sly poke at the new Television generation. The second tale featured ‘The Farewell Appearance of Daphne Dean’ as the starlet returned to make amends in a quirky little tearjerker.

Abra Kadabra stole a rather silly encore in ‘The Plight of the Puppet Flash!’ in #133, but this was more than compensated for by the witty and sensitive Kid Flash back-up ‘The Secret of the Handicapped Boys!’ as deaf, blind and mute classmates (one disability per boy, ok?) each discovered the young hero’s secret identity.

In Flash #134, Captain Cold was ‘The Man who Mastered Absolute Zero!’ in a flamboyant thriller that co-starred Elongated Man, whilst Iris West’s father (and Flash’s prospective father-in-law) paid an unwelcome call in the cleverly comedic ‘The Threat of the Absent Minded Professor!’, whilst Kid Flash got a beautiful new costume in the invasion thriller ‘Secret of the Three Super-Weapons!’ in #135.

‘The Mirror Master’s Invincible Bodyguards!’ actually weren’t but the scarlet Speedster had a lot more trouble when a seedy blackmailer claimed ‘Barry Allen – You’re the Flash – and I Can Prove It!’ This type of clever human-scaled story was slowly disappearing in favour of the more colourful costume epics – none more so than the wonderful ‘Vengeance of the Immortal Villain!’ Another incredible Earth-2 crossover, this saw the two Flashes unite to defeat 50,000 year old Vandal Savage and save the Justice Society of America: a tale which directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of all those aforementioned “Crisis” epics.

Garner Fox scripted ‘The Pied Piper’s Double Doom!’, a mesmeric team-up with Elongated Man, but once more the Kid Flash back-up stole the show, introducing the singular thespian Dexter Myles to the steadily growing cast in a charming comedy of errors ‘Mystery of the Matinee Idol!’

Flash #139 introduced the hero’s ultimate nemesis in Professor Zoom, a 25th century criminal who duplicated his super-speed to become the ‘Menace of the Reverse-Flash!’ a taut thriller that even found time to include a cunning sub-plot about nuclear Armageddon, and this volume closes with the contents of #140 (November 1963) which debuts the super arsonist Heat Wave in the stylish ‘The Heat is on for Captain Cold!’ and finally pitted the Monarch of Motion against ‘The Metal-Eater from Beyond the Stars!’ a bizarre energy being that could nullify the speedster’s powers.

As always the emphasis was on brains and learning, not gimmicks or abilities, which is why these tales still work nearly half-a-century later. Coupled with the astounding art of Infantino these tales are a captivating snap-shot of when science was our friend and the universe(s) was a place of infinite possibility.

These tales were crucial to the development of our art-form, but, more importantly they are brilliant, awe-inspiring, beautifully realised thrillers that amuse, amaze and enthral both new readers and old lags. This lovely collection is another must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures.

© 1961, 1962, 1963, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents Batman Volume 3


By Gardner Fox, John Broome, Sheldon Moldoff & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1719-8

After three seasons (perhaps two and a half would be closer) the Batman TV show ended in March, 1968. It had clocked up 120 episodes since the US premiere on January 12, 1966. The era ended but the series had had an undeniable effect on the world, the comics industry and most importantly on the characters and history of its four-colour inspiration. Most notable was a whole new super-heroine who became an integral part of the DC universe.

This astoundingly economical black and white compendium collects all the Batman and Robin yarns from Batman #189-201 and Detective Comics #359-375 (the back-up slot therein being delightfully filled at this time by the whimsically wonderful Elongated Man strip – which I really must get around to reviewing). The 33 stories here – written and illustrated by the cream of editor Julie Schwartz’s elite and extensive stable of creators – slowly evolved over the seventeen months covered here from an even mix of crime, science fiction, mystery, human interest and super-villain vehicles to a much narrower concentration of plot engines. As with the television version, costumes became king, and then became unwelcome….

It all begins with the comic-book premiere of that aforementioned new character. In ‘The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl’ (Detective Comics #359, cover-dated January 1967) writer Gardner Fox and the art team supreme of Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene introduced Barbara Gordon, mousy librarian and daughter of the venerable Police Commissioner into the superhero limelight. By the time the third season began on September 14, 1967, she was well-established.

A different Batgirl, Betty Kane, niece of the 1950s Batwoman, was already a comics fixture but for reasons far too complex and irrelevant to mention was conveniently forgotten to make room for the new, empowered woman in the fresh tradition of Emma Peel, Honey West and the Girl From U.N.C.L.E. She was pretty hot too, which is always a plus for television…

Whereas she fought the Penguin on the small screen, her paper origin features the no less ludicrous but at least visually forbidding Killer Moth in a clever yarn that still stands up today.

An old foe not seen since the 1940s was revived for Batman #189 (February 1967). Demented psychology lecturer Jonathan Crane was obsessed by the emotion of fear and turned his expertise to criminal endeavours (in World’s Finest Comics #3 and Detective #73) before vanishing into obscurity. With ‘Fright of the Scarecrow’ he was back for (no) good, courtesy of Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Joe Giella, as this tense psycho-drama elevated him to the top ranking of Bat-rogues. ‘The Case of the Abbreviated Batman’ (Detective #360) by the same team was an old-fashioned crime-caper with mobster Gunshy Barton pitting wits against the Gotham Guardians whilst the March Batman‘s full-length ‘The Penguin Takes a Flyer… Into the Future!’, scripted by John Broome, mixed super-villainy and faux science fiction motifs for an enjoyable if predictable fist-fest.

Editor Schwartz preferred to stick with mysteries and conundrums in Detective Comics and #361’s ‘The Dynamic Duo’s Double-Deathtrap!’ was one of Gardner Fox’s best examples, especially as it’s drawn by the incredibly over-stretched Infantino and Greene. The plot involved Cold War spies and a maker of theatrical paraphernalia; I shall reveal no more to keep you guessing when you read it. The next issue, by Fox, Moldoff and Giella, featured another eccentric scheme by the Riddler on ‘The Night Batman Destroyed Gotham City!’

Batman #191 featured two tales by Broome, Moldoff and Giella staring with ‘The Day Batman Sold Out!’, a “Hero Quits” teaser with a Babs Gordon cameo, whilst the faithful butler took centre-stage in the charming ‘Alfred’s Mystery Menu’. ‘The True-False Face of Batman’ however, (Detective #363, by Fox Infantino and Greene) was a full co-starring vehicle as the new girl was challenged to deduce Batman’s secret identity whilst tracking down the enigmatic Mr. Brains.

Fox scripted both ‘The Crystal Ball that Betrayed Batman!’ which featured an old enemy in a new guise and the Robin solo-story ‘Dick Grayson’s Secret Guardian!’ in Batman #192, for Moldoff and Giella who also handled his mystery-yarn ‘The Curious Case of the Crime-less Clues!’ in Detective #364, in which Riddler and a host of Bat-baddies again tested the brains and patience of the Dynamic Duo – or so it seemed….

Issue #365 featured ‘The House the Joker Built!’ by Broome, Moldoff and Giella which was nobody’s finest hour, but ‘The Blockbuster goes Bat-Mad!’, scripted by Fox for Batman #196, is a compensating delight, especially when accompanied by another “fair-play” mystery yarn starring The Mystery Analysts of Gotham City. ‘The Problem of the Proxy Paintings!’ is the kind of Batman tale I miss most these days: witty and urbane, a genuinely engaging puzzle without benefit of angst or histrionics.

‘The Round Robin Death Threats’ by Fox, Infantino and Greene was a tense thriller that stretched across two issues of Detective (#366 and #367 – an almost unheard of event in those reader-friendly days), a diabolical murder-plot that threatened to destroy Gotham’s worthiest citizens. The drama ended in high style with ‘Where There’s a Will… There’s a Slay!’ a chilling conclusion almost ruined by that awful title.

