I remember a house ad for this, wonder if it's in the issue?

This was a 68-pager, and while I don't think it was the first in this format, it was part of multiple revamps for the title. From 1979, Adventure Comics #463, cover by José Luis García-López.

The opener, "Urtumi the Image Eater" is an oddball one for the Flash, as returning from Earth-2 he's attacked by a bizarre creature, which had been released when archeologists removed a Native American tablet. (Story by Cary Bates, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Joe Giella.) "Mind over Murder!" is a bit more substantial, as Deadman tries to use a somewhat-unhinged scientist's invention, to create a new body for himself. It doesn't work, and Boston continues to get irritated by Rama Kushna, who tells him that would never have worked, and he should be grateful for what he has, because he might have it for eternity...I think Rama was trying to be encouraging, not threatening, but Boston doesn't really see it that way. (Written by Len Wein, pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Frank Chiaramonte.)

"The Night of the Soul Thief" opens with the Justice Society on the trail of Batman's true killer, and both Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne are unmasked, as their secret identities had been exposed in the wake of Batman's death. The team fights assorted elementals, before being taken before one Fredric Vaux, a sorcerer plotting to end the current age of heroes, so the ongoing conflict of Order vs. Chaos could get back on track, with Chaos victorious and him ruling earth in its name. Vaux had wanted to erase even the memory of the heroes, but too many people in Gotham City remember Batman for that to go away easily. Helena is furious that her father died for nothing, a pawn in a larger game; but on losing Vaux is discarded by Chaos and seemingly done. Doctor Fate then uses what was left of his spell, to convince Earth-2 that Batman and Bruce Wayne had both died, but had been separate men, saving Robin and Huntress's identities. (Written by Paul Levitz, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Dave Hunt.)

"Climax" is an Aquaman story, and I may need to take a moment to see if he (or Flash or Wonder Woman, for that matter) had his own title at the time: I feel like I've read several Aquaman stories in Adventure. This month, it's Aquaman vs. Aqualad, Mera, Vulko, most of Atlantis, and capitalism! Universal Food Products had entered into a manufacturing partnership with Atlantis, which everyone thought would be good for everyone; except for Aquaman, who had discovered UFP's generators were heating the sea to unlivable levels, while their fertilizers were going to deplete Atlantis's farmland. Or farm-waters; I'm not sure how it works. Arthur wasn't currently the king, and everyone seems to think he's just being stubborn; but come on: the UFP guys had a boat commander in a very Nazi-style uniform, with a friggin' monocle. Pretty sure they're the bad guys, man. Aquaman exposes them, but admits to his friends he didn't blame them, since he didn't have any proof backing him up. Feels like a trust exercise they failed, though. Also, is it my imagination, or despite having less rep Aqualad threw down with his mentor more often than Robin or Speedy did with theirs? Yeah, Robin would've been a good soldier at the time; but I guess Speedy and Ollie probably rough-housed all the time. ("Put down the needle, Roy!" "Make me!" "Put down the chili, Ollie!" "Make me!") (Written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Joe Giella.)

Bees. My god. It's Wonder Woman vs. "The Insanity Swarm!" Intelligent bees attack the Houston space center, leaving those stung as mindless and comatose. It's old JLA baddie the Queen Bee, who, when wrapped up in Diana's magic lasso, explains she had taken their minds, but even the lasso couldn't force her to give them back: she had set the self-destruct to prevent even her doing so. But, if Wonder Woman became her slave, then maybe...(Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Frank McLaughlin.) 

 This was around DC Implosion time, wasn't it? But, there is a US Postal Service Statement of Ownership this issue: total paid circulation, single issue nearest to filing date, 91,693. As usual, those would be blockbuster numbers today, but I don't think were amazing for the time, maybe even for a bimonthly book. Still, this didn't have a copy of the house ad promoting it; not because it would've been redundant, but this book was no ads at the time! I'll add said ad the next time I stumble across it.

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Huh, I'd already fallen off by this point?

From 1988, Action Comics #603, cover by Kyle Baker. 

