I know I flipped through the first issue on the spinner rack because of the guest-stars, but after that Dazzler was completely off my radar. I must've had to flip past it when I looked through everything, but looking at some of the covers they didn't seem familiar at all. And up until this issue, they were fairly straightforward super-hero numbers, just with a female lead. I wonder if I would've noticed, or appreciated, this one: from 1983, Dazzler #27, "Fugitive!" Story and art by Frank Springer, inks by Vince Colletta, cover by Bill Sienkiewicz.
This was the first of nine issues Sienkiewicz did covers for, although he did return to ink Paul Chadwick's cover for her final issue. And it's a gorgeous cover, even if it has nothing to do with the interior: Alison Blaire, Dazzler, is incognito in a black wig and on the run with her half-sister, Lois London. Lois was also a mutant, and had accidentally killed a mugger with her melty-hands power; now Alison was "'accessory after the fact,' or is it 'aiding and abetting'? Whatever..." She thinks back on the villains she had faced in her book's run, and the friends she had made, particularly Warren Worthington III, the Angel. But, on the bus to California, she gets an unpleasant surprise when she asks a hooded passenger the time: it's her old foe, Rogue!
Dazzler finds a boom-box, to generate enough sound for her powers, but Rogue smashes it; then steals Lois's power, and melts Dazzler's face! Terrified, perhaps dying, Dazzler channels a the sound from passing truck's horn into a light-blast, knocking out Rogue...and blinding the driver, who goes off a cliff! Luckily, this was just a dream, although Alison does the cliché wake-up scream on the bus, which would probably be embarrassing if she wasn't scrambling for a mirror to make sure she was "...all right! Alive! Pretty!" She wouldn't know, but Rogue was currently in Westchester: this issue was the same month as Uncanny X-Men #171! When much later they were both on the team, it took a long time for Dazzler to accept Rogue; she may have even held this one against her.
At a motel, Alison tells Lois they may have to return and "face the law," but they're interrupted by a knock on the door: someone left a note, with photos of Lois's mugging. Lois freaks out a bit, since that may have meant they were being watched even then, but Alison calls the blackmailer's number, and instead of being hit up for money, they're given a job: murder! Alison plays along, but makes another phone call hoping to reach some back-up.
In a rich neighborhood, Alison and Lois are supposed to kill someone in bed, then rob the joint; but when Alison calls out for Warren the blackmailer appears, dressed like a taller version of the Penguin. (The coloring and stripes match! Also, Alison recognized his voice.) The Angel swoops in through an open window, and is promptly shot; while Alison finds a TV and turns it on full blast: since this is the second time she's done this in this issue, I suspect this was not unlike the Sub-Mariner always having to find water to turn the tide of his fights. Zapping the blackmailer, she then tends to Angel; while Lois looks at the drugged man they were supposed to kill, and they know each other...somehow, it's not gone into here!
The above page bothers me a little, but is pretty typical comic book fight scene shenanigans: Angel would have to be moving at a pretty good clip just to stay airborne; he couldn't hover like a hummingbird. No one should have time to say more than "FFF--!" if that long, before he would have smashed into the blackmailer. I'm also not sure he could just swoop through that window. In the same vein, the bus is drawn as roomier than an aircraft carrier; but that was a dream sequence.
The letters page mentions Dazzler had gone bi-monthly, because it was a special book and needed the extra time. I'm not sure if I buy that...maybe for the covers, though.
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