‘The Spark-Spangled See-Through Man!’ in Batman #195 introduced the radioactive villain Bag o’ Bones in a desperate attempt to get back to story-driven tales, though the ‘7 Wonder Crimes of Gotham City!’ (Detective #368) by the same creative team of Fox, Moldoff and Giella was a much more enjoyable taste of bygone times. Issue #196 led with a clever puzzler entitled ‘The Psychic Super-Sleuth!’ and finished well with another challenging mystery in ‘The Purloined Parchment Puzzle!’ (both by Fox, Moldoff and Giella) and Detective #369, illustrated by Infantino and Greene, somewhat reinforced boyhood prejudices about icky girls in the classy thriller ‘Batgirl Breaks Up the Dynamic Duo’ which segued directly into a classic confrontation in Batman #197 as ‘Catwoman sets Her Claws for Batman!’ by Fox, Frank Springer and Greene. This frankly daft tale is most fondly remembered for the classic cover of Batgirl and Catwoman (with Whip!!!) squaring off over Batman’s prone body – comic fans have a psychopathology all their very own…

Detective Comics #370 was by Broome, Moldoff and Giella, and related a superb thriller with roots in Bruce Wayne’s troubled youth. ‘The Nemesis from Batman’s Boyhood!’ was in many ways a precursor of later tales with an excellent premise and a soundly satisfying conclusion which proved that the needs of the TV shows were not exclusive or paramount. Gil Kane made his debut on the Dominoed Daredoll (did they really call her that? – yes they did, from page 2 onwards!) in #371’s ‘Batgirl’s Costumed Cut-ups’, a masterpiece of comic dynamism that Sid Greene could be proud of but Gardner Fox probably preferred to forget.

Batman #199’s ‘Peril of the Poison Rings’ and ‘Seven Steps to Save Face’ are much better examples of the clever plotting, memorable maguffins and rapid pace that Fox was capable of, ably interpreted by Moldoff and Giella, whilst John Broome’s ‘The Fearsome Foot-Fighters!’ weak title masked a classy burglary-yarn and the regular art team began adding mood and heavy shadow to their endeavours. This issue (Detective #370) was the first Bat-cover that legend-in-waiting Neal Adams pencilled and inked – a welcome taste of things to come…

Batman #200 (cover-dated March 196b) was written by wunderkind Mike Friedrich for Moldoff and Giella. ‘The Man Who Radiated Fear!’ featured the revitalised Scarecrow, and with the TV show dying the pre-emptive rehabilitation of the Caped Crusader began right here in a solid thriller with few laughs and lots of guest-stars.

Fox returned to top form in Detective #373, with art by Chic Stone and Greene in a tale which favoured drama over shtick in ‘Mr. Freeze’s Chilling Deathtrap!’, whilst Gil Kane returned to ramp up the tension in the brutal vengeance fable ‘Hunt for a Robin-Killer!’ (Detective #374) and Stone and Giella coped well with the extended cast of villains in Batman #201’s ‘Batman’s Gangland Guardians!’, a brilliant action-packed enigma wherein his greatest foes become bodyguards to a hero…

This volume ends with Detective #374 and Fox, Stone and Greene’s ‘The Frigid Finger of Fate’ a chilling race to catch a precognitive sniper, which more than any other story signaled the end of the Camp-Craze Caped Crimebuster and heralded the imminent return of a Dark Knight.

With this third collection from “the TV years” of Batman, concluding by the Spring of 1968, the global Bat-craze and larger popular fascination with super-heroes – and indeed the whole “Camp” trend – was beginning to die. In comics, that resulted in the resurgence of other genres, particularly Westerns and supernatural tales. With Batman it meant a renaissance of passion, terror and a life in the shadows.

Stay tuned: the best is yet to come…

© 1967, 1968, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups Volume 3


By Bob Haney & Jim Aparo, with John Calnan (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84856-117-5

With this third collection of Batman’s pairing with other luminaries of the DC universe (collecting in splendid black and white The Brave and the Bold issues #109-134) we find a creative team that had gelled into a perfect machine producing top-notch yarns aimed at the general readership – which would often annoy and appal the dedicated fans and continuity-obsessed reader.

Leading off is the superb supernatural thriller ‘Gotham Bay be my Grave!’ wherein the Caped Crusader and Jack Kirby’s then newest sensation the Demon battled an unquiet spirit determined to avenge his own execution after nearly a century, followed by a canny cold War adventure starring semi-regular Wildcat in his civilian guise as retired heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Although the veteran Justice Society hero was usually stationed on the alternate Earth 2 at this time no explanation was ever given for his presence on “our” planet. It used to drive the continuity-conscious fans utterly nuts!

Issue #111 boasted “the strangest team-up in history” as Batman joined forces with his greatest enemy, the Joker, for a brilliantly complex tale of cross and double cross in ‘Death has the Last Laugh!’ which may have lead to the Harlequin of Hate’s own short-run series a year later. With the next bimonthly issue B&B became a 100 Page Super Spectacular title: a much missed high-value experiment which offered an expanded page count of new material supplemented by classic reprints that turned many contemporary purchasers into avid fans of “the good old days”.

First to co-star in this new format was Kirby’s super escape artist Mister Miracle who joined the Gotham Guardian (himself regarded as the world’s greatest escapologist until the introduction of Jolly Jack’s Fourth World) in a tale of aliens and Ancient Egyptians entitled ‘The Impossible Escape!’ Issue #113 saw the return of the robotic Metal Men in a tense siege situation thriller ‘The 50-Story Killer!’ whilst Aquaman helped save the city from atomic annihilation in the gripping terrorist saga ‘Last Jet to Gotham in #114.

‘The Corpse that wouldn’t Die!’ was a different kind of drama as the Batman was declared brain-dead after an assault, and size-shifting superhero the Atom was forced to occupy his skull to complete the Caped Crusader’s “last case”. Needless to say the Gotham Gangbuster recovered in time for another continuity-crunching supernatural team-up with the Spectre in #116’s ‘Grasp of the Killer Cult’ before embarking on a ‘Nightmare Without End’ – a brilliant espionage thriller guest-starring the aging World War II legend Sgt. Rock and the survivors of Easy Company, a fitting end to the 100 page experiment.

The Brave and the Bold #118 returned to standard comic book format, if not content, as both Wildcat and the Joker joined Batman in the rugged fight game drama ‘May the Best Man Die!’. Sometime villain Man-Bat also had his own short-lived series and he impressively guested in #119’s exotic tale of despots and bounty-hunters ‘Bring Back Killer Krag’.

Possibly the most remarkable, if not uncomfortable, pairing in this volume occurred in B&B #120. Jack Kirby’s biggest hit at DC in the 1970s was Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth. Set in a post-disaster world where animals talked and hunted dumb human brutes, it proved the perfect vehicle for the King’s uncanny imagination, and ‘This Earth is Mine!’ saw Batman mystically sucked into that bestial dystopia to save a band of still-sentient human shamans in a tale more akin to the filmic “Planet of the Apes” quintet than anything found in comic-books.

The Metal Men bounced back in #121’s heist-on-rails thriller ‘The Doomsday Express’, an early advocacy of Native American rights with as much mayhem as message to it, and ‘The Hour of the Beast’ saw the Swamp Thing return to Gotham City to save it from a monstrous vegetable infestation. B&B #123 brought back Plastic Man and Metamorpho in ‘How to Make a Super-Hero’ as well as featuring a rare incidence of a returning villain: ruthless billionairess Ruby Ryder, once again playing her seductive mind-games with the pliable, gullible Elastic Ace.

Always looking for a solid narrative hook Haney spectacularly broke the fourth wall in ‘Small War of the Super Rifles’ when Batman and Sgt. Rock needed the help of artist Jim Aparo and editor Murray Boltinoff to stop a gang of ruthless terrorists. This is another one that drove some fans batty…

‘Streets of Poison’ in #125 was a solid drug-smuggler yarn with exotic locales and a lovely hostage for Batman and the Flash to deal with, and John Calnan stepped in to ink #126’s Aquaman team-up to solve the sinister mystery of ‘What Lurks Below Buoy 13?’

It was back to basics next issue as Wildcat returned to help quash a people-smuggling racket in the ‘Dead Man’s Quadrangle’ whilst #128’s ‘Death by the Ounce’ found the Caped Crusader recruiting Mister Miracle and Big Barda to help him rescue a kidnapped Shah and save a global peace treaty.

