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Post by Action Ace on Feb 12, 2015 0:02:05 GMT -5
I'm not here to start no trouble, I'm just here to do the comic book shuffle.   Yes folks it's time for yet another new review thread. I couldn't come up with a subject, so I thought I'd just careen around my comic book collection at random. Using the Comic Book Randomizer 3000 (also known as my D&D dice) I will go from box to box and bookcase to bookcase and review whatever comes up that is over a decade old. For our first stop we pick up where we left off, the Pre-Crisis Justice League of America box.  JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #224 On Sale December 1, 1983 Written by Kurt Busiek Penciled by Chuck Patton Inked by Dick Giordano Edited by Len Wein Cover by Chuck Patton ROLL CALL: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado and Firestorm and now..."THE SUPREMACY FACTOR!" Clark Kent and Hal Jordan are at an outdoor restaurant in Star City as Oliver Queen arrives. They are waiting on Dinah Lance to join them, but Black Canary has encountered a man in a trenchcoat about to be robbed by a gang. Suddenly, Mr. Trenchcoat goes into Chuck Norris mode and puts the beatdown on the gang. He calls them animals and he's not going to stop until they're dead. Black Canary confronts him. He warns her that she should not be judging one of her "superiors." They fight and his martial arts ability proves more than a match for her. She uses her Canary Cry, but it is to no effect. Clark hears the scream from far away and they leave the restaurant to the disappointment of the waitress. He defeats Black Canary just as Superman arrives. "SUPERMAN---Who traverses galaxies as you or I cross streets! SUPERMAN---Who shatters titanium steel like glass! SUPERMAN---Who shrugs off atomic explosions without breaking stride! This is Superman---and he's mad!" He pushes him away from Black Canary, but the man hits Superman with tremendous force into the air. "That WAS Superman!" The man has run away at super speed as the other two arrive to help Black Canary. Superman returns and notes that the ozone layer is still there. The man has left behind some of his notes, so the team goes to the satellite. Wonder Woman, Red Tornado and Firestorm join the others. Wonder Woman inquires about the villain and Black Canary notes that he was a better fighter, but not that much better. He also didn't have super strength until Superman arrived. Superman and Red Tornado can't come up with what the mathematical equations in the notes mean. Firestorm asks to take a shot at it as Green Arrow notes that he can't even read a road map. Ronnie Raymond can't, but Professor Martin Stein can. They involve RNA coding and he remembers that someone was making strides in that area but can't recall who. Green Lantern fires up the Radio Shack TRS-80 and scans some scientific journals for that subject. It comes up with a Dr. Joel Cochin and he just happens to live outside Star City. Green Arrow tells Firestorm to come with him. He's not going to allow anyone to treat his lady this way. Black Canary tells him that she's coming too and that she is calling the shots. They arrive at Dr. Cochin's lab and he burns a hole in the wall to come out to greet them. He calls himself Paragon! Firestorm traps him in steel bonds, but Paragon gets rid of them just as Firestorm would. Paragon announces that his power allows him to possess the physical and mental abilities of anyone within range of him. He defeats the heroes and they awake trapped on a wall in his lab. With Green Arrow's engineering ability and Firestorm's powers he has built his weapon in record time. He explains that he was born superior to everyone else and his machine will get rid of the people that are too inferior to be allowed to live. That's about 90% of the people on Earth. The remainder he assumes will just bend to his will as the best and brightest of them all. Black Canary listens to this and hopes she did hit her emergency signal during the earlier fight. Suddenly, Paragon feels a surge in power. It looks like the other four have arrived as Superman and Wonder Woman lift the roof off the lab. Firestorm breaks free and helps the others as Paragon strikes at the newcomers. Red Tornado asks how they can fight a villain stronger than Superman and Paragon tells the "anthropomorphic mixmaster" that you don't. And tosses him into a tree. He outwills Green Lantern and breaks free from his green bubble. He uses Firestorm's power to produce kryptonite and as Superman falls he uses Wonder