We saw the pastiche Captain Thunder fight Superman some time back, but today's book promises the real Captain Marvel versus a red Kryptonite-addled, murder-crazed Superman! Does it deliver? Er...from 1976, Justice League of America #137, "Crisis in Tomorrow!" Plot continuity by E. Nelson Bridwell, words by Martin Pasko, art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.
This was one of the then-annual JLA/JSA crossovers, and by this point the heroes were getting a little blasé about crossing dimensions to Earth-2, the Crime Syndicate's Earth-3, or the Marvel Family's Earth-S, as in today's book. King Kull--not the Robert E. Howard character, but a beast-man foe of Captain Marvel--took on three earths this time, which has to be biting off more than he can chew even if he did have help like the evil atomic robot...Mr. Atom. The Flashes and Green Lanterns of both earths and Ibis the Invincible throw down with Mr. Atom for most of the book, but it has unexpected backup in the form of Brainiac! Both Flashes are mostly on rescue and damage control, while Ibis does most of the heavy lifting. Hal does have lovely bone-structure, though...
Thirteen pages into this issue, the heroes of all three earths converge on the Rock of Eternity, where King Kull has captured the wizard Shazam. As Kull uses red Kryptonite to turn Superman into a crazed murderer; Johnny Thunder summons his magical Thunderbolt--by accident--to change Billy and Mary Batson and Freddie Freeman into the Marvels! Who then whup up Kull, wreck his stuff, and free the wizard in like one panel; then Captain Marvel faces Superman but snaps him out of the murderous rage, by saying Shazam! and changing back to Billy Batson. Supes saves Billy, and readers would have to wait for a proper throwdown between the heroes.
I have another JLA/JSA crossover issue lined up for later, guest-starring another batch of heroes; but we'll come to that.
Hal does have great bone structure! And such pretty hair!
ReplyDeleteUmm... what were we talking about?
Re-reading that sequence, I'm still not sure what that was supposed to do to GL. Brainiac's plan seems to be, turn Hal into a skeleton, then while he's confused, shoot him in the face.
ReplyDelete"Barium Effect?" That's ot like that nasty, milky white shit you have to drink before stomach x-rays or even worse, enema from is it?
ReplyDeleteOh God! No wonder Hal went all skin and bones....Brainiac, you sick evil bastard! lol
You definitely have a point though about those yearl team-ups. At that point, its got to be like a typical tuesday to them.
Was this the Earth 2 Superman or Earth 1 version? Because I'm pretty sure even with those magic-based powers, GA Superman could easily wipe the floor with Captain Marvel.
This was Earth-1 Supes: I don't have the previous issue, but I think as those team-ups went on, Earth-2 Supes and Bats (and WW, for that matter) showed up less and less; probably to give more page time to GA Flash, GL, and Dr. Fate.
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