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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 22, 2019 12:49:48 GMT -5
I assume you are reading this in a collected volume (and cracking a joke). The 100 Pg issues usually only advertised the three key features; but, they also contained more, plus art pages, puzzles and other special features. To those of us in the 70s, they and the Treasury Editions were our trade paperbacks. Lot of really good stuff in these things, particularly the reprints, which were usually golden material. The Detective Comics ones just had a little headshot, for the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter. The cover was just the Batman lead story and everything else was head shots of the character. Sad thing was, as good as a few of those Batman stories were, Manhunter blew away everything in each issue and on the stands. It wasn't until the end when he got cover status, as Archie was leaving DC.
Loved this story, which was later reprinted in DC's Christmas with the Superheroes digest, along with the Teen Titans riff on A Christmas Carol, an unprinted Sandman story (where he and Jed save Santa Claus from the Seal Men) and at least one other (memory is a bit fuzzy). Nice to see John Stewart back and I always loved Reddy's new costume.
I read The Flash off and on; but had missed the stories of Iris being from the future; so, that was a surprise to me, when I read this issue.
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Post by rberman on Jan 22, 2019 13:25:15 GMT -5
I assume you are reading this in a collected volume (and cracking a joke). The 100 Pg issues usually only advertised the three key features; but, they also contained more, plus art pages, puzzles and other special features. To those of us in the 70s, they and the Treasury Editions were our trade paperbacks. Lot of really good stuff in these things, particularly the reprints, which were usually golden material. The Detective Comics ones just had a little headshot, for the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter. The cover was just the Batman lead story and everything else was head shots of the character. Sad thing was, as good as a few of those Batman stories were, Manhunter blew away everything in each issue and on the stands. It wasn't until the end when he got cover status, as Archie was leaving DC. That's correct, I am reading a collected volume which only contains the main story from each issue. I was able to research what other full stories were included, but I don't know what other special features there may have been like pin-ups or puzzles.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 22, 2019 13:57:18 GMT -5
I assume you are reading this in a collected volume (and cracking a joke). The 100 Pg issues usually only advertised the three key features; but, they also contained more, plus art pages, puzzles and other special features. To those of us in the 70s, they and the Treasury Editions were our trade paperbacks. Lot of really good stuff in these things, particularly the reprints, which were usually golden material. The Detective Comics ones just had a little headshot, for the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter. The cover was just the Batman lead story and everything else was head shots of the character. Sad thing was, as good as a few of those Batman stories were, Manhunter blew away everything in each issue and on the stands. It wasn't until the end when he got cover status, as Archie was leaving DC. That's correct, I am reading a collected volume which only contains the main story from each issue. I was able to research what other full stories were included, but I don't know what other special features there may have been like pin-ups or puzzles. The GCD often has a listing of everything in a particular issue, right down to the ads. For this issue, it lists, in addition to the three stories (78 pages), a 2-page pinup of the JSA; 2 letters pages; a puzzle page; and a half-page with the solutions to the puzzle. Add the four cover pages and the one-page table of contents, and there were 11.5 pages of ads, of which 2.5 were for DC Comics. www.comics.org/issue/27214/
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Post by tarkintino on Jan 22, 2019 14:08:20 GMT -5
JLA #109 “The Doom of the Divided Man” (February 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking Overall, a standard sci-fi "plight" plot in the vein of its chief influence, Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but lacking the pathos Stevenson brought to his scientist's situation. JLA #110 “The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus” (April 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking, “with special thanks to Green Lantern fan, Duffy Vohland.” Probably thanks to the printing schedule, this Christmas tale was several months late. Other than The Phantom Stranger acting like someone out of a Dickens book, this was only memorable thanks to the newly "woke" Green Lantern using his ring to rebuild the tenements. Er...why not build smaller apartment buildings instead of condemning the residents to a continued life in tenements? Not ads, but a wealth of features that served--like the 80PG. Giant series before it--as full-on journey into all kinds of facts about the DC universe, past and then-present. A kid (or adult new to comics) could buy a few of the 100 Pagers and come away with nearly the same level of appreciation and knowledge as one who had been reading since the dawn of the Golden Age. The 100-pagers were one of the highlights in comic book publishing of the 1970s. ...and only appearing on 7 issues from #110 to #116, which also happened to be the last of the 100 Page specials: By #116's newsstand date of March 1975, The Super Friends had been a cancelled cartoon for a year, with sporadic reruns on ABC affiliate stations, but whatever cross promotion benefits DC believed it was getting for the plug were (thankfully) short-lived. Not uncommon with this title; the "Big outer space catastrophe threatens______" plot device had been used for years, and the various JLA editors and writers seemed to think the JLA was the dumping ground for that kind of script.