I know I tried the first two issues of DC experiment with weekly comics, but I can't recall: was it available in newsstands, or direct-market only? At a glance, the covers didn't have barcodes. Well, I just asked on BlueSky, we'll see if anybody knows! So, this was the third issue of the weekly experiment, thus it's the third chapter of everything.

This was post-Green Lantern Corps #224, a last issue I've never blogged, because I. HATE. It.. Hal Jordan was one of a very, very few GL's left; and his teammate and friend, Katma Tui, had been killed by Star Sapphire, who had been Carol Ferris, but Carol didn't seem to be home right then. Sapphire wanted revenge for the loss of her subjects, the Zamorans, who had left the universe with the Guardians of the Universe in GL #200, an issue I love! Hal manages to disable her, by snapping the ring setting of her gem; which is like using the Force to turn your opponent's lightsaber off mid-fight; then by punching her a bit. Hal moves to summarily execute Sapphire, but his ring won't do it--either because a lack of will, like he really didn't want to kill her; or something else--but after the cops show up, Sapphire zaps everyone, and now passes sentence on Hal...I haven't read all of this run, and Peter David would take over for a bit shortly, while Priest would have a couple Green Lantern Specials later; all of which seemed to have interesting ideas or moments, but maybe didn't entirely work for me. (Art by Gil Kane.)

Secret Six was an interesting idea: six injured specialists are given mechanical aides, uniforms, and gear, to serve as a Mission: Impossible-style vigilante team. Their benefactor, Mockingbird, was masked and unknown; and might not have been revealed until just before the serial ended, and isn't connected to the later team of villains. (Written by Martin Pasko, art by Dan Spiegle.) Then, in the Yucatan, Deadman tries to deal with the ghost Mayan Talaoc, the Central Intelligence Agency, and a stockpile of weird alien anti-ghost weapons. (Story by Mike Baron, pencils by Dan Jurgens, inks by Tony DeZuniga.)

Superman had only a token presence in Action for this run, a two-pager reminiscent of classic newspaper strips. I think the rationale was, Supes had two other books, right? (Written by Roger Stern, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by John Beatty.) Wild Dog was next, and possibly a bigger draw at the time than the rest; coming off a pretty successful mini-series. So, of course we don't get to see him today; as a pro-censorship/anti-porn group blows up a book store in Jack's neighborhood. I don't think I'd seen Wild Dog without his mask often, and without it he seems like an amiable goof; which might be a good cover for a hardass killer. (Written by Max Collins, art by Terry Beatty.) 

Finally, a plot-heavy installment of Blackhawk, as Ms. Hastings--who's pretty likely CIA herself--approaches Janos with an offer, to go after gold lost by the Japanese post-WW II, that probably fell into the hands of druglord Red Dragon. I think Blackhawk might've been the first Action serial to get spun off to a new title, but it only lasted 16 issues? Huh, I thought it ran longer. (Written by Mike Grell, pencils by Rick Burchett, inks by Pablo Marcos.)

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"The End" Week: Challengers of the Unknown #87!

I wasn't going to break my usual title formatting, but this would've been the one to do it, since "12 Million Years to Twilight!" is a heck of a title. From 1978, Challengers of the Unknown #87, written by Carla and Gerry Conway, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by John Celardo. 

We saw the previous issue recently: most of the Challengers were in the future, along with Swamp Thing, Deadman, and a currently hypnotized Rip Hunter. The local evil head honchos, the Sunset Lords, were dumping their genetic mistake monsters in the past, and fighting local rebel Lucas Lawspeaker, who was a telepath that could 'see' Deadman. He advises the ghost to help the Challs, who make an escape attempt before they can be "re-programmed" like Rip had been. Swarmed by mutant guards, Swamp Thing tells the others to fight on, sacrificing himself to give them time...

Meanwhile, in the past, in the best team book tradition, quit team member Red Ryan un-quits, returning to Challenger Mountain as the injured Prof. Haley, in an exo-suit, still fights a bunch of monsters. They squeak out a win, while the Swamp Thing faces the Sunset Lords' cyborg Persauder, beating it.

