Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
Posts: 3,958 
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Post by Crimebuster on Aug 13, 2014 20:22:34 GMT -5
There was a sort of crossover in Avengers #85-86 and Justice League of America #87 prior to this. I can't stand Rutland stories. They make my teeth itch. Even "The Night of the Reaper," Scott? I don't think I've read it. I'm not a big Batman guy. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 13, 2014 20:40:20 GMT -5
WE aren't, I am. Originally it was a B+, but I decided to go for broke. If loving Dick Dillin's art is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Seconded. There are more capable artists, but I can't help but love Dillin's art. It has kind of an Aparo-ish feel and that's never a bad thing. I love over this span of JLA and continue loving it pretty much up until JL Detroit. Just a difference in taste but I give Dillin a C for artwork. His pages were lackluster at best. I respect that he was a professional but if the Avengers and the JLA switched artists , maybe DC would never have been passed by in the 70's.
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 13, 2014 22:01:09 GMT -5
 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #104 On sale December 5, 1972 Written by Len Wein Penciled by Dick Dillin Inked by Dick Giordano Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Nick Cardy ROLL CALL: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Atom, Black Canary and Aquaman and now..."THE SHAGGY MAN WILL GET YOU IF YOU DON'T WATCH OUT!" Hector Hammond has been sitting in his jail cell for four years because Denny O'Neil didn't want him around. His mind wanders about the Earth and then upward to a certain satellite where a critical meeting of the JLA has just started. He's looking for Hal, but he's the only member not present. Hector scans the JLA library and uncovers a foe that the JLA failed to defeat. His mind journeys to a remote part of Chile where he awakens The Shaggy Man! (not the one from Scooby Doo, the other one ZOINKS!) Hector mentally guides the creature and reviews his history from the library. Then he sends him up to the satellite. What was the critical JLA meeting? Batman has decided the satellite needs a good cleaning. Since he's not paying Alfred overtime, the JLA will have to do it themselves. Except Hal, he's probably on a critical case watching a ballgame somewhere. Teams are decided and we're off! Aquaman and Black Canary draw the Trophy Room. Since Black Canary hasn't visited it yet, Aquaman regales her of tales of JLA cases past. Unfortunately, he never uses the word outrageous once. He notices a statue of the Shaggy Man, but then remembers they don't have a statue of him! Unable to match up physically with him they resort to the STILL WORKING weapons in the Trophy Room. The Key's radiation rifle has little effect. Aquaman finds Dr. Light's Light Wave Weapon to try to transport him to a distant planet. From his cell, Hector Hammond activates Kanjar Ro's Gamma Gong to render our heroes unconscious. Batman and the Atom are in the gym, the least used room on the satellite and therefore the dustiest. Batman decides he needs a quick workout instead. But, as he grasps the gymnastic rings, the Shaggy Man strikes! The Atom jumps in his ear canal to throw the creature off balance. The Shaggy Man slaps himself in the ear and takes him out. Batman tries his best, but the Shaggy Man puts him in a bear hug until Batman passes out. The Shaggy Man wanders off while legions of ticked off Batman fans take to the internet to complain. Green Arrow mentioned he was lucky getting paired with a feather duster and sure enough he and Hawkman are working in the life support area. The Shaggy Man roars into the room and Hawkman tries to flap his wings to blow him away, but only succeeds in changing the flight of Green Arrow's explosive arrow. The arrow takes out our heroes, the life support and, temporarily, the Shaggy Man. Unfortunately, he grows a new body and is off to conquer again. Flash is dusting the outer rim when he's attacked by a giant mop. Instead of using the Shaggy Man to dust, he hits him with thousands of ineffective punches. He runs to get furniture to trap the Shaggy Man in the hallway, but the air is running out and he falls to the floor. Hector is watching this from his cell and he's wondering what has happened too. His mind goes back to the life support room and the mechanism has been destroyed! And the satellite's orbit is decaying! AND they're out of coffee! He says, "This isn't at all what I had planned!" Really? Come on Hector, you knew what you were doing when you sent the Shaggy Man up to the JLA satellite. I say, let 'em crash! Meanwhile, Superman is getting the meteor dents out of the