It sucks I'm never going to see the Capitol Building again without thinking of January 6.

Admittedly, I may have thought of this every time I saw it before: Anyway, today we have from 1980, Mystery in Space #111, cover by Joe Kubert.

This was a revival of the classic DC sci-fi title: the previous issue, MiS #110, had featured Ultra the Multi-Alien and was published in 1966. It still looked like they were in apocalypse mode, though: from 1979 to 1980 DC put out five big issues of Time Warp, which ran with the header "Doomsday Tales and Other Things." Time Warp #5 was on stands March 1980 and MiS #111 June 1980: vile speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if these stories were originally meant for Time Warp, then DC maybe course-corrected from the larger book to standard-size. This is a roundabout way of pointing out the stories here were maybe gloomier than usual for the title, or DC's traditional sci-fi stuff. "Final Warning!" finds an earth ambassador risking his life to get a transmission back to earth, warning of an upcoming invasion...He dies sending it, only for it to be denied unread as "postage due." I...I feel like even in 1980 they should've known that wasn't really how 'electronic mail' was going to work. (Written by Gerald Brown, art by Dan Spiegle.)

In "Viewpoints," a robot in a distant, humanless future looks back through a time viewer at a prehistoric family, and sees itself back in the past. It tries to destroy the machine so it wouldn't get sent back in time, which of course makes it happen; but the humans have something to teach him. It has some dark moments, but gets to a happy ending. (Written by Charlie Boatner, art by Marshall Rogers.)

"Sure Things" is a groaner with the last man on earth, then a sci-fi tale with Jim Aparo art: "The Singling," also written by Gerald Brown. An alien invasion has wiped out humanity, seemingly to the last man; but he's not who you'd think. Hey, the Capitol again, and the Washington Post, being about as goddamn helpful as it is today. I wouldn't even wrap fish in it!

"Once Upon a Time Machine!" is almost a palette cleanser after the rest of the issue, as a young librarian steals a time machine for his research project, into the origins of fairy tales. The beardy jerks at the Temporal Research Center laughed at him, but he wasn't taking no for an answer! But, when you observe a phenomenon you might affect it; especially if you repeatedly affect things, like causing beans to grow a giant beanstalk, or waking an ailing sleeping beauty. Still, is there really magic in those tales...? (Story by Mike W. Barr, art by Steve Ditko.) Read more!

Gee, if only Batman knew a librarian, or maybe had one on speed-dial or something...

I wasn't sure if I'd read this one before, so better pin it down now. Then, it'll go into my own god-awful filing system. from 1992, Detective Comics #343, "The Library of Souls" Written by Peter Milligan, art and letters by Jim Aparo.

This was the last issue for Milligan and Aparo; and doesn't reach the heights of "the Hungry Grass," or "The Bomb," but features another oddball crime for Batman to sort out. Bodies are being dug up and placed at odd locations around Gotham, with later corpses being found wearing nice new leather jackets, which Batman notices have little numbers sewn on. After security is tightened on cemeteries, as Batman feared, people start getting murdered. When a body is found in a library, there it clicks: the killer was a librarian. (Batman knew Barbara Gordon was a librarian, didn't he? Although, I forget if she had been one in-continuity or just on the TV show; and I don't think she was Oracle quite yet--no, she was, but maybe not for Bats yet.)

The librarian Batman consults, Ms. Holding, later remembers a former employee, Stanislaus Johns, who had what today would charitably be described as a mental health crisis after the death of this mother, believing he was hearing the voices of the dead complaining they were buried all willy-nilly, no sense of organization or structure. They should be filed, like books, with the Dewey Decimal Classification! Modified a bit, perhaps. While Batman goes to stake out where the next body would probably be placed, Holding has a flash of insight and goes to consult with Johns, although she doesn't realize until much later than she should that Johns probably was the killer! Batman gets there in time to save her, and Johns is probably still in the background in Arkham Asylum to this day. 

Not as affecting as some of Milligan/Aparo's others, but still interesting. Feel like it could have used one more draft, but Milligan was leaving the book due to his workload, so maybe not. It does feel like a throwback to an era where Batman didn't know everything, off the top of his head. Written later, Batman would've rattled off the history of the Dewey system himself: no consult with Ms. Holding, just Bats being a know-it-all.

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After Kevin Conroy passed away, a lot of people posted the death of Ace, from Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue," as one of his finest moments; as well as a character-defining scene for Batman. There's a deeply compassionate core to Batman, that's not seen as often as maybe it should be. And re-reading this issue, I wonder if it inspired that scene: from 1991, Detective Comics #638, "The Bomb" Written by Peter Milligan, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo. Cover by Scott Hampton.  