Lucas Lawspeaker's rebels then attack, while in the past Red and Prof. are able to contact the JLA (and apparently the Demon and Lightray, just because!) to fight off the time-monsters. Beaten, the Sunset Lords are about to blow up the city, but are stopped by Rip Hunter, who breaks free from their mind-control thanks to Deadman. 

With the future now in good hands, everyone heads home in Rip Hunter's time sphere--and then apparently goes their own way, since this was the last issue. We don't see them break-up or say goodbye or anything. Aw, I don't know if the Swamp Thing ever gets to hang out with anybody like that anymore. Deadman either, I suppose. Lucky reader Andy Proctor had just come up with a new title for the book's letters' column, Address: Unknown, too; but it wasn't entirely: the Challengers would appear again in 1982's Adventure Comics #493.(I kind of liked that serial, although I don't know if there's anywhere to get it other than the digests. One episode begins, with one of the team a little irritated after a recent attempt on his life, while the other guys are reading, watching TV, balancing their checkbook...)

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Read "Is This the Future?" in the same tone as Killmonger in Black Panther, "Is this your king?"

I've said this a million times over the years, that DC has so many great characters that I love to death...that absolutely could not carry their own title in a wheelbarrow. So, putting a bunch of those guys, in one book? Love it, love everything about it! Let's see how well it's executed, in today's book: from 1978, Challengers of the Unknown #86, "The War at Time's End" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by John Celardo. 

Mysterious boxes are releasing monsters, like a violent Bizarro Pokémon, and in Challenger Mountain, the injured Prof. Haley manages to fight one off, but is then trapped in an airlock by five more. That gives him to recap the last few issues: Red Ryan had quit the team, after fighting with Rocky Davis over 'honorary' Challenger, June Robbins. (Urg, 'honorary.' June wasn't an original member and was a woman, but her treatment seems pretty Stone Age even for the time!) The team then investigates the first mystery box in Canada, accompanied by Swamp Thing (!) and unknown to them, Deadman: after fighting the monster, the Prof. had discovered the box was from the future. The far future; like the year Twelve Million A.D.! For a consult, the Challs go to visit Rip Hunter: they don't find him, but his time sphere returns, with the skeleton of someone from the future. The team takes the sphere to investigate, and the Prof. realizes the monitoring equipment was in the next room...with the monsters!

The Challengers and Swamp Thing, in the future, are confronted by an obviously controlled Rip Hunter and future "sub-men." Deadman possesses one, to give the others time to escape, but they catch a beating at the hands of the "Persuader," which was more robot than human, so Deadman couldn't take it over. The big cheese, "Sunset Lord," thinks the new prisoners could be useful in crushing rebel "Lucas Lawspeaker," so Deadman starts looking there. Back in the past, the Prof. uses an exo-suit to fight the monsters, while Red Ryan faces another box in mid-Metropolis, by turning a mini-cam into a laser! (He was the team's electronics expert, but that still seems iffy.) In the future, Deadman had pieced together the backstory: people were created "in somethin' called a gene vat, like some kinda human yeast." The Sunset Lords had inadvertently created a batch of monsters, and the arrival of Rip Hunter gave them a means of getting rid of them, by dumping them into the past. Deadman then checks out the slum "Black Alley," and meets Lucas Lawspeaker, who surprisingly, can read his mind! To be continued...

Part of the reason I do this blog is to shore up my memory; since I'm virtually positive I have the last few issues of this series somewhere, yet it didn't ring a bell when I read this! I'm glad I picked it up at that toy show, then. This was pretty early Giffen art, so it might not be the style you're familiar with: this was a couple years before his Legion run.

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As often the case around here, things have been on blog-o-pilot for the last week or so: I've been out, and it's the brief stretch where it's really hot locally. Maybe this comic will make things seem cool by comparison! From 2008, Reign in Hell #4, featuring "Counterstrike!" Written by Keith Giffen, pencls by Tom Derenick, inks by Bill Sienkiewicz; and "Half Measures" Written by Keith Giffen, pencils by Justiniano, inks by Walden Wong.

