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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2015 20:58:27 GMT -5
I apologize for not finding it in color, but my Google-fu wasn't up to the task. This panel had me laughing for like 2 minutes. No wonder the dryad Queen spent the rest of the episode flirting with Ray.  It doesn't even need words. That picture says it ALLL. HAHAHAHAHA! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 17, 2015 21:38:44 GMT -5
Yeah, the dryad queen hiding in the twigs is pretty funny. And that art! OMG! She's so darn cute!
I haven't read much Silver Age Atom, a few reprints here and there and I once checked Atom Archives, Volume One, out of the library, but I remember lots of material that I find hilarious. You know, like using a pencil as a pole vault and then hopping off an eraser like a trampoline.
There's one that gets me every time. He's trailing the bad guy (some gangster, I think) to his hiding place and he manages to hide in the back of the guy's car. He figures it's going to be a long drive and he's kind of tired (from pole vaulting with pencils and jumping on erasers and riding sparrows and beetles and whatever), so thinks it's safe to take a little nap.
Bad idea, Dr. Palmer! The bad guy hears him snoring and captures him! GEEZ LOUISE! How loud can a guy snore when he's two inches tall!?
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jan 18, 2015 0:47:19 GMT -5
I really like the Silver Age Atom for pretty much the same reasons - It's really funny! I love all those big/small sight gags.
I don't actually remember anything about the Dryad story, though.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 18, 2015 10:15:31 GMT -5
It wasn't particularly memorable, and, in fact, kinda focused more on the villain, and lots of monster plants, than the Atom himself.
The pencil thing was really the only cool bit, even if the physics of it escape me... I mean he throws it hard enough to go quite a ways (relatively), then has time to change his density, grab it, and climb on before it gets there?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 21, 2015 13:26:15 GMT -5
 Justice League of America #5 Plot: The title here is completely a misnomer... it's really about the League having a meeting to determine whether or not new member Green Arrow is really a traitor! Superman, Batman, and Snapper serve as judges, since they weren't involved. Apparently, a bunch of villains were broken out of prison by Montgomery Moran (also known as the Getaway King, in his one other appearance)... he minaturizes the crooks and they sail out in a matchbox attached to a kids balloon. (Another victim of Scudder's Syndrome.. they guy's a clear genious) He chooses his crooks to match up with the JLA, and calls them out. Wonder Woman calls out the teams as they split into threes to catch them. Not really a team up, though, just each villain trying to defeat the Leaguers in turn, with the other two watching. In both groups, Green Arrow shoots a teleporting arrow (or so they thing) and disappears.. with the crooks! He defends himself by explaining they weren't the real crooks, but robot doubles set to explode on contact, and proves it... good guys win! analysis: This is sort of a proto-Injustice League.. mostly 3rd string villains...Captain Cold i s the only realy signifigant one, unless you count Clock King for his fame on the Batman TV show. I guess Doctor Destiny. Still, the concept is there and waiting. I'm starting to get a sense that the League is more a regular thing, rather than an emergency-only sorta group, which it felt like in the earlier issues... here we have a planned meeting to discuss a previous case. Not the greatest story (pretty by the numbers) but somehow it had some gravitas. Story: B Signifigance: B+ |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 6, 2015 23:09:39 GMT -5
 Justice League of America #6 I LOVE some of these early covers! And this one even actually happened in the comic. Plot: The League members are all having bad luck, seemingly caused by 'classic' superstitions... Wonder Woman has a black cat cross her path, Green Lantern spills salt, etc. Professor Amos Fortune, however, knows exactly why... he's discovered that people have luck glands, and he can stimulate them, giving himself good luck, while giving the Justice League bad. The League come together for their Monthly meeting (since no emergencies have come up), and find that they've all been having bad luck, but they dismiss it. They have some mail (2 letters.... in a MONTH), and they decide to go help the people.. one looking for treasure, and the other a museum burgular. In both cases, they have random bad luck