Ever keen to push the envelope, the next yarn was actually a jam-packed two-parter as #129’s ‘Claws of the Emperor Eagle’ pitting Batman, Green Arrow and the Atom against the Joker, Two-Face and a host of bandits in a race to possess a statue that had doomed every great conqueror in history. The epic, globe-trotting saga concluded with an ironic bang in ‘Death at Rainbow’s End.’

The last time Wonder Woman appeared (#105 if you recall) she was a merely mortal martial artist but in Brave and the Bold #131 she retuned in all her super-powered glory to help Batman fight Catwoman and ‘Take 7 Steps to… Wipe-Out!’

DC cautiously dipped its editorial toe in the Martial Arts craze and #132 found Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter joining ‘Batman… Dragon Slayer??’, as Denny O’Neil succeeded editor Boltinoff in a rather forced and silly tale of dueling stylists and purloined historical treasures.

Normal service resumed when Deadman stepped in to deliver ‘Another Kind of Justice!’ to rum-runner Turk Bannion when his heir and murderer turns to a more modern form of smuggling. This book concludes with ‘Demolishment!’ from #134, wherein Green Lantern defects to the soviets, a la “the Manchurian Candidate” and Batman’s rescue attempt goes bad…

By taking his cues from news headlines, popular films and proven genre-sources Bob Haney continually produced gripping adventures that thrilled and enticed with no need for more than a cursory nod to an ever-more onerous continuity. Anybody could pick up an issue and be sucked into a world of wonder. Consequently these tales are just as fresh and welcoming today, their themes and premises are just as immediate now as then and Jim Aparo’s magnificent art is still as compelling and engrossing as it always was. This is a Bat-book literally everybody can enjoy.

© 1973-1977, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger

Showcase Presents the Phantom Stranger
Showcase Presents the Phantom Stranger

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1088-5

The Phantom Stranger was one of the first transitional heroes of the Golden Age of comics, created at the very end of the superhero boom as readers moved from costumed crimefighters to other genres such as mystery, crime, war and western tales. A trench-coated, mysterious know-it-all, with hat pulled down low, he would appear, debunk a legend or foil a supernatural-seeming plot, and then vanish again.

He was coolly ambiguous, never revealing whether he was man, mystic or personally paranormal. Probably created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, who produced the first story in Phantom Stranger #1 (August-September 1952) and most of the others, the six-issue run also boasted contributions from Jack Miller, Manny Stallman and John Giunta. The last issue was cover-dated June-July, 1953, after which the character vanished.

Flash-forward to the end of 1968. The second superhero boom is rapidly becoming a bust and traditional costumed heroes are dropping like flies. Suspense and mystery titles are the Coming Thing and somebody has the bright idea of reviving the Phantom Stranger. He is the last hero revival of DC’s Silver Age and the last to graduate to his own title during the star-studded initial run of Showcase, appearing in #80 (January-February 1969) and debuting in his own comic three months later. This time he found an appreciative audience, running for 41 issues over seven years.

Rather than completely renovate the character, or simply run complete reprints as DC had when trying to revive espionage ace King Faraday (Showcase #50-51), Editor Joe Orlando had writer Mike Friedrich and artist Jerry Grandenetti create a contemporary framing sequence of missing children for the 1950s tale ‘the Three Signs of Evil’, and in a masterstroke of print economy, introduced (or rather reintroduced) another lost 1950s mystery hero to fill out the comic, and provide a thoroughly modern counterpoint.

Dr. Terrence Thirteen is a parapsychologist known as the Ghost Breaker who had his own feature in Star-Spangled Comics #122-130 from November 1951 to July 1952. With fiancée (later wife) Marie he debunked supernatural hoaxes and caught mystic fraudsters, a vocal and determined cynic who was imported whole into the Showcase try-out as a foil for the Stranger. His reprint adventure here was an origin tale ‘I Talked with the Dead!’ by an unknown writer with art by Leonard Starr and Wayne Howard.

Despite this somewhat choppy beginning, the tryout was a relative success and (Follow Me… For I Am…) The Phantom Stranger launched with a May-June cover-date. In another framing sequence by Friedrich and Bill Draut, a tale of impossible escape from certain death is revealed in ‘When Ghosts Walk!’, a Fifties thriller from John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry, followed by an all new mystery ‘Defeat the Dragon Curse… or Die!’ Firmly establishing that the supernatural is real, Friedrich and Draut pit the Stranger and Dr. 13 against each other as well as an ancient Chinese curse.

‘The Man Who Died Three Times’ in the second issue is a mystery with a deadly yet mundane origin, but the incorporated reprint Stranger tale ‘the House of Strange Secrets’ (Broome, Infantino and Barry) and Dr. 13’s ‘the Girl Who Lived 5,000 Years’ (France both provide the uneasy chills that Friedrich and Draut’s by-the-numbers tale do not.

Issue #3 once again used frightened kids as a vehicle for Friedrich and Draut to encapsulate vintage thrillers in a tale with a sinister carnival component. The Stranger relived ‘How do you Know My Name?’ by Broome and Frank Giacoia whilst Dr. 13 proved once more that there were ‘No Such Thing as Ghosts!’ (by Herron and Starr).

With such a formularized start it’s a miracle the series reached the landmark issue #4 where Robert Kanigher and Neal Adams (who had been responsible for the lion’s share of eerie, captivating covers thus far) produced a much more proactive hero in the mystery triptych ‘There is Laughter in Hell This Day!’, ‘There is Laughter in Hell Tonight!’ and ‘Even the Walls are Weeping!’

Stalwart Bill Draut provided inks for this classy classic in which Terry Thirteen became a far more militant – and consequently, frustrated – debunker of the Stranger’s “hocus-pocus” when Tala, the demonic Queen of Evil and Mistress of Darkness escapes her ancient tomb to bedevil the modern world with only the Phantom Stranger and an eclectic gang of runaway teens to oppose her.

This new combative format and repositioning of the book was presumably for the benefit of older kids. The protagonist teens were a strange composite of counter-culture stereotypes named Spartacus (Black kid), Attila (greasy biker), Wild Rose (blonde flower child) and Mister Square (conformist drop-out) who feel a little forced now but were the saving of the book, as was dropping of 17 year old reprints. From now on the stranger would really battle the Dark Powers and Dr. 13 would assume the metaphorical role of a blustering, officious parent who had no idea what was really going on. An added bonus in this cracking issue was a nifty three page horror vignette from Kanigher and the wonderful Murphy Anderson entitled ‘Out of This World’.

Anderson returned to ink the unique Mike Sekowsky in Phantom Stranger # 5, a full-length ghostly thriller featuring more of Tala’s handiwork in ‘the Devil’s Playground!’, topped off with another horror short by Kanigher, credited to Sekowsky here but actually a fine example of Curt Swan’s subtle mastery, especially as it’s inked by Anderson.

Sekowsky wrote and illustrated the next issue, with inks from Vince Colletta. ‘No. 13 Thirteenth Street’ is a Haunted House tale with those meddling kids and Dr. 13 getting underfoot in a delightfully light and whimsical diversion before Kanigher and Tala return in #7’s dark saga ‘The Curse!’ wherein both the Stranger and Terry Thirteen are right and the solution to madness and sudden deaths is both fraud and the supernatural!

This issue is particularly important in that it features the debut of up-and-coming Jim Aparo as illustrator. Over the next few years his art on this feature would be some of the very best in the entire industry.

Issue #8 featured an early arctic eco-thriller with supernatural overtones as Denny O’Neil described the tragic ‘Journey to the Tomb of the Ice Giants!’ whilst Dr. 13 got his own feature and dealt with ‘the Adventure of the Brittle Blossom!’ Mike Sekowsky scripted #9’s ‘Obeah Man!’ a tense shocker of emerging nations and ancient magic which showed Aparo’s superb versatility with locales.

Young Gerry Conway wrote ‘Death… Call Not my Name!’ for #10 which introduced another stylish returning villain in the immortal alchemist Tannarak, and found room for a quickie as the Stranger proved to be no match for ‘Charlie’s Crocodile.’ Phantom Stranger #11 (Conway and Aparo) introduced a colossal new threat as evil-doers everywhere began to vanish in ‘Walk Not in the Desert Sun…’ whilst Kanigher returned with a classy haunted love-story in ‘Marry Me… Marry Death!’ in #12 which also featured another debunking solo outing for the Ghost Breaker in Jack Oleck and Tony De Zuniga’s ‘A Time to Die’.