No opening recap here, as war in Hell continues, with the Demon and Blue Devil smacking each other around. That's...kind of good on Danny, for going toe-to-toe with Etrigan; but on the other hand, remember when he used to be fun? Two lower-level devils cut out as the fighting gets too close, as that could maybe release something worse...Elsewhere, Dr. Fate visits, I think that's Lady Blaze? about the ongoing Neron problem, but may have said too much and gets attacked by her she-devils. Zauriel meets with part of the Shadowpact, regarding a resistance in Hell, which may also involve Zatanna.

Back on earth, the Etrigan-less Jason Blood is hitting the spell books, trying to find a way to keep the Demon from ever being bound to him again. Good luck with that! But he's visited by Deadman, who warns of Ruma Kushna losing balance: all "infernal" things had been purged from earth, but that was driving her insane. Boston advises, an intervention. Finally, the Etrigan/Blue Devil brawl hits "deep detention," something it took all of Hell to imprison in a "runespout," which of course they then fall into. After a massive explosion, a familiar figure emerges from the smoke...none other than the main man himself, Lobo! The next issue box praised the "frag-tastic" return of the "real" Lobo; what, was there a fake? I was thinking of the later New 52 version, but that was years away.

The second feature continues Dr. Occult and Yellow Peri's journey deeper into Hell, in search of Occult's "soulmate" Rose. They appear to be coming up on a weird techy part of Hell, but not much to that one.

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Gosh, that's good; almost like he'd been drawing Deadman for ever...wait a minute!

I've read more than a bit of Deadman comics, including the 1986 limited also by today's artist; but hadn't read any of this particular series. From 2002, Deadman #6, "Love & Death" Written by Steve Vance, pencils by José Luis García-López, inks by Joe Rubinstein.

The cover and the splash page are almost the same scene; Deadman floating over the city and making out with a pretty girl: the cover has Boston's traditional white mask, while the interior he's removed it to show his rarely-seen human face. (Many later artists and continuity treat Deadman as how one comic magazine described Kelley Jones's version, "dead, man.") He's working the case of Irene's murder, but is worried that he isn't working it very hard, since the assumption is when her murderer was brought to justice, her spirit would leave this world--and him alone again. Deadman's been trailing Irene's cop friend Mike, trying to work the clues of the "post-it killer" with him; but it's been tough sledding since his eight killings each had different methods.

Boston manages to unclinch from Irene to go 'interview' the other victims, but no other ghosts are to be found. Still, Mike tells a reporter that off the record, they were "real close" to breaking the case. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I feel like you've already got enough to guess! In the end, Irene goes on to the next world, but Deadman knows she'll go somewhere good. 

This was a short series, only running nine issues; but there's some more García-López art and a couple Mike Mignola covers. I liked this one, it might be worth it to keep an eye out for the rest.

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"The End" Week: DC Super-Stars #18!

The joke has been made before, but they are probably more than a few people legitimately afraid the clock is going to roll over to 13 o'clock or December 32 tonight. Maybe the Phantom Stranger and Deadman can help! From 1978, DC Super-Stars #18, written by Martin Pasko and Gerry Conway, pencils by Romeo Tanghal, inks by Dick Giordano and Bob Layton.

Phrasing, Deadman! I know nobody can hear you, but come on. 

This wasn't set on New Year's, but Halloween: another one set during the annual costume parade at Rutland, Vermont. The festivities may be dampened by the kidnapping of a local girl, but they get an extra hour to party! As the gargoyles create a 13th hour to open the gates of hell, which honestly seems almost inevitable at this point. Rama Kushna puts Deadman on the case, but his powers may be limited: he's still able to fly and possess people, but is no longer an intangible ghost, which would hamper his search for the gargoyles' lair. He does get there, but only after some had already hatched: a search party, that had been looking for the girl, gets torn up by the gargoyles. Deadman becomes intangible again before he can grab the girl, so he tries to possess one of the searchers--who had already been mortally wounded, and dies after Deadman enters him!

Deadman is barely able to move his corpse-host, but manages to get it into position that the demon Qabal thinks he is the sacrifice, and feeds on it instead of the girl. Qabal enjoys it at first, but then realizes it was a trick with no life for him, and seemingly dissipates. Free to possess the girl, Deadman frees her with his gymnastic skill, then gets a torch to a convenient natural gas source, blowing up the cave and the gargoyle eggs. The girl is returned to her family, while Rama explains the 13th hour business disturbed the dimensional alignment or whatever, making Deadman exist in two planes at one, but that wouldn't happen again. Neither of them seem to realize, Qabal still lives.