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Post by rberman on Jan 22, 2019 15:28:58 GMT -5
Probably thanks to the printing schedule, this Christmas tale was several months late. Other than The Phantom Stranger acting like someone out of a Dickens book, this was only memorable thanks to the newly "woke" Green Lantern using his ring to rebuild the tenements. Er...why not build smaller apartment buildings instead of condemning the residents to a continued life in tenements? Well, this is one of the many examples of super-heroic solutions that really wouldn't turn out well in the real world: Little kids: Look, daddy! Mister Lantern fixed our house! It's so pretty now! Landlord: Wow, those are some fine looking condos now. I bet they're worth three times the rent I was charging. Tenant: Um... we can't pay that much. Landlord: That's fine; I bet I can find someone else who can. Merry Christmas! Be out next week. Urban housing is a huge socio-economic problem, worsened when cities put limitations on housing density, as in Seattle where they don't want buildings that dwarf the Space Needle, so apartment buildings don't rise very high, which drives real estate prices up, which puts pressure for an astronomical minimum wage, which puts the lowest-earning jobs in jeopardy, which... Then there's the problem of sustainability. The neighborhood wasn't always a dump; it became that way in a gradual slide, as memorably dramatized (to bring this back to comic books) by Will Eisner in Dropsie Avenue. Demolishing the tenements and replacing them with either new tenements or lower density housing doesn't fundamentally alter the inexorable cycle of urban decay.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 22, 2019 15:30:40 GMT -5
I didn't follow comics in the 80s very closely, so I'm not even sure this question can be answered, but is it possible that the Titans West concept had anything at all to do with the West Coast Avengers/ Avengers West Coast title?
I wonder if Roger Stern had been a DC or Titans fan?
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Post by rberman on Jan 22, 2019 15:38:31 GMT -5
I didn't follow comics in the 80s very closely, so I'm not even sure this question can be answered, but is it possible that the Titans West concept had anything at all to do with the West Coast Avengers/ Avengers West Coast title? I wonder if Roger Stern had been a DC or Titans fan? Probably driven by the same economic notion in each case: New York and Los Angeles being the two biggest population centers, maybe kids there would buy more comics if they could root for a home team. Hence the ill-fated Great Lakes Avengers, for the country's third largest population center.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 23, 2019 0:20:23 GMT -5
Some of it had to do with a few creative people heading West. Once Fedex came along, you could be anywhere in the country and get pages to New York, overnight.
Daredevil moved to San Francisco, by the 70s and the Champions were set up out there. Spider-Woman was out there, all before West Coast Avengers. Werewolf by Night was in the LA area and Ghost Rider spent a lot of time out west. In the DC world, Coast City and Star City were designated out west, with Green Lantern and Green Arrow hanging around there. So, Titans West and West Coast Avengers were late-comers.
