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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 29, 2017 16:30:03 GMT -5
That's a flying KING KONG.. not just a gorilla! Strange Adventures has some pretty crazy looking covers... is it any good?
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 29, 2017 17:00:14 GMT -5
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 29, 2017 20:45:40 GMT -5
That's a pretty cool blog.. thanks for the link  |
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 29, 2017 21:21:24 GMT -5
I probably do need to give Strange Adventures a looksee at some point, love me some "kitschy yet intriguing" sci-fi, something that Silver Age GL has yet to fully deliver on |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 1, 2017 22:13:59 GMT -5
Detective Comics #240 'Hero Maker' Miller/Certa Pat Brady is retiring after 40 years, on the force, and he's sad he's never made headlines... with a little Martian help, he does! John tries to set up a 2nd big arrest in the afternoon, (stopping some safe crackers) but their blow torch ends up next to him and he passes out. Luckily, Brady's a smart old fart, so he gets the guys on his own. Best retirement day ever!  We get the entire gamut of 'Martian Powers' on this one... 'space lightning' from his eyes, super breath, and increasing gravity 'a thousand fold' by force of will. Oh, and teleportation and the usual intangibility and super strength. Whew! He was a real handful today! Also, for the 2nd issue in a row they do a final page gag with candles on a cake... so good it's gotta be used twice! The art felt really rushed, too... there were a few panels that just looked weird.. I wonder if that and the excessive Martian powers are connected? Detective Comics #241 'Impossible Manhunt' Miller/Certa Every business in town with the name 'Jones' is getting firebombed.. so the chief give John Jones the case. It's some guy named Smith who hates Joneses...LOL. He's a little worried, of course, but he buts his name on an art museum (where did he get an art museum? Why did someone volunteer? Not important, I guess), and proceeds to try to fire proof the place. He fails, as Smith substitutes gas for the foam in the fire extinguishers. Somehow, even though last issue the pilot light of a blow torch rendered him unconscious for 3 hours, John this time is able to use Martian vision to melt the skylight of the art museum while standing next to a raging inferno, which somehow lets some rain in and puts of the fire. John determines the next target with be the Jones Maritime museun, and he gets there just in time.. the bad guy isn't a Smith at all, just a disgruntled ex-employee with a brilliant creative mind. John figures out he put the bomb for this one in John Paul Jones' ship, and saves the day. The End! They were actually clever in getting our factoid in for this one... with the maritime museum giving them a chance to tell us that the Ranger was John Paul Jones' ship. They also have the Merrimac and the Constitution. A little odd to have the Constitution and a Confederate ship there, but whatever. More documentation that the city is a port town, too... not only is there a Maritime Museum, but the bomb gets tossed of a pier. While the Smith-Jones thing was pretty funny, both were pretty forgetable one offs that are in an unfortunate place between being a detective story and a superhero one. |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2017 11:55:26 GMT -5
wildfire2099Nice write up on Detective Comics #240 and it was one of the best (in humble sense of the word) stories that I read in Detective Comics. I just love the way it went.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 2, 2017 16:24:39 GMT -5
wildfire2099 Nice write up on Detective Comics #240 and it was one of the best (in humble sense of the word) stories that I read in Detective Comics. I just love the way it went. I agree.. the randomness of J'onn's powers is annoying sometimes, but in that one it all worked to tell a good story, and that's the main point |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 9, 2017 8:54:55 GMT -5
Detective Comics #242 Miller/Certa 'The Thirty Fathom Sleuth' Best I just skipped this one... the first part, (3 pages) is pretty much a separate story, John gets into a high speed chase with a safe cracker, and a gas truck driver becomes 'unnerved' and crashes next to a chemical plat. John handcuffs the bad guy (while invisible in Martian form) then crawls through the sewer under the fire to open a sand chute and get it put out before it blows up. It's not clear if the 2nd part is related or not.. I think it's supposed to be, as the bad guys dump evidence in the ocean, John, thinking there's no fire there, volunteers to get it. He of course can breate underwater as a Martian power, though why not wearing a diving helmet is such a big plus I don't quite get. Anyway, the bad guys are there with, you got it, underwater torches, to try to destroy the evidence box. Never mind if the bad guy just burned the evidence in the first place instead of tossing it in the ocean he would have