Elsewhere in Rutland, 'ghostbreaker' Dr. Terrance Thirteen and his wife Marie have arrived late; although the Phantom Stranger arrived ahead of them and suggests they consider themselves lucky. Dr. Thirteen isn't having it, since he had long before lost any patience for the Stranger's schtick. Marie tries to make apologies for him, but the Stranger warns her to leave that place, or her husband could get involved in something that could lead to his death. Of course, he also promptly disappears without explaining any of that. The Stranger may have a good reason for a change, as he is then confronted by a mysterious woman, who had plans for Qabal, and would not let "her love" interfere!

Dr. Thirteen had a meeting scheduled with some "disreputable folks," namely Tom Fagan, Gerry and Carla Conway, Marty Pasko, Paul Levitz, and Romeo Tanghal! They had seen weird crap in Rutland before, but don't agree with Thirteen that the Stranger was behind it. They are interrupted by a local cop, warning Tom of doings up at his place: lightning striking his house, and the Stranger seemingly hanging in midair somehow! Thirteen doesn't believe in any of this, so charges in headlong, even as the Stranger warns him. Tom is dismayed to find his house transformed inside, but perhaps it's not his house: the hypnotic Quinton Abel greets them, and asks them to join him for a drink. Thirteen realizes the drink is blood, then notices a dark mirror, showing the truth of Qabal! With Fagan and the cop hypnotized, the Stranger tells Thirteen it's up to him to act: he may have meant to show Qabal the mirror, not smash it over his head, but that works too. Qabal dissolves again; as the cop and Fagan return to normal (with Fagan again dismayed, this time that the lightning destroyed his house!) and Thirteen tries to convince himself this was just a hallucination, a lightning induced nightmare.

Deadman returns to Rutland, and isn't pleased to see the Stranger, apparently having a beef with him from an earlier issue. (Per the footnotes, Phantom Stranger #41, the last issue of that series.) The Stranger calms him down since he knows Rama Kushna had just sent Deadman back there, and while Qabal was gone, they had a greater threat: "Tala! Queen of darkness, mistress of the macabre!" Neat; I remember her from episodes of Justice League Unlimited, but I'm not sure I've ever read a comic with her. Dr. Thirteen had inadvertently freed her, and she had clashed with the Stranger many times since. She had built up more power, and had planned on sending Qabal to torment the earth, then offer herself as earth's savior in exchange for eternal worship. Still, it's a much-too-quick fight, with Tala unable to comprehend how she isn't winning: with Deadman giving his strength to the Stranger, they were able to imprison Tala again. Deadman splits, creeped out by the Stranger, but both their battles would continue...here and there. We mentioned before, this was another casualty of the DC Implosion, but it was by no means the last time we'd see of either of them.

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"The End" Week: Action Comics Weekly #642!

This issue kinda-sorta barely counts as a last issue, but I'd been looking forward to it, so we'll go ahead even though it was a bit disappointing: from 1989, Action Comics Weekly #642, "Where There's a Will..." Written by Elliot S. Maggin, art by Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Jim Aparo, Curt Swan, and more.

You can read a bit more about the Action Comics Weekly experiment here, but while the sales weren't terrible (though they may have been down) producing the book was apparently a nightmare. The various anthology features may not have fit together tonally, or not been structured to make good use of the weekly format, or been hamstrung by creative team changes. On that note, this particular issue was supposed to be written by Neil Gaiman; but his script was turned down by editorial, since they felt at that point in continuity (post-Crisis, shortly after Byrne's run) Superman and Green Lantern would not have been close or known each other's secret identities. Even though reading the final product, I thought they did anyway, or at least Clark knew Hal's.

When Abin Sur crashed on earth, his first choice for his replacement was Clark Kent, but per Guardian bylaws the new Green Lantern had to be a native. (Like many Guardian rules, this may have never come up before or since.) Seeing the other candidates, Clark suggests Hal Jordan, since he had interviewed the prospective astronaut earlier. (Pre-Crisis, Clark had met Hal at least twice before he became Green Lantern!)

