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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 17, 2014 10:43:30 GMT -5
Meeting MinutesAs revealed in Justice League of America #99 (June 1972), Sargon the Sorcerer is made an honorary member of the Justice League of America for his role in Starbreaker's defeat. I had completely forgotten this little tidbit. I remember a few times (before the explosion of all the super-team rosters back in the 90's) that the honorary and reserve JLAers were shown, listed, or mentioned, but the only ones I recall in those were Snapper Carr, Metamorpho, Phantom Stranger, Adam Strange, maybe Black Lightning? Was there ever another mention of Sargon's honorary membership in, say, Who's Who, or JLA 200? |
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 17, 2014 12:02:20 GMT -5
Justice League of America #102October 1972 (August 17, 1972) $.20  Cover Art: Nick Cardy “And One of Us Must Die!” 24 pages Julius Schwartz (Editor), Len Wein (Writer), Dick Dillin (Penciller), Joe Giella (Inker, Pages 1-2, 8-12, 18-24), Dick Giordano (Inker, Pages 3-7, 13-17), no lettering or coloring credits FC: Aquaman, The Atom, Batman, Black Canary, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Superman, teamed as the Justice League of America GS: Doctor Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Green Lantern, Hourman, Mr. Terrific, The Red Tornado, Robin, The Sandman, Starman, Johnny Thunder [and The Thunderbolt], Wildcat, Wonder Woman, teamed as the Justice Society of America GS: The Crimson Avenger, Green Arrow, The Shining Knight, Speedy, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, The Vigilante, teamed as the Seven Soldiers of Victory GS: The Elongated Man, Metamorpho, Wonder Woman [of Earth-One], Zatanna SC: Oracle, Wing (in flashback only) Villain: The Iron Hand Reintro: Circe Synopsis“In a place beyond places,” Oracle watches with mounting fascination the efforts of the Justice Society and Justice League to retrieve the time-lost Seven Soldiers of Victory in time to stop The Iron Hand from destroying the earth. The Earth-One Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Johnny Thunder find themselves in the American West in the era before the coming of the white man, where a plains Indian tribe is preparing to burn The Vigilante at the stake. Johnny is flabbergasted when The Thunderbolt does not respond to his summons. The three heroes nonetheless manage to free Vigilante, only to face a far more terrifying threat: a stampeding herd of bison. An apologetic Thunderbolt arrives just in time to temporarily transform the herd into harmless butterflies before returning with the others to 1972. Meanwhile in Earth-Two's prehistoric past, Aquaman, Wildcat, and the League's Green Lantern find a flu-ridden Star-Spangled Kid hiding deep inside a cave lest he spread the infection to the Cro-Magnon people of the era and thereby change history. Elsewhere in time, the final triad of JLA/JSA heroes ― The Flash of Earth-One, Zatanna, and The Red Tornado ― materialize on the Aegean isle of Aeaea, home of the sorceress Circe. The enchantress has turned Speedy into a centaur and added him to her menagerie of beast-men. After overcoming their own transformations into animal forms, the super-heroes defeat Circe and free Speedy by destroying the sorceress' magic wand. Their missions completed, the seven teams of time travelers reappear in the Justice Society's headquarters just as Robin, the Earth-Two Green Lantern, and Mr. Terrific return from the Himalayas. With all seven Soldiers of Victory accounted for, there is momentary confusion as to the occupant of the grave of the Unknown Soldier until The Crimson Avenger reveals that it was his sidekick, Wing, who gave his life to destroy The Nebula Man. The heroes have no time to process this information, for The Iron Hand himself steps out of the shadows with Diana Prince as his hostage. Even without her super-powers, Earth-One's Wonder Woman is hardly helpless. She quickly breaks the villain's grip and shatters his artificial hand. Unfortunately, in doing so, Diana has destroyed the Hand's control over the nebula energy threatening the planet. Now nothing can stop it from closing. Undeterred, the Seven Soldiers hastily recreate the “Nebula Rod,” the device they used against Nebula Man. After the weapon is charged in space, an argument breaks out among the heroes as to who