I would absolutely read "Special Giant-Size Antimatter Crisis Party!"

Mark Waid and Barry Kitson's Legion "Threeboot" was inventive, charming, and well-executed; so of course it's been virtually forgotten by DC since it ended in 2009. I'm not sure why, although the "youth in revolt" angle was new and maybe DC wanted to backtrack from it. Still, it added another dimension to the title: if you were a minor, alien or human, fed up with society, you could become a Legionnaire. (It took powers and try-outs to join the core team and get a flight ring.) The core team had been trying to inspire the galaxy with the heroic ideal, with their own actions and the historical record, legends, and old comic books. Some of which may have been more accurate than others; like today's issue! From 2006, Legion of Super-Heroes #15, "Ancient Times" Written by Stuart Moore, pencils by Pat Olliffe, inks by John Livesay.

When the Legion's headquarters is destroyed, a group of young Legionnaires gather in the park, and wonder if their youth rebellion is over. A hooded stranger tries to encourage them, and asks to hear some of the stories that inspired them. One tells of the Legion helping out Earth 1 and 2's Green Lantern and Flash; another of a skirmish with the time-travelling Secret Society of Super-Villains, Captain Comet, and Karate Kid! The third tells of 80's Legionnaires Blok, Sensor Girl, White Witch, and Quislet; who save the Flash during the Crisis on Infinite Earths!

The hooded figure tells the kids it doesn't matter if Flash or Quislet were real, it matters that they inspire us. He then reveals himself to be...a Superboy fan. The rest of the issue is Triplicate Girl answering fan mail, with a surprising guest-star! (Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Adam De Kraker, inks by Rodney Ramos.) This was actually the last issue of the title, sort of, since it would become Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes the next month.

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When going undercover, it does help to commit to the role...

Today, one of the books on my comicon bingo card: from 1977, Secret Society of Super-Villains #10, "Triumph and Treachery" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Jack Abel. And the cover promptly fell off of this one...

Tying into the Atom's Super-Team Family story, this issue the Creeper and Star Sapphire kidnap the unstable super-powered Jean Loring. The Creeper had been mistaken for a villain, and only joined the Society to try and figure out who was giving Funky Flashman his orders, yet still helps kidnap Jean, and doesn't seem to give it a second thought later! Captain Comet tries to stop Gorilla Grodd and the Wizard from stealing another of the Sorcerer's Treasures, the Invisibility Cloak, and gets beat down. Seeing that, the Trickster decides to opt out of any more work with the Society: they play too rough! This was something this title did often, rotating villains in and out of the book. It's something that should happen more in villain-centric books, but I'm never sure if this was by accident or design here.

Comet catches up to the Society as they gather all three of the Sorcerer's Treasures; which Comet mentions had been thrown into orbit by Superman, yet drifted back to earth later, which seems weird for a cloak...While they fight, Creeper notices Funky Flashman swiping the treasures, and follows him to a bus terminal. Funky puts them in a locker, then drops the key; and the Creeper changes back to Jack Ryder and catches Funky's contact...the Wizard? In jail, the Wizard protests that he was merely a hired hand, but we saw before being arrested was part of his plan all along. Meanwhile, Funky Flashman returns to the Society's Secret Citadel, where Grodd reveals another new lineup for the Society!

With the rotating cast, it seems like it would be a lot of fun to write Secret Society of Super-Villains...I don't know if I'd use Funky Flashman, but still.
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80-Page Thursdays: Countdown Special: the Atom #2!

Hey, Ray! Find Jean Loring yet?

OK, guess not. From 2008, Countdown Special: the Atom #2, reprinting from 1977-78 Super-Team Family #13-14, "Ragnarok Night!" and "The End of the Quest!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Arvell Jones, inks by Romeo Tanghal.