Woman's strength against Firestorm. He hits him so far away he can't use his power any more and Superman's strength is gone. Black Canary figures it all out and has Red Tornado strike him. Then Green Lantern hits him with his power beam. They are the only two that have powers Paragon can't duplicate. The team bounces him around like a pinball so he can't concentrate until Black Canary applies the knockout kick. Firestorm wonders how they are going to keep him in jail. The End! JLA MAILROOM: Kurt Busiek wants it known that Paragon was co-created with artist Richard Howell. The letters praised JLA #220 the issue where we learn Black Canary of the JLA is actually the daughter of the Black Canary of Earth 2. Two readers mentioned that they cried at the end. One reader wanted to see an all heroine issue of JLA and two readers wanted to see J'onn J'onzz come back. The editor wonders where all the love for J'onn is coming from, but when others ask for Wendy, Marvin, the Wonder Twins and Snapper Carr to join the team he thinks J'onn isn't so bad. STORY: B Paragon is a good villain and is just different enough from Amazo. I liked the use of Black Canary in the story too. This Busiek guy may have a future. ART: B Chuck Patton has a good crisp style. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C+ This is Kurt Busiek's first JLA story and second at DC overall. He spent most of 1983 as the writer of Power Man and Iron Fist. He would do three more issues of Pre-Crisis JLA: #230 & 231 with the JSA and #240. The dice chose well this time. My last issue of JLA as a kid was #209, so I didn't read this one until the mid 1990s. Up next: to the bookcases for...Essential Marvel! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 12, 2015 11:02:39 GMT -5
Cool idea, Ace! Lots of reviews today... I love it!
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 12, 2015 11:46:42 GMT -5
What's up with the cover, did he defeat everyone and make them take off their clothes?
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 12, 2015 21:35:05 GMT -5
What's up with the cover, did he defeat everyone and make them take off their clothes? Ebay hadn't been invented yet. |
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 12, 2015 21:36:02 GMT -5
Cool idea, Ace! Lots of reviews today... I love it! It is odd, everyone decided "let's do reviews!" today. |
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 14, 2015 23:23:29 GMT -5
The shelf had Essential Spider-Man volumes The dice came up with Essential Amazing Spider-Man Volume #9, second issue...  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #187 On sale September 12, 1978 Written by Marv Wolfman (script and co-plot) Penciled by Jim Starlin (co-plot and breakdowns) Inked by Bob McLeod Edited by Marv Wolfman Cover by Keith Pollard and now..."THE POWER OF ELECTRO!" Spider-Man is sneaking around the area near Indian Point Power Plant. The place is crawling with SHIELD agents so Spider-Man sticks to the shadows. He recalls an earlier scene of how he got into this mess. Peter Parker is at the Daily Bugle talking to Robbie Robertson about recent events. Spider-Man was recently cleared of all charges by the District Attorney and Robbie says Jolly Jonah Jameson hasn't been this angry since Hoover lost to FDR. Jameson confronts one of his reporters for his failure to turn up anything about the situation at Indian Point then he sees Peter. Peter needs a raise since Aunt May is in a nursing home, so Jonah tells him he'll get the raise if he does this job and gets some pictures for him. Naturally, Jonah has no intention of honoring this deal. Peter hops on a bus to Indian Point and gets inside the police cordon. Back to the present Spider-Man webslings across the area with his Spider-Sense tingling for a reason unknown to him. He worries about his web formula getting weaker, a potential date with Betty Brandt, and wonders what Mary Jane is doing these days. He senses someone coming up behind him and ducks just in time to avoid Captain America. Cap isn't looking happy and asks Spider-Man to leave the area. Spider-Man wants to know what is going on and Cap threatens to remove him from the area by force. They spar a little bit before Cap knocks him down. He tells Spider-Man that he is in danger if he stays and can't tell him more than that. Spider-Man leaves in a huff and swings away. Captain America heads to the local power plant as its the last place SHIELD hasn't checked for a child they are searching for. Then we are shown Cap's briefing about the child, the son of a Hollywood