80-Page Thursdays: DC's Saved by the Belle Reve #1!

I have zero attachment to Saved by the Bell, and I know there's a remake that maybe leans on the idea that everyone involved is a bit sociopathic. Anyway, the point is, the title for this one was a stretch: from 2022, DC's Saved by the Belle Reve #1. Cover by Juni Ba. 

 This was maybe a year after the Suicide Squad hit theaters, but in case you missed it or the reference, Belle Reve is the prison in those comics. And said Squad appears in "High School Lows," as substitute teachers, that go predictably awry: Harley as a counselor almost makes sense, but once Weasel has somehow become lunch-lady, even the Squad knows something isn't right. (Written by Tim Seeley, art by Scott Kolins.)

The opener this issue was a Gotham Academy story, which feels like burning it off? It maybe took a couple years off but had three issues earlier this year; although I'm not sure if the old cast aged out or continued: in comics, they would have the option to continue! ("Sophomore Year" Written by Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher, art by Karl Kerschl.) "Back to School" follows Damian and Jon Kent, as they help a nonbinary student with a bully: the student does attempt to reach out to him, but when the bullying continues, time to get decked. (Written by Peter J. Tomasi, art by Max Raynor.) 

There's a Green Arrow/Speedy story, where Ollie grounds Roy from the Titans, until he gets his grades back up; which feels like him being more involved in Roy's life than ever before. But, Ollie also has to listen to Batman's parenting advice, like twice: being a buddy didn't work, but neither did being a hardass. There's a bit of a happy ending, until you remember Speedy still becomes a junkie. ("Earn it Back" Written by Dave Wielgosz, art by Mike Norton.) 

Art Baltazar and Franco bring the Tiny Titans to Belle Reve in "Piece Making," then Brandon Thomas, Craig Cermak, and Black Lightning try to answer the question of why Jefferson Pierce served as Secretary of Education under President Lex Luthor. It should be inspiring but just feels infuriating, especially when Jefferson still has to brownnose Lex like the rest of the Cabinet, in a scene that feels way too familiar.

I liked "How Angels Are Made" a bit more: Jean-Paul Valley comes out of the System, at an abandoned school where he was routinely tortured and abused as part of his training from the Order of St. Dumas. Azrael activates inside of him after one incident, where Jean-Paul is then dragged off of his abuser before he can kill him; but the overseers reset him, and tell the abuser not to go easy on him next time. (Written by Dan Watters, art by Juan Ferreyra.) Finally, "A Night Off" for Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson of course is interrupted, but they still make to their prom...y'know, I don't think Dick would'a been Nightwing then, but sure. (Written by Andrew Aydin, art by Nelson Daniel.)

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I grabbed this issue at the toy show, but didn't love it at first read. Will it improve looking at it here? Well, stranger things have happened, maybe. From 1979, World's Finest #257, cover by Jim Aparo.

"The Innocent Who Hated!" is a nice title, but this one feels like Denny O'Neil trying to inject some social consciousness into a Bob Haney-type story: a refugee scientist is working in the zoo, nursing a strange lizard creature back to health, when he's accosted by some goons who want to drag him back to his old country. Batman stops them, but the guy's lizard escapes, and flies to Metropolis and takes up with Maudy. She's what used to be called a 'bag lady' and more than a bit off; but she takes to the creature, naming it 'Fred' after her brother. Fred turns out to be pretty helpful, granting Maudy the ability to alter reality; which would be great if she just wanted a house or something: first, she causes a cop to go bouncing away from her, then tries out looking like a uptown model for a bit, before getting into an argument with a construction worker about there being too many too buildings and it was too crowded. (Superman saves the cop, but misses Maudy while she looks different.) Maudy is more than a little...what used to be called, "opinionated," and after another argument with a Chinese restaurant owner decides the problem is too many foreigners, so maybe they shouldn't let anybody else into Metropolis. As the bridges collapse and tunnels block, Batman barely makes it in himself, having been told that Fred might be telepathic and then leaping to the correct conclusion.

