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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 2, 2017 0:02:31 GMT -5
Lois Lane #73 'The Dummy and the Damsel' This is one of those covers that really just doesn't even need a story:  I mean, just look at it! And that very scene actually happens in the comic! Amazing! So anyway, a deep space probe (why do we need a deep space probe when we have Superman and Green Lantern? No idea), picks up a hitchhiker, and evil energy being that wants to come to Earth for.. reasons. He never quite says... at first he's lonely, then he wants to 'establish a base'.. not sure what he's really doing. Anyway, Lois tries to get one up on Lana and her TV coverage by sneaking into the quarantine of the probe to get an early pic, and the alien possesses her, then makes her steal a jeep, mix up some oil, battery acid, and anti freeze, and make a big lake into a scary calderon of alien-ness! When the authorities arrive, they assume the bad guy is long gone and Lois was a hostage (Not too far off, I suppose). Some GREAT facials for when evil Lois is around. Back at the planet, the alien has to swap over to Clark to prevent the pic Lois snapped of him from getting out, and he figures out he's in a super-body! He does some weird stuff to make Lois suspicious, then has to bail when he flies too high and blacks out. Lois and Superman figure out what's going on, and the cover pic is a trap they lay for the alien, which involves tricking it into the puppet and sending it to the Phantom Zone, which totally works.  This one is off the charts in Wacky Silver Ageiness.. great stuff. Then, there's a back-up: 'Lois Lane's Fairy Godmother' This is one of those 'who gets to marry Superman' stories between Lois and Lana that generally ends in (sometimes) unintentionally funny Superdickery, but this is not one of the better ones. Mr. Mxyzptlk's girlfriend pretends to be Lois' fairy godmother and tries to get Superman to marry her, but does so in such a hamhanded way Supes gets mad and threatens to never see her again. Luckily, Lois figures it out and gets her to play scrabble with her so she can read her name backwards and go away... turns out she was trying to see what would work to get Mxyzptlk to marry her. The usual good art and cool facial expressions, but not my favorite story.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 8, 2017 1:11:01 GMT -5
Hawkman #4 'The Girl Who Split in Two' Fox/Anderson  Man, I guess Zatanna was never meant to be a star... her first appearance doesn't even get to be on the cover! Anyway... Two mysterious artifacts appear in the museum, on from China, and one Ireland, so the Hawks fly off to investigate. Hawkman fights some Chinese Bandits (that are really badly stereotyped.. even speaking in broken English), while Hawkgirl busts into a castle. Both find a woman in fishnets spouting gibberish. Turns out she's the same person, somehow split in half, so they get her back together..apparently she teleported the stuff to the museum to get the Hawks help. She explains she's trying to find her father, the magician Zatara.. the Hawks use the Absorbacon to try to find him, but no one on Earth remembers where he is. Zatanna assumes that means he's dead, but Hawkman points out he could just have amnesia. Zatanna thanks them for the help and uses her magic to go back to Earth... while the Hawks return the artifacts to their respective countries. The end! Today's lesson in the comic: The Shang Dynasty was from 1700-1200 BC. This could have been a good story, but the excuse to get Zatanna in there was really razor thin and even more random than usual.. also, not Anderson's best art, quite a few panels seem rushed to me. Plot: C- History: B+ (1st appearance of Zatanna) 'The Machine that Magnetized Men' Fox/Anderson The cover story.. disembodied hands try to steal stuff... including something at the museum, but they fail.. they appear, grab things, and drop them. As the Hawks are talking to the police, a weird armor car turns up and makes all the people around magnetized to it, so they can loot the museum. Hawkgirl guesses they are from the future (which they are... 1000 years to be exact) and figures out what their costumes have in them to make them immune to their magnet ray/field/thingy. The fight seems a toss up until Carter figures out that they can't take things back to the future on the outside of the car, so he tosses a paint bomb at it, thus trapping it, and the crooks, in our time. The end! Today's Lesson was about the 'King of Coins' a $5 gold piece of which only 3 existed in 1964 (so says the comic). Also, the iron in the human body is enough to make a nail! Pretty by the numbers story, but alot more fun in the details... the bad guys are thieving with an army surplus tank, and wear the crazy outfits because you're not allowed to GO to the past, just look at it, and they're breaking the rules to sell the 'antiques'. Just when I was getting ready to call the Doctor about a time paradox, Shiera mentions it.. which made me happy. It didn't resolve it, mind you but it was cool. Let's just hope none of those guys go on to prevent WWIII or invent warp drive or anything. Plot: B History: D (one off villain, no character development, good lessons)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 12, 2017 22:32:08 GMT -5