In the present, Hal is tracking the theft of fissionable material, but seems cranky and off his game. He also seems indecisive, and easily snowed by a crooked major; although that may have been to set up a Casablanca homage; but he then gets shot and left to die. His ring scans the earth for replacements, and while some are brave ordinary men, it also grabs Nightwing, Guy Gardner, Clark Kent, and Deadman in the body of a criminal. (Guy had his own ring, but wasn't wearing it right that second, as he was challenging a gun-runner to take a shot at him with it!) The ring brings them all, frozen in time, to Hal to pick; but the ghostly Deadman and Clark at super-speed are able to talk to Hal. (Clark plays it off as "...for some reason," but Deadman knows who he is.)

Deadman suggests Hal bow out gracefully, pick a replacement, and check out the afterlife, it's fun! Don't get stuck fighting for ever like he did. Clark takes the opposite position: don't choose a successor, fight for as much life as possible, because there's so much left to see. While Deadman and Clark argue, a power ring projection of Abin Sur visits Hal like the Ghost of Christmas Past, and tells Hal his self-doubt is his impurity, like the yellow weakness of the power rings; and he can either overcome it, or let someone else have a go. Hal returns to his body, seemingly none the worse for wear, and returns the replacement candidates to their lives, all with a "residual charge" of green power that takes care of their immediate problems when they get back. Hal then wraps up the crooked major, and Deadman and Clark close out the series arguing, with Deadman seemingly giving the title back to Superman.

This was an interesting idea, maybe not quite as executed as it could've been; but there is some fun art in there. The question of what it met to be without fear had been an ongoing one in Green Lantern's ACW serial, but I don't think we quite got the answer here.
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Today we've got another title I keep picking up in the cheap bins, even though I'm nowhere near a full set. I don't think, anyway. From 1988, Action Comics Weekly #604, with stories by James (Priest) Owsley, Max Collins, Martin Pasko, Mike Baron, and more; and art by Rick Burchett, Gil Kane, Terry Beatty, Dan Spiegle and more.

Five serialized stories and a two-page Superman strip this issue, starting with Green Lantern, as former GL John Stewart testifies before Congress. Recently, Star Sapphire had forced an F-16 down and wrecked a couple buildings in Central City; Congress was investigating Green Lantern's involvement. Which, John points out, wasn't him, he didn't even have a ring at the time: they mean "the white guy," the missing Hal. With his identity not a secret, his testimony is going OK, until Hal's ring suddenly appears for him, and Carol Ferris--a.k.a. Star Sapphire--arrives to testify against him! John makes a bubble around Carol's head, while ranting about how dangerous she was; and she suffocates. Sapphire had recently killed John's wife Katma, and John worries his anger may have made him a killer, and flees. Back at Hal's apartment, John gets the power battery, but Sapphire brings the building down around him, killing a little girl. John confronts her in the morgue, where she remained, faking her death to further torment and incriminate him. Sapphire had wanted revenge for losing her subjects, the Zamorans, who had left this reality with the Guardians; John calls her a stand-in, Sapphire says he should know. Unable to get past Katma's death, John no longer blames Hal, and orders the ring to return to him (which would be a mean feat, if he was dead) and is subsequently arrested. A dark eight pages!

Also this issue: terrorists from the Legion of Morality blow up a comic shop, in Wild Dog! The Secret Six pull off a scam to get a confession from a manufacturer--who appears to be a bratty kid--who caused acid rain to sell siding? Deadman is captured by the federal government! And a ton of sexism in a post-WWII Blackhawk story! Action Comics Weekly would only run from #601 to #642, not even a full year, but I still have a long way to go.
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Today: Nightwing clears the benches.

I've seen lots of stories where the hero can't find anyone else for back-up, like the Fantastic Four or Avengers being out of town. I've seen fewer where the hero has to get rid of everyone. Like today's book! From 2008, the Brave and the Bold #15, "Wings and Arrows" Written by Mark Waid, art by Scott Kolins.