actor that was bitten by a rat. The child was supposed to go to New York for tests, but never arrived. He was kidnapped for a million dollar ransom! The tests come back and it appears the child has a grim disease that Cap notes has killed someone in California in recent years. Cap breaks into a locked room in the power plant and finds the boy. The kidnapper arrives and seems to have a bit of a cough. Cap grabs him, but is felled by the shock of Electro! Before he can strike again, Spidey swoops in and hits him. The two heroes fight Electro, with Cap telling Spidey to cut the jokes, it needs to be done quickly. A double KO and Spidey thinks they make a great team like Abbott and Costello. Cap tells Spidey to call for some medics and that he'll need to be innoculated too. The boy wanders a little close to Electro and he grabs him. The power plant will blow up in three minutes and Electro is using the boy as a hostage to escape. Captain America then reveals to everyone that the boy has THE PLAGUE! Electro recoils form the boy and runs into the power room. Cap grabs the boy and the heroes run out of the building. Electro is going to absorb as much power as he can to burn the plague out of his body. BARROOOMM! And the power station is destroyed. Cap finds his shield in the rubble, but there is no sign of Electro. Spidey gets his shots and is told the boy should be fine in a couple of weeks. A SHIELD agent asks what cover story they can use for the power outage in the area. Dum Dum Dugan says to use the same one they did with Godzilla a while ago, it was lightning. THE END! STORY: B My two favorite Marvel heroes in one adventure together! The dice chose well again. A good basic story with the usual Marvel hero misunderstanding. I'm not sure why this wasn't an issue of Marvel Team-Up as it is very much a one and done issue. ART: A- Starlin was in fine form here and I've been a fan of Bob McLeod for a long time as well. The panel of Spider-Man in a tree on page 2 was really good. COVER: B- Pretty good in the I need to see why they're fighting department. Marvel's tv sensation! UGH! I try to forget about that live action Spidey, but it never works! HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C My brother bought issue #186, which was an issue I liked. I never bought an issue of Amazing Spider-Man as a kid because it was almost always sold out. I never did read this issue until I bought this collection in 2009. Up next....SUPERMAN! |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 15, 2015 8:08:47 GMT -5
I enjoyed that Spider-man comic and that particular era(187-200) of Spider-man but received a special treat seeing Starlin doing the artwork.
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 18, 2015 0:23:56 GMT -5
This long box had Pre-Crisis Superman and Jimmy Olsen. And we wind up with...  SUPERMAN #265 On sale April 5, 1973 Written by Elliot S! Maggin Penciled by Curt swan Inked by Murphy Anderson Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Nick Cardy and now..."ATTACK BY THE ARMY OF TOMORROW!" In his office at the Daily Planet, Perry White receives a message on his video phone from his boss, the President of Galaxy Communications, Morgan Edge. Mr. Edge is unhappy with the circulation numbers at the newspaper and tells Perry to increase sales or else. Perry storms out of his office and tells Clark Kent that the two of them are going out to lunch. Perry tells Clark he is fed up with electronic journalists that give thirty seconds to stories and newspaper writers that just rewrite press releases. He recounts how he got stories back in the Korean War including the time he had to pilot a helicopter. Clark offers to give Perry a spot on the 6 o'clock News for a few minutes. Perry claims he can find a story anywhere and notices a young couple across the street. They are both wearing gloves on a hot summer day and Perry is suspicious. Even more odd is that the young man's hair looks like it's from the 1950s not 1973. As he approaches them, he is struck down. Perry thinks it was just a sock to the jaw, but Clark saw an energy bolt that came from the young man's hand. The couple says they need to get to nearby roof and Perry figures it's the top of the Eaton Building since it has a heliport. Clark feels queasy after lunch and Perry sets off on his own. The waiter at the restaurant doesn't look impressed with the tip. Superman arrives at the top of the Eaton Building and sure enough the couple is there with other young people getting into a helicopter. The same man as before takes off his