at first, and Prof. Fortune swoops in to reap the rewards, but the League overcomes at the end. Fortune is confused by this, and decides he must capture the JLA to figure out what's going on. He determines that over time the good luck gland makes up for the jolt to the bad luck gland he gave them, so he straps them to a giant wheel, which will somehow destroy their luck glands. Sadly for him... Martians don't have them... J'onn's bad luck was just a co-incidence! He escapes and frees the others. The End! Analysis: Very good (if every silver age-y) story... it does stick with the formula, but he Prof. Fortune is a great bad guy, so that's OK... this is pre-Royal Flush Gang, obviously. No pretense of Superman and Batman this time.. they're mentioned on the roll call, but that's it. I frankly prefer that... call them reserves or whatever. They 'letters from people in need' thing gets used for the Titans later... but in the meantime someone realized about scale... the Titans got BAGS of letters.. the JLA gets 2 in a month. I guess they're not too famous yet. It was pretty cool to think of superheroes making housecalls though, and they say in the story (or rather, Wonder Woman does) that they answer such things all the time. Ahh... such a more innocent time. Also, I LOVE Prof. Fortune's luck mumu... classic. Story: B+ Significance: A- (1st Prof. Fortune, 1st JLA without a token Superman and Batman appearance) |
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Post by Cei-U! on Feb 7, 2015 10:25:37 GMT -5
That cover is an homage to an earlier JSA story:  Cei-U! I summon the recycling! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 7, 2015 11:44:41 GMT -5
I saw that when I was hunting for the cover, but I thought it was a later one (like from the Roy Thomas revival)... interesting.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 12, 2015 23:10:41 GMT -5
I was inspired by the crazy amount of reviews today...  Wow, talk about a blockbuster...Grodd and Pied Piper? 'The Menace of the Super-Gorilla' Not the best story.. there's alot left out of it... I guess for space. We get dropped in, with a gorilla menacing the city for 'days'. Then there's the mostly useless story of Barry's 'best friend' who we've never seen before Fred who's playing a Gorilla in a play and thinks HE'S the culprit. Then, finally we get to Grodd, who is zipping around in a one-gorilla rocketship that can outmanuver the Flash. He goes to the circus, and steals Solovar's mind control power.. Solovar, the leader of gorilla-city, was capture, but was playing dumb to keep it a secret. Grodd heads home to raise a world-conquering army, and Solovar goes to the Flash to ask for help. (No explanation how Solovar knew how to find him, or how Barry Allen got a hyper-intelligent gorilla into his apartment). They wisk off to gorilla city, Barry spins the mind control power out of Grodd with a whirlwind, and Solovar takes control. The End! This also breaks the pattern a bit... the next issue box advertises the gorillas are back next issue...whereas the last couple issues the first story was a one off science-y/alien bad guy. It would totally fit that, but thankfully for the world, the Gorillas are destined to return! Plot: C Signifigance: A (first Grodd, Solovar, and Gorilla City) 'Pied Piper of Peril' Not a very auspicious debut, as the Piper appears he can do anything at all with his horn, and stops a bunch of crooks in mid-heist. The evening, he challenges the Flash to stop them. Naturally, no one fixed the locks or windows that were broken, they just waited for the criminals to come back. Meanwhile, Barry is on time for once, waiting for Iris to serve dinner when he hears the challenge, so he leaves, to Iris' chagrin. After failing at the first scene, he makes short work of the Piper and his gang, then heads back to Iris' place... telling her he stepped out to get the paper. (worst.. excuse..ever) Then End! I think I would have prefered 24 pages of Gorilla goodness... this one is just too... well, silver age-y for me. The Pied Piper's powers are totally non-sensical, as is the two short battles with the Flash. Plot: D Signifigance: B (first Pied Piper) |
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 13, 2015 15:21:20 GMT -5
The main thing I like about the first Grodd story is the play about the gorilla. It's a big hit in Central City, and the gorilla is the murderer or something.
It always makes me wonder about the theatrical environment in Central City. Their version of Tennessee Williams is a guy who writes about dirty secrets in the South and all those dirty secrets involve primates.
Or their biggest hit play ever was "The Orangutan Who Came to Dinner."