Nightwing is described as "next to Superman, Dick Grayson is the one guy alive that every other crimefighter trusts." So when he claims Trigon is going to invade earth, he's able to get the Justice League, Titans, Outsiders, and Justice Society in position to counter-attack. Too bad it's a lie.

Nightwing keeps Hawkman in reserve, but he also has Deadman, who explains the situation: the dragon-priest Siva Anuttara invaded Nanda Parbat, captured Deadman's boss Rama Kushna, and created "an army of body-haunting ghost assassins," who can take over people like Deadman can, except when they do it they kill their host. Deadman and Green Arrow failed to stop Annutara, but GA was able to put an arrow in Deadman and throw him off a cliff. This wasn't as stupid a plan as you'd think: while he comes back to life in Nanda Parbat, he returned to his ghostly self outside, and went to Batman for help. With Bats undercover, Deadman possesses Alfred to give Nightwing the head's up, but Nightwing realizes if he were to organize any superheroic help, they could be taken over and killed by the ghost assassins. So he lies to get all the heroes to safety; except for Hawkman, because they need his knowledge of ancient civilizations and whatnot.

Actually, Waid may need Hawkman for a specific bit later in the story, but it's fun so I'll allow it. I don't know how I missed this when it came out--I do kinda like the low-continuity, done in one or two stories better than the multipart crossover pseudo-epics. And for fifty cents, hell yeah.
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"Sleepless."

I figure Deadman's always able to ghost into different houses and catch up on whatever's on TV; but playing video games might be a little more problematic. And I don't know if I'd want to live in Constantine's body, either.

Zatanna actually pulls that spell on John in Totems, a Vertigo one-shot. At a New Year's Eve party--1999!--a visibly soused John is a little more forward than he is here; and Zatanna isn't having it. Dig it up!
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"Date of the Dove."

Oh, sure, a girl falls in love with a ghost (like Dove and Deadman) and it's "tragic" and "romantic." But a guy digs up a corpse, and it's gross...wait, it is gross. I don't know where I was going with that. And I think Dove dated the alive Deadman before he was dead for like the fifth time, but letting that go...


Y'know, an Angry Birds/Hawk & Dove skin would be a lot of fun. And I've often figured coming back from the 23rd or 30th centuries to the present has to just be gross: imagine going back to the 14th century. I guarantee it's less fun than you just pictured.

Ugh, I didn't get Booster's first balloon positioned well there. Well, too late now. Somehow, more Hawk & Dove next week!
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Rainbow connection? No, Deadman connection.

It's funny, but I figure the vast majority of Batman fans probably would name a Neal Adams or Jim Aparo (or god forbid, a Jim Lee) as the artist they most associate with Bats. And for me, it's straight-up Norm Breyfogle or today's pick: Kelley Jones. From Batman #530, "The Deadman Connection, part one: Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon." Written by Doug Moench, pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by John Beatty.

I wasn't going to do a full write-up on this issue, but I love Jones' crazy-long bat ears on Batman. It's artistic license, but the ears are longer than Batman's skull in some panels, and the cover for #530...hey! There were two covers for #530-532, since there were glow-in-the-dark versions as well, different than the others! (Presumably, direct sales had the gimmick, while newsstands got a separate, plain cover; although comic shops may have stocked both.) Let's slap that into the scanner and see how it turns out:


Hmm, not bad. My copies were in a box, so they aren't especially glowy right now, although that wouldn't show on a scan anyway.


Jones had previously done a Deadman prestige format two-issue series with Mike Baron; and I believe he was the first to draw the ghost as a dead man: instead of looking like a fit acrobat in a silly suit, Boston now looks like a desiccated corpse...in a silly suit. Batman even mentions it, although he's almost tactful about it: this issue, Moench takes a couple of liberties with Deadman. He appears as a ghost to Batman, by virtue of concentrating really hard; previously, Deadman was always invisible. Also, Deadman possesses a corpse for much of this storyline, something I don't think he's done before or since. (It doesn't matter, now that he's 'Aliveman' in Brightest Day...)

Back to Batman's ears for a second:

They're...floppy? That's something you don't see every day...
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