gloves and Superman notes he has two thumbs on each hand. He blasts Superman with a much larger force than he hit Perry and knocks out the Action Ace. Perry arrives at the roof as the copter is about to leave and hops in a baggage compartment. Superman wakes up later and heads back to the Galaxy Building. There Mr. Edge tells Clark to investigate unusual happenings at Langer Air Force Base. After the usual hijinks with Steve Lombard involving a water fountain, Superman flies off. The helicopter arrives at Langer AFB and Perry gets out to investigate. He notices all the soldiers seem to be in a trance. He hits a soldier in the head with a pipe and takes his uniform. Then he uses some makeup to cover up his wrinkles and grey hair so he can pass as a younger solider. He finds the control room and the leader of this little cult, Calixto. Perry listens to the man talk and pieces together his story. In 1953, Claixto put a canister of nerve gas near an atomic explosion. As a result, all babies born in the next hour in a radius of 1000 miles would go under a mutation. At the age of twenty the babies suddenly found their pinkies changing into thumbs and putting the thumbs together gave them great powers. Calixto then used hypnosis to bring this army of mutants to him and control them. They already have control of this base and tonight Calaixto will announce his intention to rule the world! The base alarms go off as Superman approaches. Calixto gathers some of his mutants together and they zap Superman as he dives in at super speed. They trap him in a sonic cocoon, but he is able to spin out. However, he runs into a force field set up by their powers and is knocked out. Calixto then commands his forces to use their mind energy to keep Superman powerless while he's on the base. A group of soldiers carry Superman to a cell. Perry finds him and tells Superman what he has learned. Now Perry has to smuggle Superman off the base so he can get his powers back. Perry takes down another solider so Superman can have a disguise, which includes a set of glasses that makes Superman look like someone Perry knows. They reach the hanger and Perry tells one of the soldiers that the prisoner Superman was in one of the planes that just took off and that they need to go after him. Perry takes a helicopter to chase him and they get off the base. Now Superman has his powers back and Perry can light up a cigar. Superman flies to the ground and digs out a lot of iron ore which he turns into a giant tuning fork. Calixto is using the mutants to power up his machines that will enable him to take over the world. NARF! Superman uses a super yell on the tuning fork and the mutants ans soldiers are freed from Calixto's hypnosis. Calixto uses his weather machine on Superman as he flies in. He tells Superman to turn back, but the Action Ace tells him to "Sit on a pomegrante!" He then tries using an illusion machine on Superman and fares no better. Calixto then tries to use his energy cannon, but it backfires. It makes him as powerful as Superman for a moment, but then it overloads and the hangar is destroyed. Superman crawls out of the crater and the day is saved. A few hours later Perry White goes on the 6 o'clock News with video on the days events. He talks to the mutants who announce they are using their mental energy to leave Earth. Perry also interviews Superman. Morgan Edge storms in to Perry's office and says he wanted a more in depth report. Perry says that not what tv news is for and tells Mr. Edge to read the full story in tomorrow's Daily Planet. He blows smoke in Edge's face and The End! Metropolis Mailbag: Mostly good reviews of Superman #261 with Star Sapphire. One reader is unhappy with the lack of continuity since Carol Ferris was in confined to a wheelchair over in Green Lantern at the time. STORY: B Elliot S! Maggin is among the best Superman writers of all time. This one had a welcome focus on Perry and the "Tomorrow Children" were an interesting idea. ART: A Swanderson is my all time favorite Superman artistic team and among the best artistic teams I've seen in any comic book. COVER: A- Cardy delivers again. Also a little interesting considering it was produced during the Vietnam War. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C- The story was reprinted in the Best of DC Digest #1 up next....a story from a DC Archive |
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 18, 2015 2:34:45 GMT -5
Nice. I did a thread exactly like this in the old days. In a couple months, I should have my comics again and would like join in.