Silver Age Flash should have had more stories about Central City's theatrical community.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 16, 2015 15:54:37 GMT -5
Now for something a little different...  I picked up this trade, which features the 'All New' Wonder Woman from 1968... issues 178-183. Plot: Steve Trevor is charged with murder, and Wonder Woman's own testimony helped put him there. The Amazon are ready to leave Earth for a time to charge their mystic batteries, so for Diana Prince to stay behind, she must give up her Amazon powers. She does so, and, as Diana Prince, hunts for the woman that can clear Steve Trevor. She does so, while somehow being jealous of herself, when Steve says he should ask Diana on a date sometime. Right after getting off for the murder charge, Steve is sent undercover, and is near-fatally wounded trying to uncover the secrets of Dr. Cyber. With the help of her new far eastern training guru I-Ching, Diana takes up the investigation.. turns out Dr. Cyber is a woman who is trying to conquer the world. After a couple inconclusive battles, and a couple male temporary partners that betray her, Diana is ready to kill, when an Amazon soldier appears, and begs her for help. She drops the Dr. Cyber investigation and goes (with I-Ching, strangely), to the dimension the Amazons are in, where Ares is attempting to steal the secret of Dimension hopping. Diana joins the near-hopeless fight, until she can get help in the form of the heroes of legend. They are big jerks at first, and only the Valkeries, lead by Brunhilde, come to help. That's enough to hold off Ares' hordes until the heroes arrive, and the good guys win. -- Well, these were pretty fun, but there were some real head scratchers. It's bad enough when Donna Troy has self image issues, but freakin' Wonder Woman? Yeah, that's not the inspiration for young women Marston imagined, I'm thinking. There's ALOT of 60s sexism that creeps in here, from the language, to the emphasis on fashion, to the fact that the bad guys are all female. It's part of the times, I guess, but still sad. The plotting had some pretty big holes... like why Steve Trevor gets put in jail for murder on a small dash of circumstantial evidence? Or that as soon as he's cleared he goes off on a mission where he has to pretend to be a traitor? Seems crazy. Apparently, the Amazons don't mind men on their island in other dimensions. Then there's the fact that if Ares was attacking them, and they can hope from one to the other, but he can't... couldn't they have just moved again? Never mind Diana (as a human) held her own with the monsters and Amazons, without any trouble. Fun read, though.. the 60s-ness was a bit easier to take (and a bit less extreme) than it was in Teen Titans.. and the outfits were pretty fun (even if they shouldn't have been a focus). Story: B Signifigance: B (new direction for Wonder Wonder that lasted about 3 years) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 28, 2015 10:02:23 GMT -5
 Mystery in Space #90 'Planets in Peril' Plot: Earth pops up in Rann's orbit! At first, the Rannians(?) are excited to explore, and Alanna is excited to visit, but they quickly find that the evil Orad Dargg has used a Zeta Beam to bring Earth to Rann's orbit, and it will catch up and smash both planets within a week if Rann doesn't surrender. Adam Strange goes on the attack, but Dargg uses his Zeta Beam tech to throw Earth monuments at him.. luckily Adam fades out and appears back on Earth just before getting squashed by the Iwo Jima statue. Back on Earth, the Hawks investigate. They fire up the Absorbacon for Rann's language and such and head over. Dargg throws Lake Superior and Mount Everest at the Rannians to stop them from attacking him, but the Hawks take care of it. They also learn about Zeta Beams from Sardath, who now thinks they have 'less than a month'... which is alot less scary than 'within a week'. Alanna takes a ship to Earth, and retrieves Adam, and the four heroes attack. Dargg, of course, has traps ready, but both escape (using more questionable physics), then Strange and Hawkman capture him.. without the womenfolk. Too bad, since if Hawkgirl and/or Alanna were there, they might have prevented Dargg from blowing up his tech! Luckily, Sardath was able to whip up a pistol that could suck the Zeta Beam radiation out of the entire planet, so the day is saved! Alanna and Adam hitch a ride to Earth with the Hawks, so they can get married and Adam can give her the tour... all is well! The End! I guess we'll assume that the monuments, Lake Superior, and Mt.Everest lost there Zeta radiation eventually and re-assembled themselves back in place on Earth. Story: B+ (very entertaining, but very bad physics) Signifigance: Not sure - It's not the first team up of Adam Strange and Hawkman, but it's the first one they team up on purpose. Since Adam and Alanna (I think) get married in a Justice League comic much later, I assume something happens next issue to return the status quo for the last 10 Adam Strange stories in Mystery in Space. Considering the history they have coming up, I suppose its pretty signifigant that this is the Hawks first experience with Rann Notes: - This is billed as the first team up of Adam Strange and Hawkman, even though they did so before... though I suppose that was more two slightly overlapping stories than a true team-up. 'Dual Adventure' sounds alot less exciting than 'Team-up!' so no surprise that didn't catch on. - It's awesomely bad that the bad guy hurls the Sphinx, the Roman Colloseum, and the Iwo Jima statue at Adam. Never mind the physics, it makes a great visual. Adam actually destroys the first two items, though, so I do wonder how they'll get out of that one. -- Nice nod that Adam wonders where the Justice League is... 