Superman does his best to mitigate the disaster, until Maudy starts turning anyone she considers foreign to stone, including him! Batman was alright by her, so he's not affected, but is maybe freaking out a bit. Eventually, Maudy seems to decide change them all and let God sort them out, turning all of Metropolis except her, Fred, and Batman into statues! Thinking quickly, as Maudy settles down for a nap in the park, Batman breaks into a costume store, makes himself over as a George Washington statue, and gives Maudy an after-school special speech about America was all about everyone working together. Maudy changes everyone back, and Superman grabs Fred and hustles him out of there, while Batman takes the crying Maudy away for help. It kinda feels like the World's Finest team just gave the business to an old lady, but she was kind of a jerk, so...The scientist thinks Fred was too dangerous and would need to be killed, but Batman wishes he was safe and back where he came from, and Fred disappears. Presumably back where he came from, and not to nothingness: there's no reason why Batman's wish would have precedence over the scientist's, his was first! (Written by Denny O'Neil, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Frank McLaughlin.)

Denny writes the next story as well, Black Lightning in "Death Ransom!" Confronting his archfoe Tobias Whale, Black Lightning is captured; which Tobias intends to put to good use. No, not powering his house: he blackmails his former organization, the 100, to either pay twenty million, or he would turn Lightning loose with all the information he had on the 100. Savvy plan, somewhat undermined by Tobias' moll Tabby, who offers the 100 his location, for the bargain price of 500 grand! Lightning and Tobias are forced to work together to escape, then have to find Tabby and bring down the 100...to be continued! (Written by Denny O'Neil, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Bob Smith.)

"Time Keeps on Killing" brings back old Green Arrow baddie the Clock King, who's back for revenge, and it feels somewhat justified? Diagnosed with only six months to live, he had turned to crime to try and leave some money behind for his sister. She had some ailment, referred to rather insensitively by Ollie; and Clock King had been willing to sacrifice himself to keep her out of a nursing home. But, either the diagnosis had been in error or he beat the disease, and while he ended up in jail, his sister had been sent to a state home and died there. CK tries to blow up a clock tower, Green Arrow, and himself, but fails. He would be played strictly for laughs in the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League; I think they leave the dead sister out of his origin now. (Written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Jose Delbo, inks by Frank McLaughlin.)

"Attack of the In-and-Out Invaders" sounds mildly risqué, but it's Hawkman and Hawkgirl trying to help some birds affected by unexplained sonic waves, that leads to alien thieves robbing the Midway City Museum. The thieves are "in-and-out" in the sense that the Hawks can't touch them, seeming to pass through them like they were erasing them. Like a lot of their stories, the bad guy had seemingly found sophisticated alien technology, somewhere, and immediately decided to use it for robbery. (Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Romeo Tanghal.)

Finally, everyone in the world seems to be listless and tired--yeah, tell me something I don't know--as Captain Marvel faces "the Invincible Man!" (Written by E.Nelson Bridwell, pencils by Don Newton, inks by Kurt Schaffenberger.) The big green meanie explains, he was tapping directly into the soul of the universe, which made him as mighty as Captain Marvel; and "the spawn of Shazam!" couldn't cut off that power without killing everyone on earth! But, CM realizes, his foe seems to know a lot about him, which makes him think it was actually one of his old foes...and he's right! I probably would've enjoyed this story more, if the next issue blurb wasn't for "The Courtship of Captain Nazi!" I'm pretty sure he's up to no good there, but phrasing, man. I don't want to see Captain Nazi trying to get a date, I want to see the Marvels work him over with tire irons for 15 pages. Read more!

One of the cool things about the WB's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover is that--mild spoiler alert--Black Lightning has a seat at the table with...the Super Friends, or whatever their team is going to be, since I sincerely doubt they'll get to use the Justice League name. I think his series still has to act like he couldn't get Flash or Supergirl to help out in Freeland; but it's still far better treatment than this issue! From 1979, Justice League of America #173, "Testing of a Hero!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Frank McLaughlin. (I don't usually post the cover, but this was a coverless copy; so I need the reminder so I don't grab it again!)

The JLA's Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Zatanna join Green Arrow in observing a new hero: Black Lightning! While he's impressive, Flash makes a comment about accepting a "token black" on the team, and Ollie jumps down his throat. Flash explains they shouldn't take him as a token, and he wasn't sure if he agreed with Ollie's assessment of Lightning. Green Lantern defends his old friend as not being himself, since he had lost his wife fairly recently. To settle the issue, Superman suggests they test Lightning; which they set out to do...which is kind of dicked up, but nobody asked.