been all set. Turns out Phophorscent fish trigger the fire weakness, and that's a problem too. J'onn tries a Martian breath whirlpool, turning into a giant Martian Ray (which looks alot like an Earth Ray) and swimming by really fast, and fails. It's only when he runs into a boat and knocks himself unconscious when the bad guys are so shocked to see him without a helmet that the shut the torches off, which instantly revives J'onn so he can get them. The End! Definitely up there with the worst of the stories, which is too bad, since it seems like a good idea. More evidence the city is coastal, btw. Detective Comics #243 Miller/Certa 'The Criminal from Outer Space' Once Upon a Time, Martian scientists made a super indestructible robot to serve then, but then accidently loaded its brain with the thought patterns of a master criminal (which just happened to be lying around the lab). Thus, Tor was born. After an epic criminal rampage, the J'onn J'onzz was able to trick Tor into a rocket, which they crashed into an abandoned planet, stranding Tor for all time, or, apparently until Solar Dust gummed up his circuits. With 24 hours to 'live' Tor figures out how to possess an Earth mobster and give make him indestructible from afar to take revenge on J'onn! After several failed attempts, Tor decides to go to the newspaper and reveal J'onn as a Martian. With just a few minutes left, J'onn sets fire to a stack of newspapers, which weakens him AND the mobster, since being posessed by a Martian robot clearly makes you weak in the face of fire, and time runs out just in time. The end! This one made litle sense, but was fun in the Campy Silver Age sorta way. Seems like someone should have used Tor again, but no sign of it that I could find.  Detective Comics #244 Miller/Certa 'The Four Stunts of Doom' John drives out to Hollywood for vacation (evidence of the city being on the west coast?) to visit a producer friend, and ends up doing stunts in the movie... which is, of course a fire fighting movie. J'onn uses a variety of Martian powers to set up the stunts so they still happen after he passes out do to the fire, and he saves his friend's movie.. very weird one, and we get some new powers.. one J'onn focuses on an empty gas can to make it magnetic... another he uses 'Martian Rays' to harden sand around himself to make a duplicate, and finally, he 'focuses on the sun' so that he can hook up a solar conductor to his legs and pedal a bike after he goes unconscious.. whew! That's some crazy Silver Age science! Detective Comics #245 Miller/Certa 'The Phantom Fire Alarms' One of the mobster's in town finds out John's secret, so the mob goes through a bunch of trickery to convince our hero he's immune to fire! The crooks do a brilliant job of it, so much so they get John to go to a fireworks display, and get him to chase one of them right next to a flaming pinwheel. They're all set to finish him off, when a last gasp of Martian breath wrecks the plan. John gets the crooks and explains how silly they were to think he was a Martian. The End! The crooks were great in this one, until they gave up really easily. They readily believed John was a Martian and weak in the face of fire, but then when a freak gust of wind ruined their plan, they just said, 'nah, that's silly' and gave up? Not alot of logic there, but it was a fun story before that, and what else are they gonna do plot wise to keep the status quo? |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 11, 2017 9:21:35 GMT -5
OK, so I decided it was time to leave the Showcases for a bit and get some color, so over to Omnibus' I'm also going to try to be a little more regular format wise, I'm lazy often kinda lazy about that. Flash #110  'Challenge of the Weather Wizard' Broome/Infantino/Anderson Plot: Barry's been on time to dates 11 times in a row, and promised Iris he'd be on time a dozen after the last escapade (another sign DC is picturing the comics in real time). Of course, something comes up.. in this case, weird weather in the downtown area. He finds a guy in a green costume making his own rain storm, who immediately shoots a lightning bolt at him. Flash dodges, and tries to do his vaccuum tornado trick, but the Weather Wizard makes a bunch of fog and escapes. In his wake is a US marshal that give us his origin story, which gives Barry a clue at his next stop. Turns out, before he got his weather stick, the Weather Wizard was a small time crook that was arrested before and he was getting revenge on the cops that did it. Barry goes out to the cop's house, where he finds a glacier.. he melts it with a torch the diverts the water, before quickly taking out the Weather Wizard. Back in town, he races to his date with Iris, just on time, but forgets to change out of his costume! Oops! Notes: - The Weather Wizard is really, really thin.. kinda reminds me of a 70s rock star wih the hair and the collar on the costume and such.  - The Silver Age science went a little weird again... Barry melts an Glacier at least 50 feet tall and hundeds of feet long with a hand held acetylene Torch... sure, it's hot, but really... -- Ignoring that, the Glacier and the flood afterwards are some really cool panels -- He has whatever weather he can think of, and missed with a lightning bolt earlier.. the best the Weather Wizard can do this time is toss a cloud at Barry? Yeah, he 'hardened' it first (Silver Age science!) but that's just silly. -- Be interesting to see if Iris forgets about this one, or it becomes a thing.. seems early for her to know his identity. Story: B (A for Art, C for Plot) History: B (First Weather Wizard) 'Meet Kid Flash' Broome/Infantino/Giella Plot: Iris brings her Nephew Wally West over for a visit to meet the Flash. When Barry obliges, he takes him to the police lab, where a lightning bolt hits his chemical set up.. again.. and douses him! Barry immediately tests him for super speed, and sure enough.. Kid Flash is born. Barry apparently happened to have a kid-sized version of his ring-loaded costume at hand, so he gives it to Wally, and tells him to practice. Wally does so by helping the zoo out when some animals break out.. before Barry gets there... a sidekick is born! He doesn't quite tell Iris when she gets home.. almost, though. Notes: -- Awww.. little Wally is adorable!! I'm thinking he's meant to be about 11? (DCs wiki says 10.. FWIW)  -- More evidence of DC in real time (Barry says he's been the Flash for 'more than two years'... though it's been close to 3 since Showcase #4). That would make Wally 15-16 when the Titans start, which seems just about right. - Broome obviously when to the same school of hipster language Haney did.. that was a little painful... but I can try to think of it as 'endearing'. -- I was all ready to mock the Silver Age-ness of having the same origin story, but the way it's drawn, it looks like it happened on purpose, almost like that weird story with Mopee could make sense, or that the later stuff with Waid and the Speed Force sorta choosing Wally totally could work... pretty neat!  Story B+ (really digging the art!) History: A+ (First Wally West!) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 12, 2017 9:34:37 GMT -5
Flash #111 'Invasion of the Cloud Creatures' Broome/Infantino/Giella  Plot: Barry takes Iris to a lecture by an old college friend.. Dr. Wiley Summers, who is convinced that cloud people from the center of the Earth are ready to invade the surface. Iris is mocking him (nicely, of course) in person after the show when the cloud people attack! After dodging some lightning bolts, Flash realizes he has no way to attack them from the ground, so he runs up a mountain and hops from cloud to cloud to get there... (like a rock on a pond, so the book says). He punches them in a 'dark spot' in the center and they explode into a rain storm. Back home, Iris has a date with Dr. Summers, who she know thinks is brilliant... uh oh! Notes: -- No impact on Barry's secret id screw up... not surprising, but it does make Iris seem more dumb than usual. -- Not sure I like the cloud creatures just getting killed without prejudice or without any discussion.. not very heroic. -- No one seems to care that there are probably more of them in the center of the Earth, either.. they trash a military base and a couple skyscrapers, and no one thinks their a threat anymore... it was only like 5 of them, what if hundreds come next time? Not good logic at all Plot: C- (extra points for the cool cloud creatures, but otherwise blah) History: D (I guess Iris' first date with someone else? Dr. Summers comes back in a couple issues) 'Challenge of the Crimson Crows' Broome/Infantino/Giella Plot: Wally wakes up in Blue Valley the next day (so much for real time) and realizes it's not a dream, he has Flash powers! After accidently using super speed to win a Basketball game, he remembers he's supposed to be doing good with his powers, in keeping with his promise to 'Mr. Flash'. He tries to keep some of his buddies out of trouble.. they have a gang called the Crimson Crows, and they're battling with a rival gang, the Golden Eagles. The 'attack' the Eagle's clubhouse, and start a fire by accident... Wally is on the scene to put it out, but no one sees him, since he was going so fast (ala Supergirl). He writes Barry a letter to tell him about it, then decides to run to Central City and deliver it himself. The End! Notes: -- Love that Wally has a Flash comic on his desk in his room. Also, some Baseball gear, though he plays basketball in the story. --Both gangs have the same 'colors' and outfits.. other than a slightly different bird logo.. and both are very reminicient of the Blackhawks.. lazy design or statement that we're all in this together? You decide! -- The leader of the Crows (and all the other kids) have buttons on their hats.. the only readable one is 'I like Ike' …. were 10 year olds more political in the 50s? Infantino just a fan? Or just a common slogan? Plot: B (nice job having a sidekick story with no undo danger to the young kid.) History: A (first solo Wally West Story) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 15, 2017 13:34:26 GMT -5