will deliver it into the heart of the energy field and detonate it, a task that may well destroy the delivery man as well. The issue is resolved when The Red Tornado, believing that as an android he is more expendable than his human teammates, sneaks away with the device. Though the “Hand That Holds the World” is destroyed, no trace of the Tornado can be found. The menace ended, all that remains is to mourn the loss of Wing and The Red Tornado. Meeting MinutesAt the conclusion of this issue, The Red Tornado is seemingly destroyed. However, as seen in Justice League of America #105 (January 1973), the Tornado is actually thrown into the Earth-One universe, where he will choose to remain as a JLA member. For that reason, this index will treat Red Tornado as an Earth-One character from this point on and will no longer track his appearances outside an Earth-Two context. The Good GuysThis is the final appearance of Oracle in Silver or Bronze Age continuity. Although it was established in Justice League of America #101 that Winged Victory, The Shining Knight's flying steed, was retrieved from medieval Mongolia along with his master, the horse is not seen in this issue. The Bad GuysCirce of Earth-Two was last seen in Wonder Woman #37 (September-October 1949), though she appears here centuries before her first encounter with Wonder Woman. She should not be confused with her Earth-One doppelgänger introduced in the “Rip Hunter, Time Master” story in Showcase #21 (July-August 1959), the mortal Earth-One villainess of the same name introduced in the “Superman” story in Action Comics #243 (February 1958), or the Earth-One supporting character of the same name introduced in Batman #386 (August 1985). Fashion WatchMr. Terrific is depicted wearing a cape in one panel of this issue. Points to PonderDoctor Fate states toward the end of the issue that The Iron Hand had also created The Nebula Man many years ago, though this had not been established anywhere in the previous two issues. During the discussion as to who should detonate the Nebula Rod, Superman is eliminated from consideration because of his vulnerability to magic, while both Green Lanterns are discounted because their rings would not protect them from a “yellow wooden arrow ― a combination of both your weaknesses.” The unasked question is: why would an energy field use magic or an arrow to defend itself when at no time has it been suggested that it is either sentient or capable of any sort of defense?
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 18, 2014 8:51:43 GMT -5
Justice League of America #107September-October 1973 (June 5, 1973) $.20  Cover Art: Nick Cardy “Crisis on Earth-X!” 23 pages Julius Schwartz (Editor), Len Wein (Writer), Dick Dillin (Penciller), Dick Giordano (Inker), no lettering or colorist credits. FC: Batman, Black Canary, The Elongated Man, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, The Red Tornado, teamed as the Justice League of America GS: Doctor Fate, The Flash, Hourman, The Sandman, Starman, Superman, teamed as the Justice Society of America Intro: The Freedom Fighters Reintro: The Black Condor (Thomas Wright nee Richard Grey, Jr.) Reintro: Doll Man (Darrell Dane) Reintro: The Human Bomb (Roy Lincoln) Reintro: The Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight) Reintro: The Ray (Lanfor “Happy” Terrill, true first name revealed in Freedom Fighters #3) Reintro: Uncle Sam (Samuel, last name unknown) Intro: The Blackhawks [of Earth-X] (Blackhawk, Andre, Chop-Chop, Chuck, Hendricksen, Olaf, Stanislaus), all in flashback only; deaths reported in this story Intro: Plastic Man [of Earth-X], in flashback only; death reported in this story SynopsisThe Justice League and Justice Society prepare to test their new “transmatter cubes,” devices for teleporting from one Earth to the other. On Earth-One, The Red Tornado volunteers to take the first interdimensional trip but is turned down for fear a machine calibrated for organic life may not work on his android body. Three members of each team ― Doctor Fate, Sandman and Superman for the JSA; Batman, Elongated Man and Green Arrow for the JLA ― step into the transmatter but instead of changing places, all six super-heroes vanish. The lost sextet (plus one) rematerializes on an unfamiliar Earth. It was The Red Tornado, smuggling himself along for the ride, who caused the transmatter malfunction. Before they can catch their