For his part, Black Lightning is visiting his police contact, Inspector Henderson; who mentions the Metropolis city council was considering an ordinance against vigilantes. (Henderson's a white guy here; he's black on the show.) Perhaps over-optimistically, Lightning laughs that off, since he thinks there's no way they would pass a law that would affect Superman. Still, leaving the police station, he's jumped by ape-woman Primak and the glowing Human Starburst! While he defeats them quickly, the cops give him the hassle as becoming "a target for weirdoes!" But the cops notice something about Primak and the Starburst that you may have already guessed.

While a rat-controlling villain attacks a S.T.A.R. Labs, Black Lightning is himself attacked by the ghostly Trans-Visible Man, who runs circles around him...perhaps literally. Frustrated, Lightning takes it out on his next foe, the Swashbuckler; but stops himself from killing him. Revealing himself as Green Arrow, he apologizes and explains how they tested him; with Zatanna playing against type as Primak, GL as the Human Starburst, and the Flash as the Trans-Visible Man. Although he had passed, Lightning may be less than thrilled, and declines membership, saying he had too much to do in Suicide Slum. Disappointed, the JLA wonders if they would see him again, and they would--the next issue! Then probably next on the cover of Batman and the Outsiders #1, where he would join Batman's new team with another longtime JLA holdout, Metamorpho. They'd both sign eventually.
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"(Don't) Ride the Lightning."

I posted this one on Twitter some time back, and was really hoping to see something like this in the big CW Crisis crossover. It's a good one to fill-in a day I may be out, so have fun!
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When they say "let your freak flag fly," that's not what they meant.

Actually, I kind of dig it! From 1986, Adventures of the Outsiders #33, "A Tiny, Deadly War!" Written and edited by Mike W. Barr, art by Alan Davis.

It's day one for the Outsiders without Batman, and they've got a tough one lined up: Geo-Force's homeland Markovia is under attack, by Baron Bedlam, the Masters of Disaster, and the Soviet army. Somewhat surprisingly, it's the Masters that give them the most trouble today: Windfall's air powers notice Metamorpho sneaking into camp as gas, and once he's frozen it's all downhill from there. She also has a bond with Halo: neither of them want to hurt the other, but Windfall was browbeat by her sister, New-Wave.

While the Outsiders are captured, their friend (and future member) Looker has a psychic flash, and leaves her fretting husband to come help. And bad guy the Bad Samaritan tries to investigate what Baron Bedlam's game is exactly, and learns...he's got Hitler in a tube! I doubt the Soviets are real keen on that either; so he's doubtless in for a kicking. Maybe: looking it up, it was building up to AotO #36, "Sympathy for the Fuhrer!" Um...no. Not at all.

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Last week we took a look at a Blue Devil story from Showcase '93, and although we didn't scan it at the time, it ended with the third or fourth return of BD's first villain, the devil Nebiros.

Going back through the blog, we've seen him in passing from Blue Devil #1 and Secret Origins #24; in this Showcase appearance Nebiros seems a little more bug-eyed than usual, but it keeps him from being too scary. Or completely generic, like today's book! From 2013, DC Universe Presents: Black Lightning and Blue Devil #14, "Grave Matters" Written by Marc Andreyko, pencils by Robson Rocha, inks by Oclair Albert.

This was part of the New 52 relaunch, an anthology title that had already cycled through Deadman, the Challengers of the Unknown, Kid Flash, and Vandal Savage. Revamping and pairing up Blue Devil and Black Lightning--two characters I'm not positive met before in the old continuity--their villains Nebiros and Tobias Whale were also redesigned. In Nebiros's case, the redesign is a bit too generic demon monster, less gangly weirdness and more biped beefcake. I had a hard time placing him or differentiating Nebiros from Nekron or Skeletor or such. His legs look a little more funky on the last page, though.

Black Lightning's look seems pretty traditional, while Blue Devil open-chested shirt is a bit weird. It's also a bit weird that BD kills several thugs this issue, seemingly blasting their souls right out of their bodies. Andreyko does a couple interesting things with BD's origin, though: the suit being a "demon skin suit," a legacy from Dan Cassidy's grandfather, who used mystic artifacts and creatures to make B-movies. If magic was powered by belief, making them laughingstocks drained their power. (Which might be causing Dan problems: the more success he has as Blue Devil, the more he believes, and the more powerful and uncontrollable the suit becomes...)