Science met supernature in issue #13 when death stalked a research community in ‘Child of Death’ and Dr. 13 survived an encounter with ‘the Devil’s Timepiece’, both scripts from Kanigher and art supplied by Aparo and De Zuniga respectively.

Len Wein wrote possibly the spookiest adventure to feature the Phantom Stranger in #14’s ‘The Man with No Heart!’, a story which resolved forever the debate about the dark hero’s humanity and also introduced another long-term adversary for our delectation. The Ghost Breaker had his own brush with super-science – but definitely not the supernatural, no sir! – in Wein and De Zuniga’s ‘The Spectre of the Stalking Swamp!’ a tale that actually pushed the Stranger off his own front cover!

Issue #15 returned him to the Dark Continent as a robotics engineer is caught up in revolution in Wein and Aparo’s ‘the Iron Messiah’ whilst Kanigher and De Zuniga send Dr. 13 up against ‘Satan’s Sextet’. On a roll now the Phantom Stranger creative team surpassed themselves with each successive issue, beginning with an ancient horror captured as an ‘Image in Wax’, nicely balanced by a sneaky murder mystery ‘And the Corpse cried “Murder!”’ (Wein and De Zuniga).

‘Like a Ghost from the Ashes’ introduced a nominal love-interest in blind psychic Cassandra Craft as well as returning an old foe with new masters in a the first chapter of an extended saga – so extended it pushed the Ghost Breaker out of #17 altogether. He returned in the back of the next issue in Steve Skeates and De Zuniga’s tense phantom menace ‘Stopover!’, and the artist drew double duty by illustrating the lead strip ‘Home is the Sailor’ a gothic romance with a sharp twist in the tail.

Old enemies resurfaced in ‘Return to the Tomb of the Ice Giants!’ as did artist Jim Aparo, whilst Skeates and De Zuniga’s ‘the Voice of Vengeance’ proved to be another stylish murder mystery in spook’s clothing. ‘A Child Shall Lead Them’ was written by Bob Kanigher, who easily adapted to the new style and produced a tense, powerful chase thriller as all and sundry search for the newest incarnation of a High Lama murdered by magic. Two short suspense tales top off the issue, both illustrated by the veteran Jack Sparling, ‘the Power’ scripted by Mark Hanerfield, and John Albano’s ‘A Far Away Place’.

Phantom Stranger #21 finishes off this superb collection of menace and magic with Wein and Aparo’s ‘the Resurrection of Johnny Glory’ wherein a reanimated assassin finds a good reason to stay dead whilst Dr. 13 debunks one final myth in ‘Woman of Stone’, prompting the question “why don’t killers use guns anymore?”

The DC Showcase compendiums are a brilliant way to access superb quality comics fare, and these black and white telephone books of wonderment offer tremendous value for money. If you’re looking for esoteric thrills and chills this first Phantom Stranger volume has it all. If you’re not a fan yet give it a chance… you will be.

© 1969-1972, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents: Teen Titans

Showcase Presents: The Teen Titans
Showcase Presents: The Teen Titans

By Bob Haney & various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-677-1

The concept of kid hero teams was not a new one when the 1960s Batman TV show finally prompted DC to trust their big heroes’ assorted sidekicks with their own regular comic in a fab, hip and groovy ensemble as dedicated to helping kids as they were to stamping out insidious evil.

The biggest difference between wartime groups as The Young Allies, Boy Commandos and Newsboy Legion or such 1950s holdovers as The Little Wise Guys or Boys Ranch and the creation of the Titans was quite simply the burgeoning phenomena of “The Teenager” as a discrete social and commercial force. These were kids who could be allowed to do things themselves without constant adult help or supervision.

As early as the June-July 1964 issue of The Brave and the Bold (#54), DC’s powers that be had tested the waters with a gripping tale by writer Bob Haney superbly illustrated by unsung genius Bruno Premiani. ‘The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister’ united Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin the Boy Wonder in a desperate battle against a modern wizard-cum-Pied Piper who had stolen the teen-agers of Hatton Corners. The young heroes had met in the town by chance when students invited them to mediate in a long-running dispute with the town adults.

This element of a teen “court-of-appeal” was the motivating factor in many of the group’s cases. One year later the team reformed for a second adventure (The Brave and the Bold #60, by the same creative team) and introduced two new elements. ‘The Astounding Separated Man’ featured more misunderstood kids – this time in the coastal hamlet of Midville – threatened by an outlandish monster whose giant body parts could move independently. They added Wonder Girl (not actually a sidekick, or even a person, but rather an incarnation of Wonder Woman as a child – a fact the writers of the series seemed blissfully unaware of) and finally had a team name: ‘Teen Titans’.

Their final try-out appearance was in Showcase (issue #59, November-December 1965), birthplace of so many hit comic concepts, and was the first to be drawn by the brilliant Nick Cardy (who became synonymous with the 1960s series). ‘The Return of the Teen Titans’ pitted the team against teen pop trio ‘The Flips’ who were apparently also a gang of super-crooks, but as was so often the case the grown-ups had got it all wrong…

The next month their own comic debuted (#1 was dated January-February 1966 – released mere weeks before the Batman TV show aired on January 12th) with Robin the point of focus on the cover – and most succeeding ones. Haney and Cardy produced an exotic thriller entitled ‘The Beast-God of Xochatan!’ which saw the team act as Peace Corps representatives involved in a South American drama of sabotage, giant robots and magical monsters. The next issue held a fantastic mystery of revenge and young love involving ‘The Million-Year-Old Teen-Ager’.

‘The Revolt at Harrison High’ cashed in on the craze for drag-racing in a tale of bizarre criminality. Produced during a historically iconic era, many readers now can’t help but cringe when reminded of such daft foes as ‘Ding-Dong Daddy’ and his evil biker gang, and of course the hip, trendy dialogue (it wasn’t that accurate then, let alone now) is pitifully dated, but the plot is strong and the art magnificent.

‘The Secret Olympic Heroes’ guest-starred Green Arrow’s teen partner Speedy in a very human tale of parental pressure at the Olympics, although there’s also skulduggery aplenty from a terrorist organisation intent on disrupting the games. In #5’s ‘The Perilous Capers of the Terrible Teen’ the Titans faced the dual task of helping a troubled young man and capturing a super-villain called the Ant, despite all evidence indicating that they’re the same person, and another DC sidekick made his Titans debut in ‘The Fifth Titan’. Easily the weakest tale in the book, Beast Boy (from the iconic Doom Patrol) falls under the spell of an unscrupulous circus owner and the kids need to set things right. Painfully illustrated by Bill Molno and Sal Trapani, it’s the absolute low-point of a stylish run.

Quite a few fans would disagree, however, citing #7’s ‘The Mad Mod, Merchant of Menace’ as the biggest stinker, but beneath the painfully dated dialogue there’s a witty, tongue-in-cheek tale of swinging London and novel criminality, plus the return of the magnificent Nick Cardy to the art chores.

It was back to America for ‘A Killer called Honey Bun’ (illustrated by Irv Novick and Jack Abel) another tale of intolerance and misunderstood kids, played against a backdrop of espionage in Middle America, and #9’s ‘Big Beach Rumble’ found the Titans refereeing a vendetta between rival colleges when modern day pirates crash the scene. Novick pencilled it and Cardy’s inking made it all very palatable.

The editor obviously agreed as the art remained for the next few issues. ‘Scramble at Wildcat’ was crime caper featuring dirt-bikes and desert ghost-towns, whilst Speedy returned in #11’s spy-thriller ‘Monster Bait’. Twin hot-topics the Space-Race and Disc Jockey’s informed the whacky sci fi thriller ‘Large Trouble in Space-ville!’ and #13 was a veritable classic as Haney and Cardy produced a seasonal comics masterpiece with ‘The TT’s Swingin’ Christmas Carol!’, a styish retelling that’s one of the most reprinted Titans tales ever.