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 20, 2015 22:20:06 GMT -5
This shelf of DC Archives came up with this entry...  ADVENTURE COMICS #355 One sale February 28, 1967 Penciled by Curt Swan Inked by George Klein Edited by Mort Weisinger Cover by Curt Swan First up, "THE WAR OF THE LEGIONS!" Written by Jim Shooter (age 16 at the time this was published) ROLL CALL: Brainiac 5, Cosmic Man, Element Man, Lightning Man, Polar Man, Saturn Woman, Superman The Legion of Super Villains are in their aquatic lair, still smarting form their defeat at the end of last issue. Lightning Lord has another plan as he introduces two new villains to his other team members. The first part of the plan requires the capture of a Legionnaire. Brainiac 5 escorts Superman to the time travel lane that will get him back to the 20th Century. Superman heads home to 1967 as Brainiac 5 sees a weird ship nearby. It captures him with a mechanical arm. The Legionnaires waiting for him to return get a visit from a Lightning Lord projection that gives them envelopes. Each of the five Legionnaires must travel to one of five locations to learn where Brainiac 5 is being kept and they have 15 minutes. The team splits up and we're off! Cosmic Man and his drastically receding hairline encounters Echo. He defeats him by magnetizing the air and knocking Echo out from lack of air. Saturn Woman runs into Saturn Queen and the mob under her control. She wins by putting the mob asleep with her mental powers then takes down the Queen with a judo throw. Garth and Mekt go at it for Round 113. Garth wins by causing some feedback into the generator that Mekt is standing in. Polar Man encounters Beauty Blaze who traps him in an area of flames. Polar Man makes a small passage out, sneaks behind and freezes her. Element Man finds Cosmic King and wins their battle of transmutation powers. Each victorious Legionnaire picks up a card telling them the location of Brainaic 5. I'm guessing it's either that undersea lab we saw earlier or a casino in Macao. It's the undersea lab and the villains are waiting for them. It turns out the Legionnaires had beaten solid life like images, not the real villains. The Villains surprise the tired Legionnaires and defeat them. As they celebrate, two other figures in purple outfits with the letters L and M enter. One takes out some villains with gravity powers while the other uses magic to defeat the villains. It turns out the two are Lex Luthor and Mr. Mxyzptlk! Or rather their 30th Century descendants. They had tried to get into Legion headquarters earlier to join in their suits, but found a message indicating where the Legion had gone. They arrived in the nick of time to save the day and are rewarded with membership in the Legion. STORY: B+ Loved the surprise finish and with it being villain descendants that were trying to redeem their names. The kid's got game. ART: A Swan and Klein do a great job making the Legionnaires look middle aged. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C The Adult Legion will be back, but this Luthor and Mxy won't. and now... "THE SIX-LEGGED LEGIONNAIRE!" Written by Otto Binder (age 56) ROLL CALL: Superboy, Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Shrinking Violet, Dream Girl, Invisible Kid, Light Lass, Bouncing Boy and Lana Lang the Insect Queen Superboy arrives back in Smallville from a mission and needs to change into Clark Kent to be in a parade. Lana Lang spies the Boy of Steel heading into a telephone booth. (ask your grandparents kids) She announces that she'll find out who Superboy really is, but then tells him she'll turn away. Superboy is so happy she didn't expose his secret that he invites her on a trip to the 30th Century. While he attends a Legion meeting, Lana uses her Bio-Ring to turn into Butterfly Girl and takes a tour of the future Metropolis. She spies a plane on fire and changes into Foam Bug to keep it from blowing up. One of the passengers was Dream Girl who seems to be running really late for the Legion meeting. She tells Lana she owes her a favor and flies off. Later, Lana meets up with the Legion after their meeting and decides to apply for membership. She shows some of her powers, but she's rejected because a Legionnaire's powers can't be artificial. A message arrives at the Legion HQ from Ice City in Antarctica. An alien criminal has threatened the city and Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet and Colossal Boy are dispatched to take of the problem. Lana calls in her favor with Dream Girl and asks if the Legion will run into trouble. Of course they will! It's