breaths, the heroes find themselves attacked by tanks and infantry emblazoned with Nazi insignia. With Superman on the good guys' side, the battle looks one-sided until Doctor Fate, whose magic powers do not function correctly in this reality, accidentally fells the Man of Steel. The remaining heroes fall prey to the Nazis' “cerebro-gun,” a kind of sonic cannon. Before they can be captured, they are rescued by six unfamiliar super-heroes called the Freedom Fighters by the routed Nazi troops. Later, at the Freedom Fighters' hiding place, their leader, Uncle Sam, explains that in their reality President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1944 (a year early by our standards) and the “governmental balance of power went the wrong way.” Germany developed an atom bomb at the same time America did and thus, with the nuclear powers stalemated, World War II dragged on for decades. Five years ago, Nazi scientists created a world-encompassing “mind-control ray” and now the Third Reich rules over all. After briefly summarizing the backgrounds of the individual Freedom Fighters, Uncle Sam concludes that although the FF have overcome the ray's primary effect, neither they nor anyone else on Earth is able to remember the locations of the machines generating them. Doctor Fate uses a makeshift crystal ball to divine the locations of the three ray projectors: at the peak of Mount Fujiyama, atop the Eiffel Tower, and on the face of Mount Rushmore. The heroes split up into three teams of four and depart for those locations, leaving Red Tornado behind to use Fate's crystal and act as liaison. The team of Batman, Doctor Fate, The Human Bomb, and The Ray infiltrate Paris and capture the Eiffel Tower command post. Inside, they find an enormous, sentient computer. It scans them then creates creatures out of “adaptoplasm,” each of whom is programmed to defeat a specific opponent. But that trick never works: the heroes simply trade foes. The Nazi computer then subjects the good guys to “encephalo-waves,” halting “all conscious mental activity.” Despite being entranced, the quartet manages to destroy the machine through “reflex action” and returns to normal. Meanwhile back on the homeworlds of the JLA and JSA, fear for their lost teammates continues to grow. Behind the ScenesAt no time in this issue or the next is the term “Earth-X” used other than editorially. Use of the term in the plot summary and continuity notes is for the convenience of the reader. CosmologyThis is the first appearance of Earth-X, the Nazi-dominated world of the Freedom Fighters. It should not be confused with the parallel world of the same name first seen in Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #93 (June 1966). Although the Freedom Fighters are otherwise identical to and are intended to be taken for their Golden Age counterparts published by Quality Comics, the history of Earth-X as related in this story suggests that these may not be the same characters. Doll Man's series, for example, ran well into the 1950s and featured stories that could obviously not have taken place on Earth-X. The failure of Doctor Fate's magic on Earth-X is the first significant indication that a superhuman's powers may operate differently (or not at all) if they travel to a parallel universe with different physical or magical laws. Meeting MinutesThis is the first appearance of the transmatter cubes, the interdimensional teleportation machines that allow travel between the Earths regardless of time of year. Thus, the JLA and JSA no longer need to wait for the annual alignment of the “temporal matrices” to visit each other's universe (although, as mentioned elsewhere, no such restriction existed prior to Justice League of America #82). This is the first time the six Quality super-heroes appear teamed as the Freedom Fighters. Crossovers were almost entirely absent from the Quality line, though The Black Condor and The Ray did make cameo appearances in Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 (Winter 1941). The Good GuysThe origins of the six Freedom Fighters are briefly recapped in this story. The Black Condor was last seen in his solo series in Crack Comics #31 (October 1943). Doll Man was last seen in Doll Man #47 (October 1953). The Human Bomb was last seen in his solo series in Police Comics #58 (September 1946). Because publishing rights to The Phantom Lady passed through the hands of several