At this time Cardy’s art really opened up as he grasped the experimental flavour of the times. The cover of #14, as well as the interior illustration for the grim psycho-thriller ‘Requiem for a Titan’ are unforgettable. The tale introduced the team’s first serious returning villain (Mad Mod does not count!) the Gargoyle is mesmerising and memorable, and although he only inked Lee Elias’s pencils for #15’s eccentric tryst with the Hippie counter-culture, ‘Captain Rumble Blasts the Scene!’ is a genuinely unique crime-thriller from a time when nobody over age 25 understood what the youth of the world was doing…

Teen Titans #16 returned to more solid ground with the superb thriller ‘The Dimensional Caper!’ when aliens infiltrate a rural high-school (and how many times have you seen that plot used since this 1968 epic?). Cardy’s art reached dizzying heights of innovation both here and in the next issue’s waggish jaunt to London ‘Holy Thimbles, It’s the Mad Mod!’, a criminal chase through Cool Britannia which even included a command performance from Her Majesty, the Queen!

This volume ends with a fannish landmark as novice writers Len Wein and Marv Wolfman got a big break with a tale that introduced Russian superhero Starfire and set them firmly on a path of teen super-team writing. ‘Eye of the Beholder’ is a cool cat burglar yarn set in trendy Stockholm, drawn with superb understatement by Bill Draut, and acts a perfect indicator of the changes in style and attitude that would become part of the Teen Titans and the comics industry itself.

Although perhaps dated in delivery, these tales were a liberating experience for kids when first released. They truly betokened a new empathy with independent youth and tried to address problems that were more relevant to and generated by that specific audience. That they are so captivating in execution is a wonderful bonus. This is absolute escapism and absolutely delightful.

© 1964-1968, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents: SHAZAM!

SHAZAM!
SHAZAM!

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1089-2

One of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker and Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity that followed the successful launch of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character moved solidly into the area of light entertainment and even comedy, whilst as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan and good kid Billy Batson is selected by an ancient wizard to be given the powers of six gods and heroes to battle injustice. He transforms from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero Captain Marvel by speaking aloud the wizard’s name – itself an acronym for the six patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury

At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel outsold Superman and was even published twice a month, but as tastes and the decade changed sales slowed and an infamous court case begun by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled. The Big Red Cheese disappeared – as did many superheroes – becoming a fond memory for older fans.

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

As America lived through another superhero boom-and-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and a wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collector/fans and not casual or impulse buys. National, now DC Comics, needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places. After the settlement with Fawcett in 1953 they had secured the rights to Captain Marvel and Family, and even though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967) decided to tap into that discriminating fanbase.

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

Recruiting the top talent available the company tapped editor Julie Schwartz – who had a few successes with hero revivals – to steer the project. He teamed top scripter Denny O’Neil with the original artist C.C. Beck for the initial story. ‘In the Beginning’ in grand old self-referential style retold the classic origin whilst ‘The World’s Wickedest Plan’ related how the entire cast had been trapped in a “Suspendium” trap for twenty years after their arch-foes the Sivana family attacked them at a public awards ceremony. Two decades later, they were all freed, baddies included, to restart their lives. That first issue also included a text-feature/score-card by devotee E. Nelson Bridwell to bring new and old readers up to speed.

With issue #2 a format of two stories per issue was instigated. ‘The Astonishing Arch Enemy’ saw the return of the super-intelligent worm Mr. Mind and a running gag about how strange people in the 1970s were. The second tale was written by Elliot Maggin and introduced irresistible Sunny Sparkle ‘The Nicest Guy in the World’. O’Neil wrote ‘A Switch in Time’ wherein magic disrupted the boy-to-super-adult gimmick for young Billy in #3 and a wry spy tale ‘The Wizard of Phonograph Hill’ by Maggin and Beck filled out that issue. Evil Captain Marvel analogue ‘Ibac the Cursed’ returned in #4 courtesy of O’Neil, and Maggin again went for a human interest yarn with ‘The Mirrors that Predicted the Future’.

In the ’70s economics dictated costs in comics be cut whenever possible so there was really no choice about filling pages with reprints, which had been an addition from the start. A huge benefit however is that almost all of those stories were unknown to the general readership and of a very high standard. Although not included in this volume I mention them simply because they kept the page-count of most issues to around fifteen pages of new material per month (Shazam! was actually published eight times a year so the savings were even greater). Hopefully DC will get around to reprinting the Fawcett stories too – perhaps in the same format as the excellent Batman and Superman Chronicles trade paperbacks.

Maggin took the lead slot with #5’s ‘The Man who Wasn’t’ and provide the back-up which saw the return of Sunny Sparkle and his obnoxious cousin Rowdy who briefly was ‘The World’s Toughest Guy!’ O’Neil returned in the next issue as did Dr, Sivana in ‘Better Late than Never!’ and Maggin reintroduced the 1940’s boy-genius in the charming ‘Dexter Knox and his Electric Grandmother’. The loquacious Tawky Tawny took centre-stage in O’Neil’s ‘The Troubles of the Talking Tiger’ and uber-fan and wonderful guy E. Nelson Bridwell finally got to write a tale with the delightfully zany and clever ‘What’s in a Name? Doomsday!

Issue #8 was the first of many 100 Page Spectaculars stuffed with great old reprints, but as such it’s only represented here by the C.C. Beck cover, whilst the normal-sized #9 provides us with O’Neil’s ‘Worms of the World Unite’ and the first solo adventure of Captain Marvel Jr. in over twenty years. ‘The Mystery of the Missing Newsstand!’ is a fine tribute to the works of early Fawcett mainstay and Flash Gordon maestro Mac Raboy, written by Maggin and drawn by a young and brilliant Dave Cockrum. It is truly lovely to look upon. A third new story completed the issue. Maggin and Beck had heaps of fun on ‘The Day Captain Marvel Went Ape!’ as a mystic jewel deflected Shazam’s magic lightning into a monkey.

Beck, notoriously opinionated, had been unhappy with the stories he was being asked to draw and left the series with #10. He was a supremely understated draughtsman with a canny eye for caricature and gag-timing, and his departure took away an indefinable charm. Many other fine artists would continue the strip but a certain kind of magic left the strip with him. He wasn’t even the lead artist on that issue.

Bob Oksner and Vince Colletta illustrated Maggin’s mediocre ‘Invasion of the Salad Men’, but Mary Marvel’s solo debut ‘The Thanksgiving Thieves’ was a much better effort with Bridwell’s script handled by Oksner alone (if ever an artist should ink himself it was this superb stylist). Beck bowed out with Bridwell’s ‘The Prize Catch of the Year’ which returned the formidable octogenarian villainess Aunt Minerva – one of the most innovative baddies of the Golden Age.

Issue #11 kicked off with ‘The World’s Mightiest Dessert!’ by Bridwell, Oksner and Colletta, but the real gem of this comic was ‘The Incredible Cape-Man’ written by Maggin and featuring the long-awaited return of Kurt Schaffenberger, a brilliant and highly accomplished artist who by his own admission considered drawing Captain Marvel the best of all possible jobs.

He began his career at Fawcett before moving to DC when the company folded, and his resumption of the art-chores was inevitable. In this tale of a mail man who becomes a Mystery Man the art positively glows with joyous enthusiasm. This end of year issue concluded with a good old-fashioned Yule yarn featuring the entire extended cast in Maggin and Schaffenberger’s ‘The Year Without a Christmas!’

The twelfth issue was another 100 Page Spectacular but with three all new tales, ‘The Golden Plague’ by Bridwell and Oksner, another glorious Captain Marvel, Jr. adventure ‘The Longest Block in the World!’ by Maggin and Dick Giordano, and the cheerfully daft Kung Fu spoof ‘Mighty Master of the Martial Arts!’ by Maggin, Oksner and Colletta. The next six issues retained this same format, combining around twenty pages of new material with a superb selection of Fawcett reprints, but as the character spawned a children’s TV show, the comic was again slimmed down to a cheaper standard format.