not clear though and Dream Girl has one more warning. If Lana changes into Moth Maid, it will lead to tragedy. She tells Superboy and they fly to Ice City. They meet up with the others as they hear the voice of the alien overhead. He is Oggar Kon, a criminal from a world with no capital punishment, so he was put in a block of ice and sent into space. A meteor struck the block of ice and deflected him to Antarctica. The ice slooooooooooowly melted and he used his mind over matter powers to create weaponry and has vowed to destroy the city. His first attack is a hot wind machine. Colossal Boy build a giant wall of ice blocks to stop it, but he's trapped in a giant cloud produced by Oggar Kon's ship. He could fall into one of the giant ice trenches nearby. Lana changes into Firefly Girl and he makes his way to safety. Shrinking Violet follows his ship back to his hideout. Even at her tiny size she is still found out by a sentry flower. She avoids a laser blast, but he drops some seeds around her that instantly grow. One is a venus fly trap that snatches Violet. Lana arrives and changes into a leaf cutting bee to free her. Oggar Kon uses his next weapon, a giant air horn! It shatters the ice until Superboy destroys it. However, while he's doing that, his costume is coated with kryptonite dust. Lana tries shaking out the dust as Dragonfly girl, but her wings aren't beating fast enough. Only the Sphinx Moth can get the job done, but she remembers Dream Girl's warning about that. She changes into Moth Maid anyway and is able to get the kryptonite dust off his costume. Unfortunately, her Bio-Ring has flown off and she may be trapped as a moth forever! Meanwhile, Chameleon Boy is after Oggar Kon's ship. The alien sends out an egg that cracks into a giant eagle. Chameleon Boy trumps this by changing into a huge winged octopus that knocks the eagle out of the way and crushes Oggar's ship. Superboy stops Oggar from plunging to his death and he is off to jail. Later, the team gathers to find the Bio-Ring. Light Lass uses her power and Superboy's cape flies up. It turns out the ring fell into the cape pocket where he keeps his Clark Kent clothes. Lana is made a member of the Legion Reserve as thanks for her help and they return to Smallville. STORY: A- One of my all time favorite Lana Lang stories. She gets to play super heroine and got to save the day. It's unfortunate she didn't get to do it more often. Art: A They can do teens really well too. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C+ Lana gets Legion Reserve membership. up next... this box contains Brave & the Bold and Legends of the Dark Knight |
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 21, 2015 20:37:17 GMT -5
 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #184 On sale December 17, 1981 Written by Mike W Barr Penciled by Jim Aparo Inked by Jim Aparo Edited by Dick Giordano Cover by Jim Aparo this comic has a Twinkie ad! "Pirates Gold" starring Aquaman and now..." THE BATMAN'S LAST CHRISTMAS!" It's Christmas season in Gotham City and someone leaves a bag of goodies at the Gotham Children's home. The elderly woman in charge says thank you to a shadow outside in the familiar form of a bat. The Bat -Signal appears and Commissioner Gordon waits for Batman to arrive. Gordon is worried about the new mayor replacing him as Commissioner, but Batman tells him he's survived hostile administrations before. Batman also smiles. Gordon needs Batman to recover some files that someone is trying to return to local mob boss, "Spurs" Sanders. Batman searches the area for the man who needs to be in a disguise and has something for carrying the records. Batman smile #2 as he spies someone in a Santa outfit and chases him down. Across town, The Huntress arrives by JLA teleporter tube. She doesn't want to spend the Holiday's alone and has come to visit with "Uncle Bruce." Batman knocks down the flunky with the files, but he notices the name of his father, Thomas Wayne, on one of them. He reads on to discover that it appears his father bankrolled "Spurs" Sanders when he started out. He's so upset and distracted that he doesn't notice that the flunky is about to shoot him. Fortunately, that's when the Huntress arrives to take him out. They meet back in the Wayne Foundation penthouse. Helena says Batman's recent team up with Earth 2's Robin (issue #182) reminded her that she hadn't seen him in a while. Bruce, still rocking the ascot in 1981, is still upset by the fact his father may have bankrolled a gangster. Helena reminds him that he is more than an avenger, he's also a