On a deeply secret military base, a group of commandos free the Bomb, later described by a military attaché to Batman as "Oppenheimer's monster on two legs." A mute genetic freak, with the ability to psychokinetically cause explosions, the attaché really tries to sell it as a monster, and there is a massive explosion at a Gotham bus station, but there are also gaping holes in his story; and Batman realizes the attaché has the one creeping him out. 

Following a string of small explosions to their hideout, Batman frees the Bomb from the commandos, who had intended to force it to explode if they didn't get their ransom: one had gone crazy, possibly as a result of spending too much time with the Bomb. She then removes her protective suit, revealing herself as a rather slight girl, who was unwilling to use her powers to harm anyone, and surprisingly understanding about the army's wish to study her. But, the army also blew up the bus station, to convince Batman that the Bomb was a menace. 

Bats manages to get the Bomb out of Gotham, but knows she was going to have to go back into containment. He promises to get her better treatment, as a person; but the Bomb requests just a morning outside, in the sun. Luring the attaché away, Batman has to fight a helicopter from his glider, but manages to take him down. Still, the pilot tells him the Bomb wasn't just locked up for their protection: she needed her suit and various drugs to protect herself, probably an immune system, Boy in the Plastic Bubble situation. Batman returns to the Bomb--Rebecca--who dies happy, at peace.

It kind of feels like 200 years since I read any, but Detective Comics was, for me, for a long time, "my" Batman book. 

I read it from Detective #589, and while the Grant/Breyfogle team was my favorite, Milligan and Aparo had some standouts there: we saw #629, "The Hungry Grass!" some time back. Although, looking at the covers, I don't recall #643, "Library of Souls!" We'll have to look into that...

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I wish I knew exactly what the Legion's sales were before and after this storyline. Of course, any readers willing to stay after this one, they were fans, damnit. Hardcore. From 1981, Legion of Super-Heroes #282, "If Answers There Be..." Plot by Roy Thomas, script by Paul Levitz, pencils by Jimmy Janes, inks by Bruce Patterson. And a Jim Aparo cover!

This was the conclusion of a storyline that had been running since at least #274, under previous writer Gerry Conway. Ultra Boy had been believed dead, then returned with amnesia under the sway of some space pirates, and was seemingly killed again. Then Reflecto appeared, saving Phantom Girl: he had previously been seen in Adventure Comics #354, as a memorial statue in the future. PG suspected something about Reflecto, that he reminded her of her beloved Ultra Boy; but he was later unmasked...as Superboy? With Ultra Boy's memory? Then the Legion went back to the 20th century to try to sort out the mystery, and end up at an A-bomb test, then get attacked by the Time Trapper, who destroys their time bubble! The Legion defeats the Trapper's robot, a returning Molecule Master, but are then captured and imprisoned by the army!

Evading capture, Phantom Girl brings Superboy and Dawnstar to her trans-dimensional world, Bgztl. After a brief fight with the forces of the "Dirigible Dictator" of her world's history (a thousand years before her time) Phantom Girl helps Dawnstar track through trans-dimensional space, to find Ultra Boy! He explains what happened to him: his invulnerability had protected him from a massive explosion, but by making him an intangible phantom, going backwards in time! Thinking maybe Superboy could help him, Ultra Boy went back to 20th century Smallville, but Supes couldn't see him either. Panicked, Ultra Boy screamed, and either through the telepathic plug the team used for communication, or some freak accident, accidentally switched bodies with Superboy. Confused, he then messed up the atomic test--which the army was still mad about--then when he got back to the 30th century, Saturn Girl's post-hypnotic suggestion keeping Superboy (from Legion #259) in the past confused things further. Now unsure if the Legion were friends or foes, Ultra Boy-in-Superboy's body created the Reflecto disguise. Superboy's still not sure what's up, but by causing a nuclear explosion, he's able to free Ultra Boy. Somehow.

Meanwhile, back in Smallville, honorary Legionnaire Lana Lang redons her Insect Queen costume to try and free the team. She doesn't get very far, but Superboy and others are able to get them out. Returning to the future, the Legion confronts the Time Trapper, and defeat him in about two-thirds of a page. Saturn Girl removes the memory of his parents' death from Superboy, leaving him free to stay on the team. (Although, I'm not sure he would much longer.) Supes also isn't sure how he'll clear his name in his own time; presidential pardon maybe? It's not important. Finally, the memorial statue of Ultra Boy is changed to Reflecto, as he and Phantom Girl opt to take a little time for themselves.