satellite when the Shaggy Man rips through the hull and grabs him. Superman missed out on him last time he tangled with the JLA, but has been informed about him. He strikes the Shaggy Man and the monster falls apart. Unfortunately, he reforms really quickly. As the fight continues, Superman notes that he can hear the Shaggy Man due to the air escaping from the satellite. Superman realizes now that the satellite is falling and that the Shaggy Man has taken care of everyone else. Unless he can break the deadlock and stop the Shaggy Man, the JLA is doomed! The satellite falls into downtown Metropolis where a giant green chute sends it back up into the air. Green Lantern is here to save the day! Superman continues to fight the Shaggy Man on a building while Hal takes the satellite back up into orbit and revive his team mates. The other eight join the fight, but he grabs Black Canary and starts to climb up another building. Green Lantern snatchers her away from his clutches and then tries to stop the Shaggy Man. He tries blasting him, then putting him in chains, but it doesn't work. Hector is trying to help the Shaggy Man, but trying to stop the satellite's decaying orbit has robbed him of his mental energy, just as his arch foe has entered the fray. Hal summons up a tremendous surge of willpower and shrinks the Shaggy Man into a little jar. This would later happen to the Super Friends on tv and to Green Lantern in a Hostess Fruit Pie ad. The End! JLA Mailroom: People are happy that the story will be a three parter, but one person thinks Len Wein's dialogue is too "nutty." This is Hector Hammond's first appearance in four years and it will be another four years until we see him again since Green Lantern has been relegated to backups in Flash. The Shaggy Man hadn't appeared in six years. The next time we see him will be in JLA #186 in 1980. Story: B- The Shaggy Man parts were quite solid, but I was a little iffy on Hector. Art: A- Giordano rarely disappoints and is in fine form here. Cover: B Pretty good one, this is one where Nick needed more space. Historical Importance: C+ All the Hector Hammond and Shaggy Man you're going to get for a while Up next... a new member joins! |
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 13, 2014 22:29:53 GMT -5
Seconded. There are more capable artists, but I can't help but love Dillin's art. It has kind of an Aparo-ish feel and that's never a bad thing. I love over this span of JLA and continue loving it pretty much up until JL Detroit. Just a difference in taste but I give Dillin a C for artwork. His pages were lackluster at best. I respect that he was a professional but if the Avengers and the JLA switched artists , maybe DC would never have been passed by in the 70's. It would have taken far more than that for DC to stay ahead of Marvel. I don't think people were wanting to read Avengers in 1973 because of the Don Heck and Bob Brown art. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 13, 2014 22:36:13 GMT -5
If DC had John Buscema on the JLA title, it would be regarded higher.
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Post by hondobrode on Aug 13, 2014 23:18:04 GMT -5
I know it's not for everyone, but I really like Dillin's JLA.
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 13, 2014 23:23:57 GMT -5
If DC had John Buscema on the JLA title, it would be regarded higher. I don't think it would have made much of a difference commercially. You would need Neal Adams for that and he was occupied elsewhere. Here comes the galactic sized difference in taste, I like Dick Dillin's art as much as I like John Buscema's. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 14, 2014 6:24:31 GMT -5
If DC had John Buscema on the JLA title, it would be regarded higher. I don't think it would have made much of a difference commercially. You would need Neal Adams for that and he was occupied elsewhere. Here comes the galactic sized difference in taste, I like Dick Dillin's art as much as I like John Buscema's. I respect his steadiness. He lasted over 100 issues and only stopped when he passed away. But he could never get me to buy a book. But I consider Don Heck to be THE Avengers artists when I was younger, so to each his own. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2014 13:05:17 GMT -5
I find the comparisons of Dillin and Heck a bit amusing, as to me they were the same mold of artist: solid, professional artists whose super-hero work I always found a bit dull-no innovative layouts, no dynamic action, just rather pedestrian stuff that told the story with no bells and whistles. You never lost the train of the story with their stuff, and never scratched your head trying to figure out who the characters were, but nothing they did made you sit up and take notice and go wow!