'out in space' is the usual excuse, but it's better than nothing  I would think whoever was on monitor duty might call the others if the whole planet vanished, but hey, I'm sure whatever they're up to is important! The Hawks then re-iterate it. -- They do reference the previous meeting, which is awesome. It also 'solves' the mystery of the weird stone that we readers knew, but the Hawks didn't. -- The format almost seems like the two stories weren't necessarily suppose to be in the same book... and they go over the Hawks origin like we've never seen them before. I wonder if this was supposed to be Hawkman #1 (with the Adam Strange lead in/crossover)? -- I'm not sure the physics are right re: Roche limit. I think it would only destroy the smaller planet, turning it into orbiting debris around the other... but since they're probably close to the same size, maybe not... planetary forces are not my area of expertise. It sure seems like it would work though, so no worries there... today's TV does alot worse as far as bending the laws of nature goes. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 28, 2015 11:03:01 GMT -5
 Hawkman #1 Two stories in this one... they stick to the 11 pagers (probably a good thing) 'Rivalry of the Winged Wonders' The Hawks are back on Thanagar reporting how Earth really does have alot to teach them... they reference a case where the 'Black Pearls of Oahu' were stolen from the museum, and they used it as a test... Hawkgirl used Thanagarian methods, and Hawkman Earth. Hawkgirl had the jump early, but the Thanagarian gadgets were suseptible to the vagueries of Earth's enviornment. Hawkman, though slow to get on the trail, managed to find the thieves and retrieve the jewels. Story: C+ Signifigance: D 'Master of the Sky Weapons' Mavis and a few others from the museum come back from a dig in the Yucatan with amnesia. The Absorbacon fails to find out what happened, so the Hawks head to Mexico. They find a Mayan chief named Chac that was granted long life and spiffy weapons from an ancient alien... he's not that good at them, though, and the Hawks defeat him rather easily. Chac tries to make a last appeal to the Mayan Gods, and he drops dead. The Hawks return home with an amnesia recipe and some new artifacts. Story: C Signifigance: F Notes: -- Carter was downright Holmesian in the first story! I don't know if I believe that alot of 1964 police stations had crime analysis computers, though... and certainly nothing that could do the kind on analysis that was done here... MAYBE they could do it now, with some really good databases, but certainly not in the 60s. He also talked to the birds, which I think is sorta cheating! -- No respect for Hawkgirl... she says she's going to cry when she's frustrated, and, the obvious, she doesn't get billing on the cover.. she's just the wife. Obviously, that's how it was then, but is seems silly now. -- The 2nd story was extremely formulaic.. not bad, exactly, just blah. They stick with the ancient weapons thing, though don't show the Hawks selecting them any more. Nice to see Sheira making a save, too, after getting snubbed for the cover  -- I'm not sure about the wisdom of bringing a skull/robot head that killed Chac back to the museum for display.. wouldn't that be a bit dangerous? -- I'm not sure ancient Mayan pictograms would be capable of imparting a chemical formula for an amnesia antidote, but whatever. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,144 
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Post by Confessor on Mar 30, 2015 18:23:10 GMT -5
Hawkman #1 Nice cover. Not ever seen that before, but yeah...that's nice. |
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Post by Farrar on Mar 31, 2015 17:49:03 GMT -5
Now for something a little different... ... She drops the Dr. Cyber investigation and goes (with I-Ching, strangely), to the dimension the Amazons are in, where Ares is attempting to steal the secret of Dimension hopping. Diana joins the near-hopeless fight, until she can get help in the form of the heroes of legend. They are big jerks at first, and only the Valkeries, lead by Brunhilde, come to help. That's enough to hold off Ares' hordes until the heroes arrive, and the good guys win. Glad to find this thread--I am a sucker for the Silver Age stuff and will be checking here often. The JLA, Hawkman, Atom, and Flash stories were a bit before my time (though I've since read a lot of this courtesy of Showcase volumes and/or back issues)...but I did have many of the "mod" Wonder Woman comics back then. And a few years ago I bought the Mod WW trade collections, about 4 in all I think. Regarding the Ares story, what struck me as a major flaw back then was when Di acted like her only recourse was contacting the heroes of yore. Why the flock didn't good ol' Princess Diana call the Justice League for help, or Supergirl, or ...  I get what the creative team was trying to do with her and that she was now essentially a clean slate character; and the practice of the DC editorial fiefdoms; and so on. But continuity-wise it bothered me that she didn't contact let alone even think of any of her old hero pals. And yeah, it still bugs me reading it as an adult! |
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I would think whoever was on monitor duty might call the others if the whole planet vanished, but hey, I'm sure whatever they're up to is important! The Hawks then re-iterate it.
I get what the creative team was trying to do with her and that she was now essentially a clean slate character; and the practice of the DC editorial fiefdoms; and so on. But continuity-wise it bothered me that she didn't contact let alone even think of any of her old hero pals. And yeah, it still bugs me reading it as an adult!