‘The Case of the Charming Crook!’ by Maggin and Oksner led in #13 wherein a felon managed to synthesise “essence of Sunny Sparkle” and the artist was on familiar ground as an illustrator of beautiful women when he drew Bridwell’s Mary Marvel solo strip ‘The Haunted Clubhouse!’ The entire Marvel Family was needed in the next issue when O’Neil and Schaffenberger produced ‘The Evil Return of the Monster Society’ a splendid action thriller that served to remind us that Shazam wasn’t just about charm and comedy.

You know what fans are like: they had been arguing for decades – and still do – over who was best (for which read “who would win if they fought?”) out of Superman or Captain Marvel so it’s amazing that a meeting took as long as it did to materialise. However the lead strip in #15 wasn’t it. Instead fans had to be content with a guest villain when Mr. Mind and ‘Captain Marvel Meets… Lex Luthor!?!’ by O’Neil, Oksner and veteran inker (Phillip) Tex Blaisdell, who had worked un-credited on many DC strips over the decades, as well as drawing Little Orphan Annie, On Stage and many others. Bridwell and Schaffenberger contributed an excellent crime–caper in ‘The Man in the Paper Armor!’ to round out the issue.

Schaffenberger kicked off the next issue with Maggin’s ‘The Man Who Stole Justice’; a taut thriller involving the incarnation of the one of the iconic Seven Deadly Enemies of Man (Sins to you and me) and a key part of the legend since the strip’s inception. Bridwell and Oksner utilised another Deadly Enemy in the Mary Marvel solo story ‘The Green-Eyed Monster!’ but aliens and a Hippie musician were the antagonists in the feature-length tale that lead off #17, the last 100 page issue. ‘The Pied Un-Piper’ was a tongue-in-cheek thriller from O’Neil and Schaffenberger but a slightly older tone started to creep into the whimsy with #18’s ‘The Celebrated Talking Frog of Blackstone Forest!’ (Maggin and Oksner) and Bridwell and Schaffenberger’s CM Jr. thriller ‘The Coin-Operated Caper’, but still not enough to deaden the charm.

Issue #19 introduced extra-dimensional delinquent Zazzo, the culprit revealed when Maggin and Schaffenberger asked ‘Who Stole Billy Batson’s Thunder?’. Mary Marvel was the back-up feature in the first slim-line comic, solving Bridwell and Oksner’s ‘Secret of the Smiling Swordsman!’, but the next issue teamed the entire Marvel Family in the full-length Sci Fi thriller ‘The Strange and Terrible Disappearance of Maxwell Zodiac!’, courtesy of Maggin and Schaffenberger.

Shazam! #21, 22,23 and 24 were all reprint, represented here by covers from Ernie Chua/Bob Oksner, two from Kurt Schaffenberger and then another from Chua & Oksner, reflecting a scheduling change that saw the comic come out quarterly.

I suspect, but have no proof, that this coincided with the TV show being off-air, as when issue #24 appeared in Spring 1976, new editor Joe Orlando oversaw a massaging of the scenario which would see young Billy and Uncle Dudley (a mainstay of the TV incarnation) set off around America in a minivan as roving reporters, encountering threats and felons in America’s Bicentennial year. Bridwell and Schaffenberger became the permanent creative team, with occasional inkers such as Vince Colletta, Bob Wiacek and Bob Smith pitching in, but seldom to the enhancement of Schaffenberger’s pencils.

To further confuse things issue #25 isn’t included even as a cover since it depicted a team-up of the Captain with Mighty Isis, a TV character that DC was then licensing for a tie-in comicbook. As that cover and story are absent I’m assuming that some Intellectual Property problem couldn’t be solved. That issue’s back-up ‘The Bicentennial Villain’ which introduces the new roving format does appear though. It was followed by the far less contentious and highly enjoyable ‘The Case of the Kidnapped Congress’ as Billy and Dudley combat Sivana in Washington DC. Colletta inked the self-explanatory ‘Fear in Philadelphia’, and the less than perfect art doesn’t detract from a right royal romp as Sivana uses a resurrection machine to bring back the greatest rogues in America’s history (that was a much shorter list to pick from in 1976).

Clearly having tremendous fun, writer Bridwell began his own resurrections: bringing back Fawcett and Quality Comics characters as guest-stars. First up was the ghostly Kid Eternity, and with the next issue he scripted his masterstroke with ‘The Return of Black Adam’, a Golden-Age villain whose fabled single appearance was a landmark long remembered by fans. That this character is still a huge favourite today shows the astuteness of that decision. That was in Boston, and #29 was set in Buffalo and Niagara Falls where ‘Ibac meets Aunt Minerva!’ a comedic battle of the sexes that was heavy on the hitting.

Another Faux meeting with his greatest rival occurred in #30’s ‘Captain Marvel Fights the Man of Steel’ when the Batson bus reached Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as folk legend Joe Magarac (the Paul Bunyan of Steel workers) and the Three Lieutenant Marvels guest-starred. All girl villain-team ‘The Rainbow Squad’ found Captain Marvel’s gentlemanly weakness in #31 which heralded the return of patriotic hero Minute Man to save the day.

Tenny Henson pencilled #32’s tale from Detroit as aliens led by Mr. Mind tried to destroy Baseball in ‘Mr. Tawny’s Big Game!’ and fans knew that the good old days were coming to an end. A radical change to Shazam! was coming but mercifully that’s a tale for another time since this book ends with #33’s ‘The World’s Mightiest Race’ when Bridwell, Henson and Colletta reintroduced the Nuclear robotic menace Mister Atom during the Indianapolis 500 motor race.

Although controversial amongst older fans the 1970’s incarnation of Captain Marvel has a tremendous amount going for it. Gloriously free of angst and agony, (mostly) beautifully, simply illustrated, and charmingly scripted, these are clever, funny wholesome adventures that would appeal to any child and positively promote a love of graphic narrative. There’s a horrible dearth of exuberant superhero adventure these days. Isn’t it great that there is somewhere to go for a little light action?

© 1973-1978, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents: Adam Strange

Showcase: Adam Strange
Showcase: Adam Strange

By Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1313-8

For many of us the Silver Age of comics is the ideal era. Varnished by nostalgia (because that’s when most of us caught this crazy childhood bug), the clean-cut, uncomplicated optimism of the late 1950s and early 1960s produced captivating heroes and villains who were still far less terrifying than the Cold War baddies which troubled the grown-ups. The sheer talent and professionalism of the creators working in that too-briefly revitalised comics world resulted in triumph after triumph which brightened our young lives and still glow today with quality and achievement.

One of the most compelling stars of those days was an ordinary Earthman who regularly travelled to another world for spectacular adventures, armed with nothing more than a ray-gun, a jetpack and his own ingenuity. His name was Adam Strange, and like so many of that era’s triumphs he was the brainchild of Julius Schwartz and his close team of creative stars.

Showcase was a try-out comic designed to launch new series and concepts with minimal commitment of publishing resources. If a new character sold well initially a regular series would follow. The process had already worked with great success. Frogmen, Flash, Challengers of the Unknown and Lois Lane had all won their own titles or feature spots and Editorial Director Irwin Donenfeld now wanted his two Showcase editors to create science fiction heroes to capitalise on the twin zeitgeists of the Space Race and the popular fascination with movie monsters and aliens.

Jack Schiff came up with the futuristic crime fighter Space Ranger (who debuted in issues #15-16) and Schwartz went to Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs to craft the saga of a modern-day explorer in the most uncharted territory yet imagined.

Showcase #17 (cover-dated November-December 1958) launched ‘Adventures on Other Worlds’, and told of an archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged natives in Peru, jumps a 25 ft chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He materialises in another world, filled with giant plants and monsters and is rescued by a beautiful woman named Alanna who teaches him her language.

‘Secret of the Eternal City!’ reveals that Rann is a planet recovering from an atomic war, and the beam was in fact a simple flare, one of many sent in an attempt to communicate with other races. In the four years (speed of light, right? As You Know, Bob… Alpha Centauri is about 4.3 light-years from Sol) the Zeta-Flare travelled through space cosmic radiation converted it into a teleportation beam. Until the radiation drains from his body Strange would be a very willing prisoner on a fantastic new world.