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The cover more than carries this one.

Not that the interior art is terrible, but it's a Brian Bolland cover, so c'mon. From 1986, The Outsiders #18, "The Firefly's Blaze of Glory" Written and edited by Mike W. Barr, art by Jerome Moore and Al Vey and Jan Duursema.

As the Outsiders practice and have a few laughs in their off-brand Danger Room (they aren't the only DC characters to have swiped one!) in L.A. a prison transport is loading, and the guards and other prisoners are also having a laugh, at the expense of one Garfield Lynns, a.k.a. Fruitfly. Er, Firefly. Although soundly mocked by all, he is able to escape from the transport with an "equalizer beam" that blended the gray of his uniform with that of the truck. At a newspaper, Firefly tries to get a classified ad to threaten the Outsiders, and is about to get bounced by security, once they stop laughing at his costume. Still, FF--that's actually on his costume, his chest logo is FF--zaps them with an illusion ray, and makes a pretty effective escape by blinding drivers with red lights.

The Outsiders aren't taking Firefly very seriously, but do want to make sure no one gets hurt. Katana deduces the clue he was trying to place in his ad, that FF was going to attack Dodger System on "Light Night," a flashlight giveaway. (Which sounds like a good way to get batteries thrown at ballplayers, but what do I know?) When Firefly sucks all the power out of the stadium, the Outsiders take him down easily, but he manages to suck the light out of Halo, including her powers! Firefly turns the tables, then escapes again; but Halo is weakened and near death.

As the rest of the team falls into a obvious trap trying to find Firefly, FF hits the Outsiders' headquarters, planning to finish Halo off and keep her powers. Still, when tricked into trying to use all Halo's powers at once, Firefly loses them: that was how Halo transformed into her civilian identity Gaby. A very protective Katana threatens to kill Firefly if Halo dies, but she recovers. Firefly gloats that he might've got beat, but he had his moment in the sun, and they can't take that away from him. Unless a telepath like Looker wipes his mind, which she does, which seems a little harsh.

We don't see this version of Firefly much after this: eventually, the Batman: the Animated Series version of a pyromaniac with a flamethrower gun and maybe jetpack wings would become the standard. Probably just as well: the light-controlling version seems interchangeable with the first Doctor Light. Both had science that should've changed the world, but instead used it to be punched in the face repeatedly by super-heroes, and both were mindwiped to forget a victory...uh-oh.
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As of right this second, Arrow is the only super-hero show I'm caught up on. (I'm watching an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, but I'm also really missing my VCR. Watching TV on the computer seems like playing solitaire: kind of a waste, when the machine could be doing other things.) And yet even though I think he's been in the credits all this season, I'm always surprised to see Malcolm Merlin. I always expect him to be killed off, because I can't see actor John Barrowman costing out forever. But it's also surprising that I have comics with Merlin, since I never thought he was hugely popular before. And a lot of Merlin's plotline in Arrow turns up in today's issue: on the outs with the League of Assassins, hunted by the daughter of R'as al Ghul, doing a little freelance work. Only the daughter is Talia, and the hero this issue is Black Lightning!

From 1977, Black Lightning #2, "Merlyn Means Murder" Created and written by Tony Isabella, art by Trevor Von Eeden and Frank Springer. BL's snitch in the crime syndicate the 100 has turned on the rookie hero, who does fine against them but not so well against the archer Merlyn. Merlyn's no longer with the League of Assassins, after failing to murder Batman, so Talia is hunting him down. (Which she probably also would've done if he had somehow murdered Batman...)

Merlyn explains to the former snitch that he's no longer needed in the 100, then offers Black Lightning a sporting five-minute head start. Black Lightning instead opts to punch Merlyn in the face right there, then goes after his former snitch; as an unseen gunman (namely, Talia) takes out the 100's men. A stray bullet wounds Merlyn, who accidentally kills the snitch. Lightning stops Talia from finishing Merlyn off, and "the magician" escapes with his jetpack. (?!) But Talia explains she shot the gunmen with an amnesia-inducing drug created by her dad; and Black Lightning seemingly realizes for the first time that being a superhero may be a bit more violent lifestyle than he had planned on.

Seriously, it's like it just occurred to him that punching people in the face and shocking criminals with an electrical-proto-taser thing may be "violent."
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