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Post by rberman on Jan 23, 2019 6:03:27 GMT -5
JLA #111 “Balance of Power!” (June 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking The Story: New villain Libra assembles an “Injustice Gang” comprising himself, Tattooed Man, Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Shadow Thief. Seven Soldiers of Villainy! Libra envisions his team as a counterbalance to the JLA; they even have their own satellite base. Libra offers his Soldiers a McGuffin Button that will cause conflicts to resolve in evil’s favor. The villains split up, so it’s squad time for the heroes! Aquaman and Green Lantern tack Poison Ivy and Mirror Master in Singapore. GL overcomes MM’s giant yellow mirror (which is concentrating sunlight to boil the ocean for some reason never explained) by making it rain; the water droplets combine with soot in the air to make a muck that covers the mirror in black, and now GL can throw it into outer space. Notice how Wein squeezed a little message about pollution in there? Aquaman reminds us how strong he is even on the surface, forcing the villains to activate their Victory McGuffins. Two heroes down! You’d think Scarecrow wouldn’t last two seconds against Superman, which is more or less true. But Libra’s Victory McGuffin lays the hero low. A similar fate awaits Batman, Elongated Man, and The Flash in London, who are doing well against the final three villains until the dreaded Victory McGuffin is activated. In each scenario, Libra himself appears to administer the coup de grâce. But all is not well in villain-land. Libra has also knocked all the villains unconscious and left them for the cops. His “energy-trans-mortifier” device has allowed him to steal half of each hero’s power for himself, and next plans to steal the power of half the galaxy. The JLA escape his prison just as he is growing to cosmic size. The experience drives him mad, and he discorporates. How will the heroes get other half of their strength back in time for their own next books? Cliffhanger! Reprints: Emboldened by last issue’s “100 pages for 50 cents” experiment, this one is 60 cents for the same 100 pages. JLA #32 “Attack of the Star-Bolt Warrior” is included. Also, the first half of “The Black Star Shines” starring the Seven Soldiers of Victory from Leading Comics #2 (1942). Only two and a half stories in 100 pages? My Two Cents: Hey, Len Wein introduced a new villain! This was a good issue. Pitting the JLA against a super-team makes more sense than just a string of solo villains. Grant Morrison will use this Libra story as the partial basis of his Final Crisis event. Morrison also used “villain gains more power/knowledge than his mind can handle” as the climax of at least two stories in his JLA run (Chronos and Prometheus). Yep, I really should have read/reviewed these Wein issues before writing about Morrison’s JLA; I can see now the extent to which Morrison was homaging (rehashing?) these early 70s JLA stories he had read as a kid. The roll call returns to the cover, including the villain team, and it’s reiterated sans headshots on the opening splash page. Superman gives an opening monologue directly to the reader, clueing us in right from the start that some unseen villainous mastermind is pulling the strings on the other villains. Elongated Man speaks for readers who want to see heroes facing off against different villains, whereas Batman speaks for comic book writers who want to maintain a leash on “their” hero’s Rogues Gallery, calling the mixing “unprofessional” and “illogical.” I cannot explain this choice of words as anything other than a reference to debates going on in the DC offices. I’m with Elongated Man – and Len Wein – on this one. Mix it up! I like how Libra’s prisons for the heroes fit their powers. Elongated Man’s is form-fitting, Aquaman’s keeps him alive in water, Green Lantern is trapped in a yellow aura, and Superman has a Red Sun generator shining on him.
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Post by rberman on Jan 24, 2019 8:09:20 GMT -5
JLA #112 “War with the One Man Justice League!” (August 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking The Story: The Atom suggests reactivating Amazo in hopes that his “emulating the powers of the Justice League” ability can be leveraged to re-summon the powers stolen and then scattered last issue by Libra. This has an air of plausibility. Then they figure that splitting up into squads hiding around the world will be a good way to engage Amazo. This makes less sense, but it’s squad time all the same. The details of the squads and their brief encounters with Amazo are not worth individually retelling, though I will note that as usual Len Wein separates Black Canary and Green Arrow. Anyway, Amazo chases the JLA around, gradually absorbing the missing power, and then he’s recaptured. But then—plot twist! Amazo has absorbed Batman’s detective brilliance and figured out what the heroes were planning. He was only allowing himself to be captured! He lays them all low, until Batman decks Amazo, who has been drained of his powers despite his clever ruse. Continuity References: Batman speaks directly to the reader at the top of page 1, summarizing issue #111. Reprints: Three and a half stories for sixty cents, that’s a better deal than last issue. “Starman’s Lucky Star” from Adventure Comics #81 (1942) appears. “The Super-Exiles of Earth!” ( JLA #19). The second half of the Seven Soldiers story “The Black Star Shines!” from Leading Comics #2 (1942) also appears. The story was physically split into two parts (with other stories between) in its original appearance as well. Fun fact: Leading Comics #2 also featured a Green Arrow/Speedy story in which the Seven Soldiers were called “The Justice League of America.” Hey, that would make a great name for a super-team! Finally, there’s a two page recap with art excerpted from early Amazo/T.O. Morrow stories. My Two Cents: A solid conclusion to this relatively straightforward story. I like how Batman’s strategic brilliance is treated as a super-power that Amazo can copy. Aquaman is wearing a water helmet. I have never seen this done elsewhere, but it’s a good idea. Black Canary is serving snacks and drinks to the other heroes. Wow. Just, wow. Probably not a single person on the DC staff considered this sexist at the time. Plus, her waist looks….narrow. Maybe she should be eating the food instead of serving it. Black Canary takes it upon herself to redesign Amazo’s wardrobe. I assume that her negative comments about his old costume reflect Wein’s thoughts on the matter. Green Arrow says that The Flash has imbued him with a “cold-proof aura” to protect him in the Arctic. But he has a green glow. Surely he means that Green Lantern gave him this aura?