detective. They decide to visit Thomas Wayne's former accountant to search for clues. Helena thinks to herself that history repeats itself on the two Earths and she doesn't want Bruce to walk away from being Batman like her father did. They visit Amos Randolph at his home. He's in a wheelchair, suffering from a nerve disease. Bruce asks to see his father's financial records and the dates of money transfers match. Changing into their "working clothes" they pay a visit to "Spurs" Sanders. He talks in a western drawl, but Batman scoffs that he's never been west of the Gotham River. He knows Batman has his records and he plays a recording of Thomas Wayne making the deal with Sanders. Sanders offers to trade the recording that would ruin Thomas Wayne's reputation in return for the records that could send Sanders to prison. They leave and Batman tells Huntress he wants to be alone. She finds him at the gravesite of his parents where he takes off the cowl and quits being Batman! Huntress cries as she has a flashback to her father giving up the cowl when her mother, Catwoman, died. We then see a few scenes of Bruce Wayne moping his way around town with a few women. We then see the file carrying flunky from earlier out to get a Christmas present with his son. A hitman sent by "Spurs" tries to run them down in a car, but Huntress saves them. Bruce Wayne witnesses this scene, much like the day his parents died when there was no one to save them. Bruce smiles and tells Huntress he's the happiest he's been in days since he realizes that Batman exists not only to stop crime, but to prevent others from feeling the loss he did as a child. They visit the abandoned Wayne Manor and Bruce remembers something about Amos Randolph from his childhood at Christmas time. Bruce changes back into Batman (he still had the outfit under his clothes!) and Helena cries tears of joy that he isn't walking away like her father did. Batman visits the Randolph home and he tells the old man that he knows he disguised his voice to be like Thomas Wayne's. Batman recalled the nervous finger tapping of Randolph was also on the supposed Thomas Wayne tape. Batman tells him that he knows he used Wayne money to finance Sanders and then Sanders helped build Randolph's fortune. Randolph scoffs that this will never stand up in court and he'll never go to prison. Batman tells him to look around and that he's already in a prison as he leaves. Huntress is at "Spurs" Sanders place to tell him that voice printing will prove that wasn't Thomas Wayne's voice. The records are left for Commissioner Gordon as a nice Christmas present. Literally, it's got Christmas paper and a nice bow and ribbon on the box. Batman and Huntress visit the Wayne grave site again on Christmas morning as he renews his vow to stop crime. Also Batman smiles a third time in costume. The End! Brave & the Bold Mailbag: One reader comments from Wroclaw Poland (!) about issue #156 and that he enjoys Dr. Fate. The editor tells him it's not too late to comment on the issue and that he should be on the lookout for Dr. Fate in issues of Flash. This issue also had a Nemesis backup by Cary Burkett and Dan Spiegle. STORY: A- The dice were kind again. Helena's angle on Batman quitting was unique and Barr used it to good effect. This is vintage Bronze Age Dark Knight Detective as opposed to the more modern Dark Knight. ART: A- Another Hall of Fame artist graces the thread. His facial expressions are quite good and Batman smiles three times! (no teeth showing, but they're smiles!) COVER: A If I saw this cover, I would have picked up the issue. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B- There are a couple of Earth 2 stories to come in this title, but this was the only team up of Batman and The Huntress. up next....2000s Marvel! (if there's a Jack Kirby looking God, I'll luck into a Waid FF) |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Feb 21, 2015 21:04:00 GMT -5
Terrific review. This was a really good Batman story. The idea of Batman as a humorless, militaristic thug is a modern conceit that holds up poorly when measured against the fact that he wears a dramatic costume and employs whimsically bat-themed weaponry and vehicles in his crusade. This is a vigilante to be sure, but one who enjoys, even exalts in his mission. That he should occasionally smile at the fruit of his good works is unsurprising.
Aparo is an artist perfectly suited to portraying the adventurous Batman. He maintains the pulpy, shadowy tone of early Detective Comics while simultaneously humanizing the character with just the right touch of humor.