comics publishers after Quality dropped the character, this guide will, for simplicity's sake, regard any Phantom Lady story not published by Quality or DC as apocryphal. Therefore the Phantom Lady was last seen in her solo series in Police Comics #23 (October 1943). The Ray was last seen in his solo series in Smash Comics #40 (February 1943). He should not be confused with the Earth-One villain of the same name first and last seen in Blackhawk #144 (January 1960). Uncle Sam was last seen in his solo series in National Comics #45 (December 1944). Uncle Sam reveals that the Earth-X versions of Plastic Man and the Blackhawks, characters also originally published by Quality, were killed in the war. The Sandman's gas gun appears to be firing some sort of liquid in this story. Fashion WatchThe Black Condor wears a simplified version of his costume's boots. They are now cavalry style instead of having a “v”-shaped indentation at the shin (though this indentation does appear in a handful of panels) and are missing their white trim. Phantom Lady's ankle boots are colored blue instead of green on the cover of this issue. The Earth-Two Superman is depicted for the first time in this story with gray hair at the temples and with a slightly different chest emblem than his Earth-One counterpart. However, this distinction is indifferently enforced and he frequently slips into the Earth-One look throughout this issue and the next. Points to PonderThe JSA and JLA members responsible for designing the transmatter are not identified. Presumably, it is based on extant technology such as Jay Garrick's interdimensional matter transporter (last seen in The Flash #129), Al Pratt's dimensional vibrator (last seen in The Atom #36), and the Thanagarian transporter technology used by the Justice League, the last of which The Red Tornado has safely used. If so, it is not clear why the JLA objects to his using the device. Perhaps they feared that the Tornado's dual vibratory nature, first mentioned in Justice League of America #83, would cause exactly the kind of malfunction it did but this is not explained in the story itself.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 19, 2014 8:38:21 GMT -5
Justice League of America #108November-December 1973 (August 2, 1973) $.20  Cover Art: Nick Cardy “Thirteen Against the Earth!” 20 pages Julius Schwartz (Editor), Len Wein (Writer), Dick Dillin (Penciller), Dick Giordano (Inker), no lettering or colorist credits. FC: Batman, The Elongated Man, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, The Red Tornado, teamed as the Justice League of America GS: Doctor Fate, The Flash, The Sandman, Superman, teamed as the Justice Society of America GS: The Black Condor, Doll Man, The Human Bomb, The Phantom Lady, The Ray, Uncle Sam, teamed as the Freedom Fighters SynopsisAtop Japan's Mt. Fujiyama, a quartet of super-heroes from three Earths ― the Earth-Two Superman, Earth-One's Green Arrow, and two of the aptly-named Freedom Fighters, Doll Man and The Phantom Lady, of the Nazi-dominated world called Earth-X ― duel with the sentient computer guarding the mind-control ray projector that has given the Third Reich mastery of a planet. Learning from its counterpart's defeat in France, the merciless mechanism holds the heroes at bay by threatening to trigger an earthquake that will destroy Japan. This proves no idle threat. Superman uses his mighty super-muscles to quiet the quake while his companions destroy the computer and projector. Meanwhile, the Nazi outpost on Mount Rushmore is taken by The Black Condor, The Elongated Man, The Sandman, and Uncle Sam. Attack the computer and ray projector as they might, the super-heroes make no headway until Elongated Man deduces that they are battling an illusion. Locating the real projector inside the portrait of Adolph Hitler added to the monument by its fascist captors, Uncle Sam gleefully destroys the machine and the stone likeness of his sworn enemy. Though all three projectors have been destroyed, the citizens of Earth-X remain in thrall to the Nazi mind-control ray. Falling under its spell at last, the dimensionally displaced Justice League and Justice Society members accuse the Freedom Fighters of treachery and attack them ― all except The Red Tornado who, as an artificial lifeform, is immune to the ray's effects. While the others battle, the Tornado traces the ray to its source: the fourth, hitherto