 Hawkman #5 'Steal, Shadow, Steal' Plot: After having a cell mate help him escape, the Shadow Thief is back on the loose. He starts out by stealing some rare gems, which were about to be donated to the museum, so the Hawks are on him... so fast he realizes their secret identity. Hawkman, after failing with some weapons he was working on (that apparently he carries around all the time just in case?) , tries to steal the Shadow Thief's weapon, but he sets it to explode and escapes. Back on Xarapion (the dimension where the shadows are from), we find Carl Sands has captured the inventor of the dimensiometer (that lets him be a shadow), and, rather than fixing the side effect that messes with the planet's magnetic fields, he's decided to steal from Earth until it dies, then use the riches to black mail Xarapion into surrendering to him. First, though, he wants revenge, so he launches into an elaborate plan to trap the Hawks in a shadow form on Xarapion, while their actual bodies are stuck on Earth. There's some weird story driven stuff involving having bodies in two different spots that doesn't really hold together, but the story is pretty dramatic anyway. At first, the cops try to help the Hawks, but before they get stuck in the Paralysis beam on Xarapion, they tell them not to touch them. Sadly, in order to escape, they have to have someone more their bodies on Earth.. which somehow they tell the birds to do, but the cops chase them off. A 2nd attempt, after they have a Mynah bird 'tell' the cops to let them, it works, and Carter is able to take advantage of Shadow Thief's eariler villainous monologue to escape, and set Thar Dan, the inventor of the tech, free, so he can help them trap Shadow Thief, which works without incident.. the end! Not as good as the first Shadow Thief story, but, man, I love that art.. the Hawks in shadow are really cool, too. This is one of the few times I'm glad I have the Showcase.. the shadows in purple are not nearly as cool. Plot: B (mostly for the art) History: C (2nd Shadow Thief) |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 12, 2017 22:40:37 GMT -5
Hawkman #5 'Steal, Shadow, Steal' Back on Xarapion (the dimension where the shadows are from), we find Carl Burgos has captured the inventor of the dimensiometer .... Carl Burgos, the Marvel writer/artist who created the Human Torch among many other strips he drew in a very long comic book career, was also appearing in a Hawkman story? Interesting |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 13, 2017 7:24:10 GMT -5
That's certainly and interesting brain fart on my part! I'll go ahead and fix that  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 13, 2017 16:49:09 GMT -5
That's certainly and interesting brain fart on my part! I'll go ahead and fix that Damn, I was hoping Hawkman would fight the dastardly Alex Schomburg in the next issue! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 1, 2017 9:50:30 GMT -5
Hawkman #6 'The World where evolution went wild' So, The Hawks are about to make a trip up to their space ship, when they find some crooks get away from a police chase, so they go after them.. only to be turned into Cave people as the enter the room! The turn back when they tumble out of it after a quick fight, and catch the crooks. An investigation leads them to a space warp and another planet. Where they find Tiger People and flying Gorillas. Really, I don't need to say anything else... if Hawkman and Hawkgirl vs. Flying Gorillas doesn't tempt you, you'll never like a Silver Age comic, ever. Oh, then there's some silver age science, a damsel in distress... day saved! But.. did I mention Flying Gorillas? Fantastic stuff  Story: A Art: A History: D (I'm sure we never hear about these people again) 
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 1, 2017 17:15:48 GMT -5
Hawkman #6 History: D (I'm sure we never hear about these people again) Actually, the Illorians return in Hawkman #16. Cei-U! I summon the foreshadowing! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 1, 2017 21:10:33 GMT -5
really? A random space alien that comes back? That's crazy! that means I'm going to have to get the next volume at some point then I took a quick look.. apparently (even though it was supposedly resolved) we do, indeed have flying Gorillas again in the issue Cei-U mentioned... might have to just pick that one up! |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 3, 2017 21:33:59 GMT -5
Hawkman #6 History: D (I'm sure we never hear about these people again) Actually, the Illorians return in Hawkman #16. Cei-U! I summon the foreshadowing! Managed to find #16 for just $2.99 on ebay.. so it's should be heading my wait in the next day or two... I'm thinking I'll have to go out of order and read it right away |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2017 14:43:12 GMT -5
wildfire2099It was DC Comics attempt to give Hawkman a Gorilla Grodd with Wings in Hawkman #8. I was laughing when I saw this cover at my LCS store 20 years ago and almost brought it and after reading your review - I wished I did.
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Post by Farrar on Apr 4, 2017 15:06:05 GMT -5
Hawkman #6 I love those old Murphy Anderson Hawkman covers--the composition, the bodies, the textures, details--just masterful. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 4, 2017 15:22:23 GMT -5
wildfire2099 It was DC Comics attempt to give Hawkman a Gorilla Grodd with Wings in Hawkman #8. I was laughing when I saw this cover at my LCS store 20 years ago and almost brought it and after reading your review - I wished I did. I was definitely thinking that when I was reading it, but then they were 'cured' at the end of the issue. I'm very excited that they come back it makes perfect sense, since Grodd is so popular. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 29, 2017 7:33:39 GMT -5
Talk about embracing the Go-Go Checks.... Hawkman #16  Best cover caption ever! Plot: The Hawks are winging it back from Australia, and they find a city right out of of REH in the outback.. .and then they're attacked by 6 flying gorillas! Apparently, there's a 'natural portal' to Illoral, and this bad guy kept them to try to overthrow his queen. He thinks the portal is a god, and 'sacrifices' Hawkman to it. Back in Illoral, they people there are having trouble with Moth Men, who apparently enslaved them back in the day and our back for more. But, you know, they're Moths, so Carter builds a bunch of open flames and they fly into them (no lie!) In exchange for his help, he gets the radiation thingamig to turn the gorillas back.  Not much of a story, but great art (it was especially nice to see Murphy Anderson in color!). Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a 3rd return of the Illoralians or the flying gorillas, but at least we got a sequel! |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 29, 2017 11:19:59 GMT -5
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