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Post by Action Ace on Feb 22, 2015 23:01:00 GMT -5
 NEW AVENGERS #3 On Sale January 26, 2005 Written by Brain Michael Bendis Drawn by David Finch Inked by Danny Miki Edited by Tom Brevoort Cover by David Finch ROLL CALL: Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and The Sentry and now..."BREAKOUT: PART 3!" On board a SHIELD hellicarrier Cap and Iron Man are discussing the events of last night at the prison known as The Raft. We flashback to where issue #2 left off where Purple Man is trying to use his mental powers to force Luke Cage to kill the other heroes. Unfortunately for him, the drugs they've been giving him in prison have robbed him of his powers. Luke Cage proceeds to lay the smackdown on him until Cap pulls him off. The heroes order the villains still there back to their cells. Cap compares the night to what happened the first time the Avengers got together. A group brought together by fate and when it finally comes together, the job gets done. The last panel emphasizes that The Sentry made the team complete. Iron Man asks Cap if he's going to assemble a new team and he responds that the team already assembled itself. Iron Man thinks about joining and tells Cap that he doesn't have enough money to rebuild the old Avengers Mansion. Cap sets off to invite the rest of the heroes to become Avengers. He visits Peter Parker who was a teacher at this time. He still looks really bad from last night and his arm is in a sling. Peter tells Cap he didn't take the day off because the kids need a teacher. He wonders if he's in trouble. Cap says no and invites him to become an Avenger. Peter gives the "I'm not a team guy" answer and Cap asks him how that's been working for him. Cap tells him to try it, he can leave if he doesn't like it. Peter says yes and he could really use the money. Cap tells him there's no money. Cap then visits the apartment of Luke Cage and the pregnant Jessica Jones. Luke agrees to join the team as long as they can do things a new way and his voice is heard. Daredevil says no. He doesn't want to ruin everyone else's reputations. He also ponders how Peter Parker can keep up with his monthly workload. Next he visits Jessica Drew in a gym. She's been pulled off her SHIELD assignment at The Raft and accepts the offer. Later, everyone gathers at Stark Tower. Jarvis is back from his extended holiday and is on hand to serve the newest incarnation of the Avengers. They are about to discuss the events of last night, but Cap wants to wait for Spider-Woman. She's across the street with someone. She's been paid alot of money to report back to this guy on SHIELD. If he wants reports on The New Avengers though, that's going to cost him big. The End! STORY: B I think I would have liked it better had they continued from the end of #2 and we saw Sentry do something. I liked the "assembling part" and Bendis on Spidey is always good. ART: D+ Passable. COVER: D The scene is kind of in the book. Maybe a little less black magic marker next time? HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B+ The bringing together of a new team. HYSTERICAL SIGNIFICANCE: A see letter column rantings below Avengers Assemble! (the letter column) let's see what people had to say during this humdrum controversy free era of Avengers... Letter #1: People hating the new direction "need to quit drinking that Haterade." Old Avengers is likened to baby food and New Avengers to steak and potatoes. He tells the old fans that want to "hold back the greatness" see ya! Letter #2: She's new to the Avengers and she's hooked. Letter #3: He calls issue #2 "probably the finest single issue superhero comic I have ever read." He also encourages people to read Alias and The Pulse. Letter #4: He called the editorial response to another long time reader disrespectful. Letter #5: It's Stan Lee! He liked issues #1 and 2. Letter #6: He lists the sounds he made while reading issue #2. He sounds happy. Letter #7: A fan of 25 years (1980) writes to say the Avengers has floundered for 200+ issues. He liked the Busiek/ Perez era, but it was just a rehash of what happened before. He tells other old fans who like teams that get along and are never in danger to buy old Super Friends DVDs. Letter #8: An Avengers fan of 38 years writes that he didn't like Disassembled and he's not happy the Avengers are becoming like the JLA. One of these letter writers gets his comics from the same shop I do. Speaking of JLA...they're next! |
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 22, 2015 23:42:09 GMT -5
My review of this issue would be to set it on fire, but your take is an interesting one too.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 23, 2015 23:34:18 GMT -5
I remember really, really hating Sentry when he was first introduced... Sad that all of Marvel's greater atrocities have eclipsed it.
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