Flash #112 'Mystery of the Elongated Man' Broome/Infantino/Giella For my notes/review of the 1st few Elongated Man stories, go here.'Danger on Wheels' Plot: It's the last day of school for Kid Flash, and his pretty teacher, Linda Grant, is sad, because her fiancee/'city youth Adviser' lost the contract to build a new school, so they can't get married. Wally sees Mr. Parker getting roughed up by thugs, and they suspect it's the maker of the new 'Go-mobiles' that are all the rage, which Mr. Parker thinks are too dangerous. After that comes to a dead end, they figure out it's the company building the new school.. Wally tests the materials in the in-process building by running/using them with super speed to see how long they'd last, and finds out they're using sub-standard stuff. The thugs come back and Wally gets their guns away from them and gets the cops, who investigate and find out the construction company pulled the same scam in other towns. Wally rallies the kids in town to help build the new school so Mr. Parker can have the contract and everyone is happy. The End.  Notes: -- Not sure how Wally can possibly have a secret ID after all this.. he's narrowed himself down to the brown-eyed kids of his age in Blue Valley, and, unless he's got some sort of voice modulator, there's really no chance Mr. Parker wouldn't recognize him, but whatever, it's Silver Age DC. -- I do wonder at what they're doing in Blue Valley.. a city official is allowed not only to get a city construction contract, but use kids in town as free labor? I get what they're going for.. it's a nice, heart warming story that I'm sure the target audience ate up.. but applying just a small bit of logic and poof. -- So much for Wally being a kid and not putting himself in danger.. this time he fought 2 thugs with guns... the first time he pushed them along at speed to wear them out (not sure if that works how Mr. Broome thinks it does), then actually takes them out physically before they can shoot at him. While I do think it makes sense that even relatively light and weak 10 year old (but at superspeed) could be surprising and powerful enough to disarm a couple guys, I feel like someone should have told him afterward not to risk such things. -- I did like the use of his powers to simulate wear and tear. Again, it probably shouldn't really work that way, but it was a clever idea and a good use of the power without putting 10 year old Wally in a ridiculously dangerous situation. -- Apparently these are it for Wally for a few issues.. the next issue box says 'write us if you want more Kid Flash' . With the production time, it makes sense... the can run a couple Elongated Man stories while they get feedback on Wally, then either try something new or go back to him while they get feedback on Ralph. Plot: B- (both were good reads, but lose points for logic) History: B- (2nd Wally West) |
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Post by Prince Hal on May 15, 2017 16:04:05 GMT -5
wildfire2099, I love that note about the "I Like Ike" button. I wouldn't say kids were particularly political, but it was a common slogan, that's for sure! It may ahve been an affectionate farewell to Ike, who was approaching his final year in office in December 1959. Nice reviews!
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 15, 2017 16:24:43 GMT -5
wildfire2099 , I love that note about the "I Like Ike" button. I wouldn't say kids were particularly political, but it was a common slogan, that's for sure! It may ahve been an affectionate farewell to Ike, who was approaching his final year in office in December 1959. Nice reviews! That would make sense... it did strike me as a bit odd... pre-teen kids with hats covered in buttons seemed odd to me to begin with, TBH. Though, OTOH, my teenager likes buttons and has a bunch on her back pack, and that's certainly a thing today, so maybe it's not so odd. |
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Post by Rob Allen on May 15, 2017 16:46:06 GMT -5
wildfire2099 , I love that note about the "I Like Ike" button. I wouldn't say kids were particularly political, but it was a common slogan, that's for sure! It may ahve been an affectionate farewell to Ike, who was approaching his final year in office in December 1959. Nice reviews! That would make sense... it did strike me as a bit odd... pre-teen kids with hats covered in buttons seemed odd to me to begin with, TBH. Though, OTOH, my teenager likes buttons and has a bunch on her back pack, and that's certainly a thing today, so maybe it's not so odd. It was fairly common for kids to decorate their Whoopee Cap (that's the real name of the kind of hat Jughead wears). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap mentions this: "In A. E. Hotchner's Memoir, especially King of the Hill, he refers to it as a 'feltie'. He made it from his father's old fedora, decorated it with buttons he collects and puts it on whenever he leaves the house." |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 15, 2017 18:17:59 GMT -5
Cool! I didn't make that connection... gotta love the little bits of cultural history you get from reading old comics.
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