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 24, 2019 10:54:17 GMT -5
I liked #111-112 a lot, so I'm glad you apparently did too. And yes, it would make a lot more sense that Green Lantern would give Green Arrow a cold proof aura than Flash doing so. Oh, and I did see Aquaman wearing a water helmet in an old issue of Adventure Comics, maybe from around 1959. It was a pretty bad story, though.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 24, 2019 13:14:35 GMT -5
Aquaman had a helmet in a story (Adventure #267), that was reprinted in Super-Team Family (issue #3). The gimmick was that Aquaman was chasing criminals on land, complete with a truck-towed water tank, containing marine life. Meanwhile, Green Arrow and Speedy are chasing after a criminal, the Wizard (not the Injustice Society guy), at sea, complete with spear guns, scuba gear and an Arrow-boat. Aquaman chases Shark Norton, while Green Arrow chases the Wizard. The criminals compare notes and each says they are switching arenas, to get away from their nemesis, only for the hero to follow. personally, I've always quite enjoyed the stories and thought they were clever fun.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2019 13:20:49 GMT -5
Aquaman chases Shark Norton, while Green Arrow chases the Wizard. The criminals compare notes and each says they are switching arenas, to get away from their nemesis, only for the hero to follow. personally, I've always quite enjoyed the stories and thought they were clever fun. That's one of my most favorite stories ... and I agree that they did it very clever and done properly I may add here.
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Post by tarkintino on Jan 24, 2019 13:30:06 GMT -5
JLA #111 “Balance of Power!” (June 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking How I remember getting this issue in the summer of 1974. The cover illustration by Nick Cardy was such a thrilling draw, that I wanted the issue no matter what was actually inside. On that note.... A fun, "oh, this is going to be good!" start. Which was good to see, as he could tend to be too marginalized in the JLA title, in a way you would never see with other powered heroes such as Superman (obviously) or Green Lantern. I thought Libra was a unique villain in appearance and purpose; his selfish discarding of the Injustice Gang so easily made him one of the more dangerous antagonists in then-recent JLA history, as his self-centered nature left no room for even the pretense of sharing end-game goals with the rest. I like that kind of cutthroat villain. Morrison knew where the good stuff was--the Wein stuff in particular. JLA #112 “War with the One Man Justice League!” (August 1974)Creative Team: Len Wein writing, Dick Dillin penciling, Dick Giordano inking Loved the twists in this, and how The Atom was the primary idea man of the story. Breaking the fourth wall was always something I wished DC dropped back in those days. Hey--that's "body-shaming" the naturally thin! How dare you?!? Overall, a very entertaining story with clever use of an old character (Amazo) and an unexpected conclusion. Next issue, the JLA goes tragic with a story that seems to have taken its emotional tone from the early days of The Avengers...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2019 14:29:39 GMT -5
Aquaman had a helmet in a story (Adventure #267), that was reprinted in Super-Team Family (issue #3). The gimmick was that Aquaman was chasing criminals on land, complete with a truck-towed water tank, containing marine life. Meanwhile, Green Arrow and Speedy are chasing after a criminal, the Wizard (not the Injustice Society guy), at sea, complete with spear guns, scuba gear and an Arrow-boat. Aquaman chases Shark Norton, while Green Arrow chases the Wizard. The criminals compare notes and each says they are switching arenas, to get away from their nemesis, only for the hero to follow. personally, I've always quite enjoyed the stories and thought they were clever fun. I remember this story:
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