And an incredibly unlucky one apparently, as no sooner has Adam started acclimatising than an alien race named The Eternals invade, seeking a mineral that will grant them immortality. His courage and sharp wits enable him to defeat the invaders only to have the radiation finally fade, drawing him home before the adoring Alanna can administer a hero’s reward. And thus was established the principles of this beguiling series. Adam would intercept a Zeta-beam hoping for some time with his alien sweetheart only to be confronted with a planet-menacing crisis.

The very next of these, ‘The Planet and the Pendulum’ saw him obtain the crimson spacesuit and weaponry that became his distinctive trademark in a tale of alien invaders which also introduced the subplot of Rann’s warring city-states, all desperate to progress and all at different stages of recovery and development. This tale also appeared in Showcase #17.

The next issue featured the self-explanatory ‘Invaders from the Atom Universe’ and ‘The Dozen Dooms of Adam Strange’ wherein the hero must outwit the dictator of Dys who planned to invade Alanna’s city of Rannagar. With this story Sachs was replaced by Joe Giella as inker, although he would return as soon as #19’s Gil Kane cover, the first to feature the title ‘Adam Strange’ over the unwieldy ‘Adventures on Other Worlds’.

‘Challenge of the Star-Hunter’ and ‘Mystery of the Mental Menace’ are classic puzzle tales where the Earthman must outwit a shape-changing alien and an all-powerful energy-being. These were the last in Showcase (cover-dated March-April1959), as with the August issue Adam Strange took over the lead spot and cover of the anthology comic Mystery in Space.

As well as a new home, the series also found a new artist. Carmine Infantino, who had worked such magic with The Flash, applied his clean, classical line and superb design sense to create a stark, pristine, sleekly beautiful universe that was spellbinding in its cool but deeply humanistic manner, and genuinely thrilling in its imaginative wonders. MIS #53 began an immaculate run of exotic high adventures with ‘Menace of the Robot Raiders!’ by Fox, Infantino and Sachs, followed in glorious succession by ‘Invaders of the Underground World’ and ‘The Beast from the Runaway World!’

With #56 Murphy Anderson became the semi-regular inker, and his precision brush and pen made the art a thing of unparalleled beauty. ‘The Menace of the Super-Atom’ and ‘Mystery of the Giant Footprints’ are sheer visual poetry, but even ‘Chariot in the Sky’, ‘The Duel of the Two Adam Stranges’ (MIS #58 and #59, inked by Giella) and ‘The Attack of the Tentacle World’, ‘Threat of the Tornado Tyrant’ and ‘Beast with the Sizzling Blue Eyes’ (MIS #60-62, inked by Sachs) were – and still are – streets ahead of the competition in terms of thrills, spectacle and imagination.

Anderson returned with #63, which introduced some much-needed recurring villains who employed ‘The Weapon That Swallowed Men!’, #64’s chilling ‘The Radio-active Menace!’ and, ending this volume, ‘The Mechanical Masters of Rann’, all superb short-story marvels that appealed to their young readers’ every sense – especially that burgeoning sense of wonder.

The far-flung fantasy continued with ‘Space Island of Peril’ by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, a duel with an alien super-being who planned to throw Rann into its sun, followed in #67 by the sly ‘Challenge of the Giant Fireflies’ when Adam’s adopted home is menaced by thrill-seeking creatures who live on the surface of our sun.

Murphy Anderson returned as inker-in-residence for ‘The Fadeaway Doom’ wherein Rannian General Kaskor made a unique attempt to seize power by co-opting the Zeta Beam itself. ‘Menace of the Aqua-ray Weapon!’ had a race from Rann’s primeval past return to take possession of their old world, whilst #70 saw ‘The Vengeance of the Dust Devil’ threaten not just Rann but also Earth itself.

‘The Challenge of the Crystal Conquerors’ (inked by Giella) was a sharp game of bluff and double-bluff with the planet at stake but #72 was a radical departure from the tried and true formula. ‘The Multiple Menace Weapon’ found Adam diverted to Rann in the year 101,961AD to save his descendents before dealing with the threat to his own time and place. This was followed by the action-packed mystery thriller ‘The Invisible Raiders of Rann!’

The puzzles continued with #74’s complex thriller ‘The Spaceman who Fought Himself!’, inked by back-for-good Murphy Anderson, leading to MIS #75 and a legendary team-up with the freshly-minted Justice League of America against the despicable Kanjar Ro in ‘Planet that came to a Standstill’, indisputably one of the best tales of DC’s Silver Age and a key moment in the development of cross-series continuity.

After that 25 page extravaganza it was back to 14 pages for #76’s ‘Challenge of the Rival Starman!’ as Adam became the involuntary tutor and stalking-horse for an alien hero. ‘Ray-Gun in the Sky!’ is an invasion mystery which invited readers to solve the puzzle before our hero did, and ‘Shadow People of the Eclipse’ pitted the Earthman against a bored alien thrill-seeker. Issue #79’s ‘The Metal Conqueror of Rann’ saw Adam fighting a more personal battle to bring Alanna back from the brink of death, and ‘The Deadly Shadows of Adam Strange’ saw an old enemy return to wreak a bizarre personal revenge on the Champion of Rann.

MIS #81 tested our hero to his limits as the lost dictator who caused Rann’s devastating atomic war returned after a thousand years to threaten both of Adam’s beloved home-planets in ‘the Cloud-Creature that Menaced Two Worlds’, and a terrestrial criminal’s scheme to conquer our world was thwarted as a result of Adam stopping ‘World War on Earth and Rann!’. Issue #83 pitted him against the desperate ‘Emotion Master of Space!’ and this first volume concludes with the return of a truly relentless foe as Jakarta the Dust-Devil shrugs off ‘the Powerless Weapons of Adam Strange!’

For me, Adam Strange, more than any other character, epitomises the Silver Age of Comics. Witty, sophisticated, gloriously illustrated and fantastically imaginative: And always the woman named Alanna, beautiful, but somehow unattainable. The happy-ever-after was always just in reach, but only after one last adventure…

These thrillers from a distant time still hold great appeal and power for the wide-eyed and far-seeing. The sheer value of the huge black-and-white “phonebook” format makes a universe of wonder and excitement supremely accessible for the extraordinary exploits of Adam Strange: by far and away some of the best written and drawn science fiction comics ever produced. Whether for nostalgia’s sake, for your own entertainment or even to get your own impressionable ones properly indoctrinated, you really need these books on your shelves.

© 1958-1963, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents: Aquaman

Showcase: Aquaman
Showcase: Aquaman

By various (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1223-0

One of the greatest advantages of these big value black-&-white compendiums is the opportunity they provide whilst chronologically collecting a character’s adventures to include crossovers and guest spots from other titles. When the star is as long-lived and incredibly peripatetic as DC’s King of the Seven Seas that’s an awful lot of extra appearances for a fan to find…

One of the few superheroes to survive the collapse at the end of the Golden Age was a rather nondescript and generally bland looking chap who solved maritime crimes, rescuing fish and people from sub-sea disaster. Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris in the wake of Timely Comics’ Sub-Mariner, and debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (1941). Strictly a second stringer for most of his career he nevertheless continued on beyond many stronger features, illustrated by Norris, Louis Cazaneuve and Charles Paris, until young Ramona Fradon took over the art chores in 1954, by which time Aquaman had moved to a regular back-up slot in Adventure Comics. She was to draw every single adventure until 1960.

In 1956 Showcase #4 (see The Flash: Archive Edition Volume 1, ISBN: 1-56389-139-5) rekindled the public’s imagination and zest for costumed crime-fighters. As well as re-imagining Golden Age stalwarts, DC undertook to update and remake some of its hoary survivors such as Green Arrow and Aquaman. Records are incomplete, sadly, so often we don’t know who wrote what, but the initial revamp (“How Aquaman Got His Powers!”Adventure Comics #260, May 1959) was the work of Robert Bernstein who wrote the majority of the Sea King’s adventures at this time.

From that tale on the hero had a new origin – offspring of a lighthouse keeper and a refugee from the undersea city of Atlantis – and eventually all the trappings of the modern superhero followed: Themed hideout, sidekick and even super-villains! Moreover, greater attention was paid to continuity and the concept of a shared universe.