unknown mind-control station aboard a Nazi satellite orbiting the planet. Breaking in, the android is greeted by none other than the Führer himself. The Tornado angrily attacks Hitler, only to discover that the central computer ― believing that humanity could not be effectively controlled with men making the decisions ― has murdered the Third Reich hierarchy and replaced them with robotic duplicates. Unleashing his whirlwind powers, Red Tornado destroys the satellite. With the mind-control ray eliminated and the world able to think for itself again, the stranded heroes are able to use machinery salvaged from the Nazi satellite to contact their JSA and JLA teammates back home. The heroes wish the Freedom Fighters the best of luck on their efforts to rebuild their war-ravaged world. CosmologyBoth the narrator and the characters refer to Japan throughout this story as though that nation was a single island rather than an archipelago. It is possible that on Earth-X, Japan is a single island. The Good GuysThe Sandman's sleeping gas doubles as a fire extinguisher in this story. This property of the gas is never mentioned again in Silver or Bronze Age continuity. The Phantom Lady has modified her black light apparatus to absorb other kinds of energy besides visible light since her last Golden Age appearance. She wears it on the buckle of her costume's belt in this story, rather than on her wrist as in her solo series. Points to PonderThe caption on the cover asks, “Is this how World War III will be fought ― between the super-heroes of two different Earths?” The illustration depicts heroes from three different Earths.
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Post by Dr. Poison on Nov 19, 2014 11:22:51 GMT -5
What an awesome thread! I'm sorry that it took me so long to discover it. You've done an amazing job of cataloguing the Earth Two characters adventures.  |
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 20, 2014 9:04:17 GMT -5
The Brave and the Bold #110December 1973-January 1974 (September 6, 1973) $.20  Cover Art: Nick Cardy “A Very Special Spy!” 20 pages Murray Boltinoff (Editor), Bob Haney (Writer); Jim Aparo (Art and Lettering); no coloring credits. FC: Batman [of Earth-One/B] and Wildcat SynopsisThe first public test of a fuel additive, Miracle-2000, is disrupted by Peter Voss, who claims the additive is actually the invention of his late father, Dutch chemist Hans Voss, killed by a bomb during World War II. Voss informs Tryton Corporation vice-president Ted Grant and his guest, Batman, that he intends to sue the company for patent infringement. On his corporate jet en route to Tryton headquarters, Grant tells Batman he has abandoned his Wildcat identity since being hired to head the oil company's public relations division. Later, Batman meets Tryton president B. B. Sanford and researcher Bill Bradshaw, both of whom assure the Darknight Detective that Voss' allegations are groundless. His suspicions roused by Bradshaw's lab, which is improperly set up for petrochemical work, Batman seeks out Peter Voss. Voss tells him that, contrary to legend, his father had applied for a patent on his additive but that both formula and patent application were lost in the bombing. Though Peter himself had been unable to recreate the additive from his father's surviving papers, he suspects that someone else did: a former employee named L. K. Dowling, who disappeared two months before Tryton announced the discovery of Miracle-2000. Consulting a friend at the “Bureau of Industrial Espionage,” Batman learns that Dowling is actually a notorious industrial spy named Radek. The next night, Batman breaks into Tryton headquarters and finds proof that Radek is now employed by the giant oil company, plus evidence of all sorts of other criminal activity. Jumped by security guards, he is rescued by Ted Grant. Stunned by the truth about his erstwhile employers, Grant decides there is still a place for Wildcat in his life. Trailing Sanford and his head of security, a thug named Manfredi, to the company's hunting lodge, Wildcat finds them about to murder Radek to ensure his silence. The Feline Fury leaps into action, attempting to distract the others long enough for Radek to escape. His actions are in vain. Not only is Radek killed in the escape attempt but Wildcat himself is shot and left for dead. Meanwhile, Batman travels to Holland to pick through the ruins of Hans