Although there's a much later story with Ultra Boy getting thrown back in time, his powers didn't and never worked like this again. I'm not sure Phantom Girl or Dawnstar's powers did, either. This wasn't a great start--possibly because the story had gone through three writers--but I thought this was the start of Paul Levitz's long stint on Legion. Well, yeah, besides all those issues of Superboy & the Legion he did. I think the Legion's sales were usually pretty good for that time, but I think they would get even stronger going forward with Keith Giffen on art.
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TFW you have to come up with a villain, good, but not so good you'll be sad when he bites it.

We saw the ghost of today's villain a couple years back, in the Ghosts crossover annuals, but today we've got his first appearance: from 1991, Detective Comics #625, "Abattoir!" Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo.

Though technically his first appearance, you could imagine Abattoir in the backgrounds of crowd shots of the lunatics at Arkham Asylum, since he had apparently been in there for some time, after killing 19 people and eating some of them. Here, he's broken out by some goons-for-hire, then seemingly on a whim decides to attack a rally for mayoral candidate Etchison. Bruce Wayne is in attendance, arriving with Vicki Vale: I don't think they were a couple at the time, and Bruce is cheerfully playing the layabout cad card.

Abattoir, seemingly forcing the goons to go along with his madness, kills Etchison's wife; but is distracted when Vale gets a photo of him: he may or may not believe photos steal your soul, but he's going with that. Batman gets shot in the chest while Abattoir chases Vale, then manages to use her as a hostage until he can escape. Later, in the Batcave, Bats realizes someone had to have paid to break-out Abattoir, and he thinks he knows who...

Working through the bribed orderly and the getaway driver, Batman tracks Abattoir down to the family mortuary, where they have a brawl in a pile of bones. It's a cool visual even if Batman doesn't really seem to break a sweat, or take him down: he dumps a coffin full of bones on Abattoir, and leaves him for the cops, one of whom looks savagely displeased at the idea of going in there...Bats then picks up the mastermind that had Abattoir freed: Etchison, who had changed his name to distance himself from his cousin; but arranged the whole thing to kill his wife before she divorced him, and make it look like the anti-crime candidate was standing up to crime. At least some of that seemed to be out of nowhere, but we're running out of pages, so...

Later, when Jean-Paul Valley was Batman, he would hesitate to save Abattoir, who fell to his death. But Abattoir had taken another family member hostage, and dead, he couldn't tell anyone where he was, so the hostage died. This was supposed to be a straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back moment, showing how unworthy Jean-Paul was of being Batman. I can't help but think Bruce would've gotten a pass on that one; but I also wonder if Abattoir was specifically created to be killed off later, or if he just fit the bill at the time.

Crap, maybe this post should've been Memorial Day, instead of Labor Day. Always think of those things too late...
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I'm not even sure this was the first update to their origin...

...but it wasn't the last, either. From 1983, Adventure Comics #495, "Yesterday's Clues!" Written by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Alex Toth, inks by Frank Giacoia.

This was the third chapter in the "Secret Origin of the Challengers of the Unknown," and they weren't a team yet, just four guys that had miraculously survived a plane crash. But the plane crash had been the result of sabotage, which goes towards explaining how ace pilot Ace Morgan plowed into a mountain. Now the trouble was, they weren't exactly sure who the sabotage was meant for. Rocky Davis had been "cleared," the previous issue: the mobsters that had tried to fix his prizefight were mad, but that wasn't their hit. Ace had previously flown a load of explosives for gold miners in Alaska, and may have rubbed a tribe of Eskimos the wrong way. Ryan had recently crossed a South American wannabe dictator, and Professor Haley had an inheritance that a cousin was gunning for; but Ryan may have figured who the target was...

Tying their new origin to a "That's Incredible" style TV show dates it terribly; but along with the sabotage, there's also a bit of an update for Rocky: the boxer might play at being a palooka, but was actually reading War and Peace while waiting here.

The rest of this digest was reprints: two Legion of Super-Heroes stories, including 1962's "The Legion of Super-Traitors!", guest-starring the Legion of Super-Pets. From 1953, Captain Marvel Adventures #141, "The Man Without a World!" which is really, really close to the Justice League episode "In Blackest Night." From 1943's Adventure Comics #84 Sandman versus the "Crime Carnival!" Possibly one of the earliest of so many crime carnivals in comics...From 1968, the Spectre #2, "Die, Spectre, Again!" This was one of several Gardner Fox/Neal Adams stories I first read as tiny reprints. And from 1969, Aquaman #44, part of a pretty solid Steve Skeates/Jim Aparo serial.

