SMOOSH JUICE
Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1984 (week 4)
Super Powers #1: This is an out of continuity tale (though it doesn’t outright say so) to tie-in with the Kenner Super Powers action figure line. Kirby gets a plot credit and providers a cover with inks by Royer. The story is scripted by Cavalieri with art by Gonzales/Marcos. Darkseid imbues four Apokolipsian champions to recruit agents and give them power to defeat his enemies. The four each chooses a super-villain, giving them powers they’ve never had before, allowing Luthor, Brainiac, Penguin, and the Joker to each defeat the members two members of the Justice League.
Action Comics #557: There are two stories this issue. The first by Kupperberg and Swan/Hunt involves Terra-Man stealing the same Rembrandt paintings three times in an effort to lure Superman into a showdown, which of course, he loses. In the second by Rozakis and Bender/Hunt, when Superman finds out he inadvertently helped a murderer escape 7 years ago, he recreates the crime scene as it was to catch the crook. It’s unclear to me exactly how that all happens but the story didn’t seem worth re-reading to see if it sticks together or not.
Arion Lord of Atlantis #21: Still hanging with the pirate crew, Arion and friends get in on the game, until an angry sea god challenges them and Arion has to dig deep to access his magic that is now only available as plot contrivance. Wyynde must accept that Fawndancer, being a mermaid now, lives in a different world, and he says goodbye to her forever.
All-Star Squadron #35: Thomas and Hoberg/Collins continue to milk this Earth-X arc. Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle are saved from Tsunami by Starman and Firebrand. Neptune Perkins does battle with the Japanese agent (and loses), while the All-Stars head to Santa Barbara. On Earth-X, the Red Bee shows up just in time die heroically and distrace Baron Blizkrieg long enough for Hourman to escape. Hourman frees Freedom Fighters, while Uncle Sam bashes Blitzkrieg.
The Baron escapes back to Earth-2 with three Nazis from Earth-X. The Spectre shows up, and tells them all this world-hopping is wreaking cosmic havoc and 3 of them must stay behind to maintain balance. Uncle Sam, Ray, and Black Condor volunteer.
Blue Devil #2: Cohn/Mishkin and Cullins/Martin pick up with Cassidy in Metropolis, trying to figure things out now that he’s trapped in the Blue Devil suit which is essentially a part of him now. Complicating matters, Shockwave, a mercenary villain who has just stolen some synthetic kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs, destroys his brownstone. Once again, Cassidy is forced against his inclination to play superhero. Shockwave is defeated but gets away–without the kryptonite. the STAR Labs’ scientist is grateful to Cassidy and agrees to help him find a cure for his condition. However, Verner Studios has sent him a cease-and-desist order, telling him he can’t appear in public because the Blue Devil is their property!
Detective Comics #540: Moench and Newton/Smith conclude the Scarecrow story. Batman and Robin separately manage to avoid the surprises Scarecrow had in store for them. They meet-up again in Scarecrow’s hideout, and Batman thinks he knows a way to block the villain’s fear signal. After some adjusts it appears they are both protected, and they go on to confront and defeat Scarecrow. Only when this is done does Robin realize only he was protected, and Batman was really only controlling his fear and bluffing. Meanwhile, Bullocks clumsiness saves him from an assassin’s bullet, but the assassin doesn’t know that and reports to Mayor Hill that the job was done.
In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and McManus/Trapani, Green Arrow uses one of the Printer’s Devil’s fires to burn through the net, then puts out the fire before it can reach the gas pumps, escaping the predicament we left him in last issue. The Printer’s Devil escapes, but in a confrontation the next day at the Daily Star’s offices, the two tangle again. Green Arrow captures him and reveals him to be not an agent of Burdick but fellow columnist Thomas Doyle. He hoped to devalue the Star through his Scooby Doo-ish, costumed terrorism and make it less valuable to Burdick. He sort of succeeds because Burdick decides not to buy the paper.
Legion of Super-Heroes #313: Levitz and Giffen/Mahlstedt have the Legion, and the Science Police still trying to track down the bomber who has now threatened to bomb the United Planets Council Building and kill the President — Colossal Boy’s mom. After multiple attacks they are able to thwart the Legion finally gets a break that leads them not to a member of the Science Police but a civilian contractor that happened to do some computer programming for them. We also get a map of “Metropolis” this issue, but it’s confusing because it’s just New York City. I don’t mean a stand-in, but literally New York. It seems like Levitz is saying New York City will be called Metropolis in the future, but what about Superman’s Metropolis in the present? The DCU can’t just be an alternate world where Metropolis is NYC, because both clearly exist in published stories. Anyway, we also get another remind of the impending shift to two books for this title.