Voss' laboratory. When he notices an old man watching him intently, the Masked Manhunter follows him back to a nursing home. The man, an amnesiac patient, possesses a strange statue identical to one seen earlier in Peter Voss' office. Nursed back to health by a hermit, Ted Grant returns to Tryton three days after Radek's murder, just in time to attend the hearing for Peter Voss' patent infringement claim. Just as the judge is preparing to decide against Voss, Batman arrives with the old man from Holland in tow, a man the Caped Crusader identifies as Hans Voss. Batman explains that Voss disguised his additive formula as the little statue ― the placement and interrelationships of the holes in its body serve as a molecular model ― a disguise penetrated by the shrewd Dowling/Radek. When Grant corroborates Batman's story and accuses Sanford of killing Radek, a machine gun-wielding Manfredi bursts in and helps the disgraced executive flee. But there is no escape from Batman and Grant, who corral the fugitives after a harrowing high-speed chase. All remaining loose ends are wrapped up when the court rules in favor of the Voss family. ContinuityThis story features the Earth-One or Earth-B Wildcat. The Good GuysThis is the first appearance of this Wildcat's Cat-o-cycle. Ted Grant speaks in this issue as if he went to work for Tryton shortly after retiring from boxing. This contradicts the story published in The Brave and the Bold #88 three years earlier, in which Grant has been retired for some time. Points to PonderAt one point in the story, Miracle-2000 is described as the solution to “the world energy crisis until the year 2000... when atomic fuel will run everything!” Well, maybe on Earth-B.
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Post by Dr. Poison on Nov 20, 2014 9:07:28 GMT -5
Those Earth B characters always threw me for a loop back when I was a kid. I had just wrapped my head around Earths 1, 2, S, and X and then they threw these Earth B characters at us from time to time....
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 20, 2014 9:11:08 GMT -5
I've pretty much rejected the whole Earth-B scenario in the years since I first wrote these entries. As far as I'm concerned, all such stories take place on Earth-One and to hell with Bob Rozakis' continuity fetish.
Cei-U!
I summon the line in the sand!
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 21, 2014 9:15:15 GMT -5
And now, as promised when the subject of The Spectre came up a few weeks ago: Adventure Comics #431January-February 1974 (October 30, 1973) $.20  Cover Art: Jim Aparo, signed “The Wrath of… The Spectre” 12 pages Joe Orlando (Editor), Michael Fleisher (Writer), Russell Carley (Art Continuity), Jim Aparo (Art and Lettering), no coloring credits. FC: The Spectre SynopsisAn armored car is robbed, its guards murdered. Investigating the crime scene, Lt. Jim Corrigan finds a business card for an antique shop on the corpse of one of the thieves, shot by his own boss to keep him silent after he is wounded in the holdup. Interrogating the shop's owner, Corrigan is shot by the panicky crook, who is astonished when the uninjured policeman simply fades away. Changing into his ghostly alter-ego of The Spectre, Corrigan follows the antiques dealer long enough to learn the identities of the other members of his gang. One by one, the criminals meet grisly ends at the hands of The Spectre. The antiques dealer is tricked into driving his car off a cliff. The Spectre causes a second man to melt like wax. He saves the leader for last, tracking him to the airliner on which the felon is attempting to flee the country. Arranging it so only the crook can see him, Spectre confronts the man, who tries to ward off the Ghostly Guardian by seizing a stewardess as a hostage. The lights on the plane go out for a moment. When they come back up, The Spectre is gone and all that remains of the gangster is his gun… and his skeleton. The next day, Corrigan gets chewed out by the chief of police for not having dug up any leads in the case. ContinuityThe Spectre and Jim Corrigan featured in Adventure Comics #431-440 are not the Earth-Two versions seen in The Spectre #1-10 and various issues of The Brave and the Bold, Justice League of America, and Showcase. A number of discrepancies make this clear: ● This Spectre and Corrigan are the same unliving being; the Earth-Two versions are separate manifestations of the