In this volume are 49 adventures that cover that early period of renewal taking him from wandering back-up bit-player to stardom and his own comicbook. Writers from those years included the aforementioned Bernstein, Jack Miller, George Kashdan, Bob Haney and perhaps other DC regulars, but the art was always by Fradon, whose captivatingly clean economical line always made the pictures something special.

The initial stories are pretty undemanding fare, ranging from simply charming to simply bewildering examples of all-ages action to rank alongside the best the company offered at the time. ‘Aquaman Duels the Animal Master’, ‘The Undersea Hospital’, ‘The Great Ocean Election’, ‘Aquaman and his Sea-Police’, and ‘The Secret of the Super Safe’ kept the hero in soggy isolation, but with an early crossover Aquaman made his full entrance into the DC universe.

DC supported the popular 1950s Adventures of Superman TV show with a number of successful spin-off titles. Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #12 (October 1959) featured ‘The Mermaid of Metropolis’ wherein the plucky news hen (and isn’t that a term that’s outlived its sell-by date?) suffers crippling injuries in a scuba-diving accident. On hand to save her is Aquaman and a surgeon who turns her into a mermaid so she can live a worthwhile life without legs beneath the waves.

I know, I know: but just accepting the adage “Simpler Times” often helps me at times like this. In all seriousness, this silly story, with no writer credited, is a key moment in the development of one-universe continuity. The fact that it’s drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger – one of the most accomplished artists ever to work in American comics – makes it even more adorable, for all its silliness – at least by our so cool modern standards.

‘Aquaman Meets Aquagirl’ (Adventure Comics #266) gave a little more information about lost Atlantis whilst testing the waters (sorry!) for a possible sidekick – after all, the Sea King spent most of his time expositorially dialoguing with an octopus! – With Adventure Comics #267 the editors tried a novel experiment.

At this time the title starred Superboy and featured two back-up features. ‘The Manhunt on Land’, saw villainous Shark Norton trade territories with Green Arrow’s foe The Wizard. In a rare crossover, both parts of which were written by Bernstein, the two heroes worked the same case with Aquaman fighting on dry land whilst the Emerald Archer pursued his enemy beneath the waves in his own strip; ‘The Underwater Archers’, illustrated by the great Lee Elias.

In the next issue ‘The Adventures of Aquaboy!’ we got a look at the early years of the Sea King, and following that a permanent sidekick, Aqualad, was introduced in ‘The Kid from Atlantis!’ In quick succession came ‘The Menace of Aqualad’, ‘The Second Deluge!’, ‘The Human Flying Fish!’, ‘Around the World in 80 Hours’, ‘Aqua-Queen’ and the intriguing mystery ‘The Interplanetary Mission’.

Originally appearing in Adventure Comics #275 – a few months after the debut of the Justice League of America in The Brave and the Bold #28 – the story concerned a plot to secure Kryptonite from the sea-floor. Although Superman did not appear, the threads of shared continuity were being gradually interwoven. Heroes would no longer work in assured solitude. It was business as usual with ‘The Aqua-thief of the Seven Seas’, ‘The Underwater Olympics’, ‘Aqualad Goes to School’, ‘Silly Sailors of the Sea’ and ‘The Lost Ocean’, a fairly mixed bag which just served to set the scene for a Big Event.

In Showcase #30 (January-February 1961) Jack Miller and Ramona Fradon expanded the origin of Aquaman in the full-length epic ‘The Creatures from Atlantis’, wherein extra-dimensional creatures conquered the sunken civilisation. From this point on the fanciful whimsy of the strip would be downplayed in favour of more character-driven drama. This was followed by the tense thriller ‘One Hour to Doom’ in Adventure Comics #282. Inked by Charles Paris, this was Ramona Fradon’s last art job for nearly a year and a half, and the second Showcase issue by Miller saw the first Aquaman job for comics veteran Nick Cardy who would visually make Aquaman his own for the next half-decade.

‘The Sea Beasts From One Million B.C.’ (Showcase #31, March-April 1961) is a wild romp of fabulous creatures, dotty scientists and evolution rays that presaged a new path for the King of the Seas. Jim Mooney drew ‘The Charge of Aquaman’s Sea Soldiers’ for Adventure #284, and the back up series then shifted to a new home, replaced by the truly unique Tales of the Bizarro World.

Before that however, there was another Showcase thriller. Miller and Cardy pulled out all the stops for ‘The Creature King of the Sea’; an action-packed duel against a monstrous villain with murder in mind. The hind end of Detective Comics #293 (July 1961) welcomed Aquaman and Aqualad who took only six pages to solve the mystery of ‘The Sensational Sea Scoops’. All this time Cardy, who had initially altered his drawing style to mirror Fradon’s had been gradually reverting to his natural, humanistic mode. By the time the fourth and final Showcase, ‘Prisoners of the Aqua-Planet’ (#33), appeared the Sea King was a rugged, burly He-Man, and his world, no matter how fantastic, had an added edge of realism to it.

Detective #294’s ‘The Fantastic Fish that Defeated Aquaman’ coincided with a guest –spot in a second Superman Family title. ‘The Monster that Loved Aqua-Jimmy’, drawn by Al Plastino, is from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #55, another product of its time that hasn’t aged well, but the big kid in me still regards it fondly and I hope that others will do it the same courtesy. Meanwhile back at Detective Comics #295 our heroes defied ‘The Curse of the Sea Hermit’ (scripted by George Kashdan), and the next month saw ‘The Mystery of Demon Island!

To accompany the more realistic art, and perhaps in honour of their new home, the stories too, became – briefly – less fantasy oriented. ‘Aqualad, Stand-In for a Star’ is credited to Miller and Cardy, though I rather suspect that Batman stalwart Sheldon Moldoff is the actual artist here, but there’s no doubt that Cardy drew both ‘The Secret Sentry of the Sea’ (#298) and ‘Aquaman’s Secret Teacher’ (#299).

The next month saw a milestone. After two decades of continuous adventuring the Sea King finally got a comicbook of his own. Aquaman #1 (January-February 1962) was a 25 page fantasy thriller that introduced one of the most controversial supporting characters in comics lore. The pixie-like Water-Sprite Quisp was part of a strange trend for cute imps and elves that attached themselves to far too many heroes of the time, but his contributions in ‘The Invasion of the Fire-Trolls’ and succeeding issues were numerous and obviously calculated.

‘The Mystery of the Undersea Safari!’ in Detective Comics #300 was the last before he moved again, this time to World’s Finest Comics. However prior to that residency commencing his own second issue appeared. ‘Captain Sykes’ Deadly Missions’ is a lovely looking thriller with fabulous monsters and a flamboyant pirate blackmailing the Sea King into retrieving deadly mystical artefacts.

‘Aquaman’s Super-Sidekick’ by Miller and Cardy started the World’s Finest run (#125) in fine style, and Aquaman #3 provided full-length thrills and more exposure for the lost city in ‘The Aquaman from Atlantis’ a tale of traitors and time-travel. WF #126 saw the heroes foil thieves with ‘Aquaman’s Super Sea Circus’ and for better or worse Quisp returned in #4’s ‘Menace of the Alien Island’.

A more welcome returnee was Ramona Fradon who took over the World’s Finest strip with #127’s ‘Aquaman’s Finny Commandos’. The next issue saw ‘The Trial of Aquaman’ end in his favour just in time to endure ‘The Haunted Sea’ in his own fifth issue, before encountering ‘The Menace of the Alien Fish’ in WF#129.

This bumper volume concludes with Aquaman #6 and the never more true ‘Too Many Quisps’, a case of painfully mistaken identity and a sentiment it’s hard not to agree with… but still beautifully illustrated by Mr. Cardy.

DC has a long and comforting history of gentle, innocuous yarn-spinning with quality artwork. Ramona Fradon’s Aquaman is one of the most neglected runs of such accessible material, and it’s a pleasure to discover just how readable they still are. And when the opportunity arises to compare her wonderful work to the early superhero work of such a stellar talent as Nick Cardy this book becomes a fan’s must-have item. More so when all the stories are still suitable for kids of all ages, Why not treat yourself and your youngsters to a timeless dose of whimsy and adventure? You won’t regret it.

 

© 1959-1962, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.