For good measure, the GCD mentions: "This comic book appears in the movie "Dreamscape" (1984) starring Dennis Quaid and Kate Capshaw. The comic book (along with Arak, Son of Thunder #17) are lying on a coffee table about 11 minutes into the film." Man, I haven't seen that movie in years...
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If Looker's action figure came with this, it would be worth the deluxe price...

I picked this issue out of the clearance bins for fifty cents, because the cover featured Jim Aparo and Eclipso, but the real draws weren't listed: from 1987, the Outsiders #18, "...Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light!" Story by Mike W. Barr, art by Jim Aparo.

The South Pacific island of Diablo...ugh...is ground zero for this issue's weirdness; namely, an eclipse that won't end. Most of earth's heroes are running relief efforts against tidal-caused disasters, but Batman and the Outsiders are on Diablo facing Eclipso and his darkness-worshiping cultists. While the heroes are no match for Eclipso, Batman is able to hold him off by threatening to kill his former host body, Bruce Gordon. Eclipso still holds all the cards, though; and plans on murdering Gordon, Batman, and the Outsiders before taking Bruce's girlfriend Mona as his bride! The high priestess of the cultists is a little put-out by that, but Eclipso couldn't care less.

In the end, after being zapped with Geo-Force's null-gravity, a Metamorpho-powered light blast, and sliced up by Katana's sword; a weakened Eclipso is trapped once again in Bruce Gordon's body. (Where I'm not sure he'd be seen again until 1992's Eclipso: the Darkness Within event. No, hold the phone: Eclipso shows up just prior to that in the last couple issues or so of the Will Payton version of Starman.) Batman tells the Outsiders they've done well for themselves...but could maybe do better back with him!

Still, that's but a prelude to the main event: "Freeway of Fun Fear!" Written by Mike W. Barr, art by Brian Bolland! In her civilian identity of model Lia Briggs, Looker is appearing on the game show Freeway of Fun; with Metamorpho and his gal Sapphire in the studio audience. But a power-up that's supposed to give her go-cart a smoke screen instead delivers an oil slick and nearly kills her, so Lia re-enters the race as Looker...with a replacement go-cart:

OK, this story's a total bit of fluff, but Barr can just sit back and let Bolland draw the hell out of it. And Metamorpho is so friggin' great, I swear. Why the New 52 didn't feature a Looker/Metamorpho Wacky Racers-type book, is just another missed opportunity.

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That's not the best head-shot I've ever seen...

I enjoy watching Arrow with my wife, even though it's slowly driving her insane the way every actor on the show seems to have decided to pronounce the "R'as" in R'as al Ghul differently. But that reminds me again, how much that show swipes from Batman and his mythology. That and the show's stars are largely responsible for its success. I actually have an episode of Gotham running while I type this, and I swear Arrow takes more inspiration from Batman than Gotham does.

Anyway, over the weekend, the Comic Book Shop had that in-store convention; and I had the chance to get a pile of cheap books. Like today's! From 1980, Brave and the Bold #159, "The Crystal Armageddon!" Written by Denny O'Neil, art by Jim Aparo. Although the League of Assassins is traditionally thought of as working for R'as, they were working for themselves this issue, and were leaning on a scientist and his brother. Professor Hatter had created a formula that turned anything it touched into crystal; seeing the potential use as a weapon, the League tried to use the professor's brother has a hostage, but he was killed trying to escape. Distraught, Hatter decides to use the formula to destroy the world, fortunately Batman and R'as have been working the case and figured that silicone halts the crystal's progression.

Since this is a one-and-done, it's not super-deep, and slightly slowed by R'as up and dying partway through and having to hit the Lazarus Pit. Still, R'as probably wasn't as well-established a villain then as he is now, so this issue may have been a nice little introduction for some.
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I was watching some episodes of Batman: the Brave and the Bold that I had inexplicably missed, when I saw the teaser before "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!" featuring the Outsiders. I've probably mentioned it before, but I like the idea of the Outsiders far more than any execution of that idea I've seen so far.

Metamorpho is the coolest, but hard to use in that setting since 99% of the problems that show up in an Outsiders comic could be taken care of in three panels. Panel one: an army of goons attacks the Outsiders! Panel two: Metamorpho turns into fluorine gas, carbon monoxide, what have you. Panel three: the Outsiders stack the "unconscious" bodies of the goons...Black Lightning is a great and woefully underused character--although, I remember seeing the promo ads for his first appearance, and I think his afro was part of his mask? Weird. I don't think I mind Katana, although DC keeps trying to make her happen and it hasn't blown up yet; but I don't have much use for Geo-Force or Halo. Looker...y'know, I think most Outsider fans like her, because Alan Davis, even if they don't like any stories with her in the last twenty years.