same personality, each capable of independent action. ● This Spectre uses his powers to viciously murder ordinary criminals (admittedly, an aspect of the character taken from the original Golden Age series); the Earth-Two version battled super-villains, sorcerers, and cosmic entities but did not take the lives of human criminals (and was, in fact, punished for doing so in The Spectre #8). ● This Spectre operates out of New York (as revealed in Adventure #435) instead of Gateway City. ● This Jim Corrigan is a police lieutenant; his Earth-Two counterpart is a captain. ● This Jim Corrigan was born in 1940 (as revealed in Adventure #440), the same year his Earth-Two doppelgänger was murdered and resurrected as The Spectre. ● No mention is made of Mona Marcy, the Justice Society, the Journal of Judgement, or any other elements of the Earth-Two Spectre's recent past. ● No explanation is given for how the Spectre survived his seeming destruction at the conclusion of Justice League of America #83. The fact that this Jim Corrigan is decades younger than his Earth-Two counterpart (just as the Earth-One Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow are younger than their Earth-Two doppelgängers) suggests this is Earth-One, though this is never unambiguously stated during the series' run. Indeed, the lack of response by the Justice League and other Earth-One heroes to Spectre's homicidal rampages — and the scene in Adventure #435 in which reporter Earl Crawford is jokingly called “Clark Kent” and asked if he is “really Superman” — suggest that this may instead be the Spectre of Earth-Prime, an alternate reality introduced in The Flash #179 (May 1968) where the super-heroes of Earths-One and -Two exist only as comic book characters. It is not until America Vs. the Justice Society #2 that it is explicitly stated that these stories are set on Earth-One, that Spectre emigrated from Earth-Two sometime after his “death” in Justice League of America #83, and that he now inhabits the body of the Earth-One Corrigan. Because this development occurs so late in the Earth-Two canon and leaves several continuity issues unresolved, all Spectre solo stories will be included in this guide as JSA apocrypha. |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 21, 2014 16:36:38 GMT -5
● This Spectre uses his powers to viciously murder ordinary criminals (admittedly, an aspect of the character taken from the original Golden Age series.) Very interesting. I wouldn't personally characterize The Spectre's actions as murderous. The ordinary criminals he dispatches are themselves remorseless killers and I find the poetic justice which they experience courtesy of The Spectre deliciously satisfying in the context of fantasy fiction. It calls to mind some of the more gruesome horror stories from EC Comics and the editorial presence of Joe Orlando certainly cements the comparison.
I understand these stories were controversial at the time, so much so that the series was abruptly cancelled. FWIW, I don't agree with that decision. If we accept that The Spectre's power derives from a divine authority (The Voice in the G.A. stories) and thus The Spectre is infallible, then I really don't see the problem. Heck, if those conditions could be met in real life, I might even be in favor of capital punishment.
In any case, I really love these Spectre stories and am delighted they exist despite not easily fitting into any sort of established continuity and being reviled by a great many people.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 21, 2014 17:46:34 GMT -5
You won't catch me reviling it. I have the whole run. If the Ostrander/Mandrake version didn't exist, Fleisher/Aparo would be my favorite interpretation of Spectre (I don't really care for the planet-tossing Fox/Anderson Ghostly Guardian). But I also see the critics' point. The sadism with which Spec carries out his mission in this series plays to that part of us that revels in the exaction of vengeance, the bloodier the better, as a lot of top-flight horror fiction does. That this undead serial killer has divine sanction, though, I suspect makes a lot of folks who believe in the loving, merciful Father of the New Testament rather than the jealous, vengeful Yahweh of the Old uncomfortable. Me? It's a comic book. I say if you don't like it, don't read it.
Cei-U!
I summon the clean drawers I'd need if I ever saw Spectre coming for me!