-M
PS to add both of their best work was outside the super-hero genre too.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Aug 14, 2014 13:12:27 GMT -5
I find the comparisons of Dillin and Heck a bit amusing, as to me they were the same mold of artist: solid, professional artists whose super-hero work I always found a bit dull-no innovative layouts, no dynamic action, just rather pedestrian stuff that told the story with no bells and whistles. You never lost the train of the story with their stuff, and never scratched your head trying to figure out who the characters were, but nothing they did made you sit up and take notice and go wow! -M PS to add both of their best work was outside the super-hero genre too. 100% agreement to this, although I haven't seen very much of Dillin's Blackhawk, and I'm not sure what other non-superhero stuff he did. I generally think that most older artists didn't do their best work on team books, anyway. All that time drawing people took away from designing cool lay-outs and stuff - and they were generally considered a pain-in-the-ass assignment because of this. Which meant that the artists weren't super enthused about doing them, which lowered the quality of their work even more. |
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 14, 2014 17:11:40 GMT -5
When I started reading the mainstream DC superhero books (circa 1974), that was also the era when I was getting really good at recognizing different artists' styles. When I bought new comics, I'd open them up to an inside page and just look at the art to see if I could tell who drew and inked it. The two artists that took me the longest time to distinguish were Dick Dillin and Irv Novick. They were two of the better practitioners of the DC house style.
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 14, 2014 21:28:45 GMT -5
One historical note before we leave 1972 behind.
In November our long national nightmare ended when Wonder Woman returned to her classic costume and superhero powers in #204.
Due to a memory loss, she doesn't feel fit enough to rejoin the team. She undergoes twelve labors with the JLA as guest stars for most of 1974 and 1975. She won't rejoin the team permanently until Justice League of America #128.
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fred2
Junior Member
Posts: 78
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Post by fred2 on Aug 14, 2014 21:55:15 GMT -5
If DC had John Buscema on the JLA title, it would be regarded higher. I don't think it would have made much of a difference commercially. You would need Neal Adams for that and he was occupied elsewhere. Here comes the galactic sized difference in taste, I like Dick Dillin's art as much as I like John Buscema's. I also like buscema and dillin. |
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 14, 2014 23:15:43 GMT -5
 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #105 On sale February 1, 1973 Written by Len Wein Penciled by Dick Dillin Inked by Dick Giordano Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Dick Giordano ROLL CALL: Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary and (at long last) The Elongated Man! GUEST STAR: not gonna tell ya until the end and now...."SPECTER IN THE SHADOWS" (no, a misspelled Spectre is not the surprise guest star) The opening splash page shows Elongated Man's election victory. Judging by the cover, it was a 5-3 vote with Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow voting no. Ralph and Sue Dibny are visitng an art gallery when a squad of putty creatures spring from out of a water fountain. With no Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers around, it's up to the Elongated Man to save the day. Even with the help of his shoe swinging wife, Ralph is unable to stop them from stealing the painting frames and making their escape. Ralph ponders why they took the frames and not the priceless art itself, does that nose thing of his and contacts the JLA with his new signal device. Flashback to a week ago when Ralph and Sue are traveling about the countryside in their convertible. Green Lantern interrupts and takes them to the satellite. Batman informs him that since the Martian Manhunter left the team has been at less than full strength and it is high time they voted in a new member. It was high time about three years ago and didn't you guys just vote in a member a few months back. Maybe it was a dream. He's not showing up for meetings or helping to clean the satellite, so forgetting about him for now is probably for the best. Meanwhile, back in the present. Ralph reports his findings to the rest of the team and asks for their help. Black Canary gets three reports of these creatures on the Earth Monitor. They split into teams and we're off! The Atom, Flash and Green Arrow travel to a small town called Desolation. It's aptly named and seems to be somewhere in Appalachia. After an initial skirmish with the putties they retreat toward the mine. Green Arrow has an explosive arrow out again, but this time a miner slaps it away before this bow toting idiot can