New Adventures of Superboy #54: The chubby, canary-yellow Klingon type, Harzz, from last issue initiates his plan for revenge against Superboy with Superboy Revenge Squad along to observe by using artificially created disasters to manipulate Superboy into destroying the Earth. Superboy doesn’t fall for it, and the Revenge Squad leader executes Harzz as a competitor. Kupperberg and Schaffenberger/Giella keep juggling the other plotlines from previous issues: Lana escalates her selfish attempt to get Clark’s attentions back by using Superboy to make him jealous, while Jonathan Kent stands defiant in the face of increasing pressure to drop his bid for city council, acceding to the demands of crooked developer, Gary Simmons.
This is the last issue of this title. The letter column asserts that Superboy’s adventures will continue in another title, DC Double Action, in the future, but that series never materialized, likely in part due to the changes wrought by Crisis. I don’t mourn the loss of Superboy, but the core concept, the teen superhero, is obviously one with a lot of promise which (for Superman, at least) we had to wait for TV to exploit.
Sun Devils #1: This is a space opera by Conway and Jurgens/Maygar. Conway tells us that the basic idea was a joint effort between him and Thomas, mixing his love of space stuff and Thomas’ love of history. It shows in that there has perhaps never been so blatant a sci-fi version of the lead up to World War II. The leaders of the free worlds think peace has been achieved through appeasement, but Karvus Khan and his Sauroids want war, as a surprise attack on the planet Wolfholme demonstrates. Rik Sunn, former aspiring diplomat, is thrust into fighting a renegade war against the empire that destroyed his home, but he looks like he’s going to find an eclectic group of allies. The World War II and Star Wars influences are obvious, but what is perhaps less apparent but still pretty clear when you think about it, is that this is a space opera re-imaging of Blackhawk, with Rick Sunn in the Blackhawk role and the Sun Devils his cadre.
Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3: Wolfman and Perez/Giordano get us to the end of “The Judas Contract.” H.I.V.E. has the Titans and they are again help suspend by their limbs, their powers siphoned. Lucky for them Nightwing and Jericho have infiltrated H.I.V.E.’s base to come to their rescue. Thanks to Terra, they are captured, but when the Terminator recognizes his son, the distraction gives Jericho the opportunity to possess him. Using the Terminator’s body and weaponry, he frees the Titans, and they all start fighting the H.I.V.E.
Terra goes a little crazy, not understanding the situation and feeling betrayed by Slade, she fights both him and the Titans. The Titans are hampered in their ability to take her down by their refusal to believe she is truly their enemy and it’s being mind-controlled in some way. Terra’s emotions and powers get out of control, and she winds up burying herself under earth and debris.
The Titans take her body back to New York where there’s a funeral with the Outsiders in attendance. They don’t tell her brother the truth, that she was a villain who betrayed them, letting him believe she died in the line of duty.
Though it seems like this was the point to Wolfman and Perez, the lack of any sort of motivation for Tara’s behavior other than she’s “crazy” or “evil” is a weakness with this story to me. The Terminator becomes, if not sympathetic at least understandable after we have his backstory, but Terra isn’t provided with the same depth.
World’s Finest Comics #305: I still don’t know what Kraft sees in Null and Void, but here we are on part 2 of their return with von Eeden on art. The international scramble to claim the mysterious frozen figures ends up with they split up and the Russians getting the woman and the Swedes the man. Batman is caught in the middle of all this. He confronts Null and Void again, and Null decides to surrender, but Void escapes into the Void where he previously sent Superman, allowing the Man of Steel to escape from that surreal realm.
The Russians take the frozen woman into Cuban waters, but Batman and Null go after the figure in the hands of the Swedish. In a firefight, Null touches hands with the figure who has the same tattoo and awakens the pirate-dressed guy who calls himself Swordfish. Swordfish has no idea how many years he has been trapped, but he joins Null and Batman on their quest to free his companion, Barracuda.
Meanwhile, Peter without his Void powers and trapped in the other realm, encounters X’ult, the enemy of Swordfish and Barracuda.