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 21, 2014 19:02:08 GMT -5
You won't catch me reviling it. I have the whole run. If the Ostrander/Mandrake version didn't exist, Fleisher/Aparo would be my favorite interpretation of Spectre (I don't really care for the planet-tossing Fox/Anderson Ghostly Guardian). No, of course not. I've seen your praise for this series in the past. Two quick questions, Kurt, if you don't mind: Do you have any insight as to whether it was a deliberate decision on the part of Fleisher/Aparo/Orlando to ignore continuity or was it just a happy accident? Some of the bits, like the Superman reference you mentioned and a Swamp Thing poster on the bad guy's wall seem to aggressively assert non-conformance with continuity. Has it ever been suggested that these stories take place in the same universe (or non-universe) as some of DC's anthology titles, like The Witching Hour or Weird War Tales? (Maybe I'm talking about Earth-Prime here, which you've already covered.) |
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 21, 2014 20:04:55 GMT -5
Two quick questions, Kurt, if you don't mind: Do you have any insight as to whether it was a deliberate decision on the part of Fleisher/Aparo/Orlando to ignore continuity or was it just a happy accident? Some of the bits, like the Superman reference you mentioned and a Swamp Thing poster on the bad guy's wall seem to aggressively assert non-conformance with continuity. I honestly have no idea. Maybe Orlando and Fleisher assumed they had the same carte blanche to reinvent Spectre that Julius Schwartz had in reimagining Flash, Green Lantern, Atom et al. After all, the character hadn't been overwhelmingly successful in either of his previous incarnations so they, and DC, had nothing to lose in keeping the conceptual core of the character and jettisoning the details of past continuity. Not that I've ever heard. As far as I know, the stories that ran in the horror anthologies were considered just that: stories told by the various hosts (Cain, Abel, Destiny, Eve, etc.) who were explicitly tied to Earth-One in various issues of Brave & Bold and DC Comics Presents. Cei-U! I summon Gregory! |
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Post by JKCarrier on Nov 21, 2014 23:41:39 GMT -5
Although the Freedom Fighters are otherwise identical to and are intended to be taken for their Golden Age counterparts published by Quality Comics, the history of Earth-X as related in this story suggests that these may not be the same characters. Doll Man's series, for example, ran well into the 1950s and featured stories that could obviously not have taken place on Earth-X. It gets even hairier when Roy Thomas establishes that the Freedom Fighters originally emigrated to Earth-X from Earth-2 back in the '40s. The JSA must be suffering from the same convenient amnesia that caused them to forget the Seven Soldiers. But I suppose you'll be covering that when you get around to All-Star Squadron... |
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 22, 2014 9:28:35 GMT -5
Adventure Comics #432March-April 1974 (December 27, 1973) $.20  Cover Art: Jim Aparo, signed “The Anguish of… The Spectre” 13 pages Joe Orlando (Editor), Michael Fleisher (Writer), Russell Carley (Art Continuity), Jim Aparo (Art and Lettering), no coloring credits. FC: The Spectre Intro: Gwendolyn “Gwen” Sterling SymopsisThree hooded criminals ― two men and a woman ― sneak onto the estate of wealthy Adrian Sterling and plant a bomb in his swimming pool. The next morning, Sterling is blown to bits during his morning swim. Questioning Sterling's daughter Gwen, Jim Corrigan learns that Sterling was having problems with his business partner, Maxwell Flood. Corrigan appears to Flood in the guise of Sterling's ghost but the executive denies any involvement in the murder. Afterward, however, Flood calls the beauty salon the hit men operate as a front and begs for their help. The Spectre, of course, expected this and follows the frightened embezzler. He doesn't stop the leader of the assassins from killing Flood but he does avenge his death by cutting the hairdresser in half with his own scissors. Fleeing, the other killer tries to warn his female partner, a model, but she is about to take the stage at a fashion show and can't talk. Just as Corrigan is about to arrest the man, Gwen Sterling pulls up in her car. The hit man grabs Gwen, forcing Corrigan to reveal himself as The Spectre. The horrified killer is transformed into lifeless sand. Gwen, who had harbored romantic feelings toward Corrigan despite his aloofness, is advised to forget about the detective and his spectral alter-ego. She walks away sorrowfully while Spectre wraps up the loose ends by causing the model to age and die.
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