blow up the whole town. He charges into the mine to help the Flash and Atom and we are shown a man in a trenchcoat watching the events. Could it be the Phantom Stranger has come to help after all? With the other two fighting it out already, Ollie throws a piece of wood at a putty. The shard misses the target and punctures a mine wall, filling it with noxious gas fumes! Our heroes collapse and the putties escape. Suddenly, a gust of wind clears the air. The heroes try to stop the coal collecting putties, but they turn Ollie's net into a balloon and use Flash's wind to make their escape. Speaking of desolation, Superman and Black Canary arrive in Detroit... er Motor City. This pack of putty people are stealing tires, probably for their god, the Michelin Man. Black Canary tries to trap a putty within a set of tires, but his contorts his body and drops the tires onto the Girl Gladiator. She falls on a conveyor belt and is heading for an "impressive" fate. Superman is bowling over some of the putties until they start flinging empty cars at him. Suddenly, a gust of wind blows Black Canary to safety. We see the trenchcoat and hat garbed man again, did the Martian Manhunter use his Martian breath again to save the day? Superman collects the putties into a garbage disposal but they just drain out and make their escape. Superman doesn't want to tear apart the place looking through all the lead pipes, but at least the tires are safe. Green Lantern and Elongated Mann arrive on the California coast to see the putties trying to steal barrels of oil. We're still eight months away from the Oil Crisis of 1973, but the putties want to stock up now. Hal can't hit the putties directly since they're yellow, so he just smacks them with some oil drums. Ralph coils around one of them and plunges into the sea. Green Lantern waits for him to resurface, but he doesn't. Hal jumps in the ocean and is caught in golden seaweed that begins to choke him. He is saved by a current that blasts apart the seaweed. With no sign of Ralph, it looks as if his first case with the JLA was his last. Again we see our mysterious man as Green Lantern flies off. It's not Mera, who could it be? The team is sad in the satellite and ponders how to tell Sue what happened. Suddenly, a JLA emergency signal is sent from the Everglades! The team arrives to see the putties surrounding a giant hive. While fighting the putties the team discovers that Ralph has disguised himself as one to learn their secrets. The hive is about to self destruct and no one hero can pierce the force field. Combining their powers, the team makes a small hole and the Atom tries to slip through. He gets trapped and Ralph has to get him out. With seconds remaining, the hive is suddenly lifted into the air by a giant tornado and explodes high in the atmosphere. Our mystery man comes out of the shadows and reveals himself, it is the Red Tornado that has been saving the day. But how? To be continued! JLA Mailroom: Two letters and both are happy The circulation statement also appears, the one for 1973 will read 187,051 so we're up over 10% Story: B- First time I read this I kept hoping it was the Martian Manhunter in a guest star role, since Red Tornado didn't join this issue. Also, can the team replace Ollie with something more useful, like a potted fern. Art: A- My favorite Elongated Man artist of all time? Dick Dillin Cover: B Hal looks a little odd to me, naturally the Flash is happy his sidekick made it Historical Importance: B Ralph joins the team and, unlike somebody else, he's actually going to make the most of it. Up next.... Another new member! |
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Post by Action Ace on Aug 15, 2014 21:32:38 GMT -5
 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #106 On sale April 3, 1973 Written by Len Wein Penciled by Dick Dillin Inked by Dick Giordano Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Nick Cardy ROLL CALL: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man and Red Tornado and now... "WOLF IN THE FOLD" We start right off with the entire JLA assembled in the satellite to learn how Red Tornado survived the end of issue #102. As far as he remembers, Red Tornado survived because the explosion tore a hole in the dimensional fabric allowing him to go from Earth Two to Earth One. A blind sculptor found him and gave him a new face. Eventually his mechanical body woke him up and he tried and failed to return to Earth Two. To thank him for his help last issue and to make up for their mistreatment of him over the years, Superman nominates him for membership in the JLA. Ollie whines that the group is becoming a refugee camp for Earth Two outcasts. However, it is unanimous and Red Tornado is a new member of the JLA. Which will make it easy for him to destroy them all! It turns out that Red Tornado has been found, repaired and controlled by his creator T.O. Morrow. His computer has recently told him that within 28 days either the JLA will cease to exist or he will! The computer further states that the JLA must be destroyed by adding a new member to