What I'm getting at, is that Batman may have missed an opportunity, by not giving an Outsiders spot to Nemesis. From 1981, the Brave and the Bold #170, "...If Justice be Blind!" Written by Cary Burkett, art by Jim Aparo. Nemesis had a brother that was an federal agent, who inexplicably went rogue and murdered his superior, then died in the ensuing gunfight. Seeking to clear his brother's name, Nemesis discovered that he had been brainwashed by a former Nazi scientist working for a crime boss called the Head. (Batman isn't sure the Head really exists, but Nemesis points out the Head avoided Gotham City.)

Batman gives Nemesis a bit of hassle about using guns, although Nemesis used "toxin-bullets," not unlike the non-lethal "mercy bullets" the Punisher used to use. But Batman may be more than a little jealous over another kid's toys: a silent helicopter, ultra-thin masks that can duplicate facial expressions and dissolve in an instant, a knife hidden under fake skin. (OK, maybe not so much that last one.) In the end, the heroes discover the Head earned his nom de plume by running his criminal syndicate from an iron lung. The Head makes a pretty good argument for Nemesis killing him, since he figures if he could do his job from an iron lung, he could do it from a jail cell; but ultimately one of his dying flunkies cuts the iron lung's power cord.

Nemesis has appeared here and there since (including a stretch dating Wonder Woman!) but I've always suspected Batman "borrowed" his gadgets.
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Still not scanning Cobalt Blue, but oh well.

Well, yesterday's "Strange Adventures" post was supposed to be today, but I lucked out and found a book I was thinking of after last week's Impulse post: Speed Force #1, "Burning Secrets" Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz.

The lead story is Wally narrating a flashback to his Kid Flash days, as he and Barry are having a hard time with the previously unseen Cobalt Blue. Armed with a mysterious flaming sword, Blue is somehow stealing their speed; worse, he knows who they are and their origin. As Blue monologues, Barry makes an educated guess: Blue's sword/flame can't steal their power, unless they use it. At which point, Blue fills a spare Flash costume with the flame, which chases the heroes around Central City.

As their speed is drained, Barry seems to realize something: he touches Wally, and they both regain control. Cobalt Blue is (seemingly) consumed by his own flame, and everything seems fine...except Barry is a bit freaked out. Barry never really knew what the Speed Force was (since it was a later addition to the Flash mythos, discovered by Wally) but realized there might be more to their speed than "electrified chemicals." He wonders if they're even human, and Wally, well:

Wally has no doubt in his mind.

Pretty solid, even though I'll call it a cheat for the new villain to know the hero's secret identity as a quick way to establish the villain's bad-assedness. OK, not even close to a word there, but you know what I mean. Hush and Conduit knew the hero's ID too, and look how great they turned out.


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80-Page Thursdays: Detective Comics #627!

Detective Comics #627, featuring stories from Bill Finger, Mike Friedrich, Marv Wolfman, and Alan Grant; and art by Bob Kane, Bob Brown, Jim Aparo, and Norm Breyfogle. The cover proudly proclaims it's the "Anniversary celebrating Batman's 600th Appearance in Detective Comics," the GCD notes "Mistakenly labeled 600th appearance of Batman anniversary issue. Actually 601st appearance in Detective Comics." I don't know if anyone noticed at the time...

I also don't know if I appreciated this issue when it first came out: starting with a reprint of Finger and Kane's "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" from Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27, then a reprint of a redone version from Detective #387. Then Wolfman and Aparo, and Grant and Breyfogle put their spin on it. So, it's basically the same story four times.

But, along with getting to see how it first began (and I know that was the first time I read it!) there are some interesting differences. The sixties version, for example, is the only one to feature Robin. Wolfman and Aparo's feature a more modern super villain with a more modern body count, although their Batman seems more saddened than the others, and there's a nod to the current continuity with Commissioner Gordon still recovering from his heart attack. Grant and Breyfogle play up themes they used in their Detective run: garbage, drugs, and the homeless. I didn't care for Breyfogle playing with a more Kane-modeled Bats for the denouement, but there's a spectacular "Batman busts-in" page and scattered through the story are shout-outs to dozens of past Bat-creators, like "Haney Security" or "Englehart Signs, Inc."

A good one, and I don't believe the second two versions have been reprinted to date. Since the renumbering, I don't know if it will anytime soon either, but I don't think it's overly hard to find. Get to it!
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