its ranks. Red Tornado dropped into his lap then he used the putty men and an old Queen Bee hive to make the Red Tornado look good to the JLA. Now all he has to do is get a now freed from control Red Tornado to use his JLA Signal Device. If he uses it, the JLA dies! Meanwhile Red Tornado is out on the streets of New York City trying to make a life for himself in his human guise. Even in 1973, having no driver's license, credit cards or address won't get you very far. Some of T.O. Morrow's flunkies come by and try to star trouble in a tank. One of the devices turns his tornado power against him and just as he's about to signal for help, Green Lantern arrives to help. Green Lantern tries to blast the same machine. He does so, but gets caught in the feedback. Flash and Batman then arrive to help. Flash and Red Tornado combine forces to take out the tank while Batman stops the flunkies. And now a four page ad for Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean model sets. No Johnny Depp anywhere. Back in the satellite Red Tornado is miffed that the team showed up to help him. Flash notes that the flunkies were wearing the same outfits as those worn by T.O. Morrow's men when he first fought the JLA. Green Lantern notes how odd it is that they come around just as T.O. Morrow's creation, Red Tornado, appears on this earth. Red Tornado won't stand for the wild accusations and storms out! Batman then has matters to discuss while Red Tornado is absent. Red Tornado goes to a job agency and meets Kathy Sutton. He comes up with a name, John Smith, and lists his former occupation as free lance law officer. During the interview Kathy develops feelings for Mr. Smith and decides he needs to get a decent meal. Red Tornado also seems to be developing some feelings for Kathy, especially after she gets him an apartment and pays the first week's rent. For the next few days love grows in New York and all we're missing is Woody Allen and a camera. Kathy announces she's found John a job as a lab assistant when T.O. Morrow's men show up again in flying ships and start changing everyone into stone. Even Kathy! Prez ad! Being an android, he's immune to the ray and Red Tornado attacks Morrow's men. However, they are using image distorters and his aim is off allowing them to blast our hero. Superman arrives and grabs the bank form them, but they send Kathy's stone form hurtling toward the ground in retaliation. Fortunately, Ralph grabs her in the nick of time. Hawkman arrives and fills the sky with birds to make the villain's ships visible. After smashing the ships, the JLA takes Morrow's men into custody when their uniforms start filling the air with a gas that renders our heroes helpless. Ralph pushes the only Signal Device available, Red Tornado's, and the JLA dies! T.O. Morrow is watching all of this from his lair in the Rockies and decides to celebrate by going outside for the first time in a month. Thankfully, Mile High Comics delivers. As he opens the door the JLA is waiting for him. They discovered Red Tornado's problem circuits days ago and Green Lantern had put on a show with his power ring to fool Morrow. They take him into custody, but when the time runs out he vanishes. He ceased to exist exactly as his computer had predicted! In our epilogue, Red Tornado tells the team that he's off to discover if an android can cry....no..... if an android is vulnerable to love. The End! JLA Mailroom: Mike W. Barr is thankful the Phantom Stranger kept his pontificating to a minimum. Barr is also taking Hawkman's side against Green Arrow. He and two others liked the story in #103, but one found it an utter farce. Story: B It's not quite the Vision joining the Avengers, but that may be the best issue of Avengers ever. Avengers #113 where Vision and Scarlet Witch make their relationship public is two months away. Art: A- My favorite sequence is Red Tornado meeting Kathy, three non superheroic pages in a row. Cover: B The classic JLA lies defeated at the feet of the villain cover Historical Importance: B Red Tornado joins the JLA and he's got a pretty big role to play in the rest of the decade. At this point the JLA's membership is quite changed as is the comic line it's a part of. At the Silver Age superhero peak, the JLA consisted of eight members that had their own books and two that were in regular back up features. In early 1973 only 18 of DC's 48 titles are super heroes and that is about to shrink even further. Superman, Batman and the almost invisible Phantom Stranger have their own books. Wonder Woman has one, but she's off the team. Green Lantern is now a backup in Flash. You can find the Atom and Green Arrow (sometimes with Black Canary) in Action Comics backups. Aquaman, Elongated Man, Hawkman and Red Tornado are found very rarely or not at all outside the JLA comic. Thankfully for the superheroes, and my interest in comic books, things would be better by the middle of the decade. Up next... thanks to a bimonthly schedule it's summertime again, time for another JLA/ JSA crossover! |
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