The Atom quest for Jean Loring leads him back to earth, where we find Aquaman and Captain Comet (guest-starring from Secret Society of Super-Villains) are fighting planet-wide disasters caused by the Wind Pirate. (Or Pirates. Flash and Atom were fighting them in the first chapter!) Meanwhile, in Lemuria...which I thought was in the Marvel Universe...Jean Loring has been found, but hopelessly insane, her mind charged with "radiation energies" that are mingling with the Wind Pirate's machinery to make his disasters even greater.

Captain Comet uses his mental powers to project Atom into Jean's mind, then Comet and Aquaman have to fight the Wind Pirate's forces. While all three are successful, the radiation remains in Jean's mind, making it impossible to awaken her without destroying the earth! Thus necessitating the "Arrrrggh!" above.

Unfortunately, while these specials had reprinted all of the story up to now, here we miss a chapter somehow, Secret Society of Super-Villains #10! The one where the Creeper and Star Sapphire kidnap Jean Loring, and I still don't know why the Creeper's with the Society and not in SSoSV #11! Gorilla Grodd controls the Society here; a formerly mind-controlled and somewhat disgruntled Sapphire, and the animal-hating Floronic Man, who's also planning to betray Grodd.

Atom enlists the help of Wonder Woman here, after helping her stop invading alien robots. On Diana's shoulder, Atom even gets to visit Paradise Island and check out the Crystal of Knowledge; while the Floronic Man brings Jean to Grodd. The Society takes over Gorilla City, since Grodd was homesick, but it's also a good base to blackmail humanity. Or blow it up, either way. While Wonder Woman and Atom are briefly stopped, they manage to rally to defeat the Society. As they do, WW recounts an origin for Floronic Man that I think was discredited later, about him being an alien from a "plant dimension." Huh.

Stopping Grodd from using Jean to destroy humanity, the Atom also somehow drives the radiation out of Jean, curing her. And freeing her up for a February wedding, although the Atom is probably going to have to let her in on his secret identity before then.
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The Creeper's in two panels this issue, so we have time to see Captain Comet go on a date.

Well, that sounds like a losing proposition.

From 1977, Secret Society of Super-Villains #11, "A Changing of the Guard" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Vosburg, inks by Joe Orlando. I had to go back and add "SSOSV" as a tag, since I've read multiple issues of these title, even blogged about them, yet have only a vague idea what the hell is happening in any given issue. This time, that's in part because there was a Secret Society of Super-Villains Special/DC Special Series #6 and an issue of Super-Team Family since the last regular issue. (I may have the special, somewhere.)

So, I haven't the foggiest why the Creeper was with the Society, but he brought the Wizard to the police--which may or may not be a heroic act, the Society's members dicked each other over all the time like that, and it could've been a power-play. Moreover, getting arrested was actually part of the Wizard's plan, to recover his Cloak of Invisibility, Power Glove, and Magic Prism. (The district attorney that let the Wizard take them out of evidence to "explain" them should be so fired...) The Wizard next catches up with the Floronic Man, who was on the verge of finishing his formula to wipe out all animal life on earth: Wizard isn't stopping him out of heroism, or even to save his own skin, but to retake leadership of the Secret Society! With his power objects again, the Wizard was able to so by force rather than by trickery as he had before--by counterfeiting millions of dollars with his magic! Roy Thomas stand-in Funky Flashman gets the worst of that deal, and is left on skid row in Gotham...

So, I think a villain could take leadership of the Society by having a great scheme, by brute force, or by bribery. Maybe some other ways, too. But that leaves me wondering why the villains were part of the Society in the first place? All the usual reasons don't seem like good ideas when you consider how generally untrustworthy the whole lot of them were. I also don't know why Captain Comet was usually the lead for this title, or why he had a holster...he had super-telekinetic powers or something, right? So did he carry a gun, too? A ray gun, maybe? Shrug.
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I should save this for the end of the year:

I have a smattering of Secret Society of Super-Villains issues--the late seventies series from DC, that's a lot like the more modern Secret Six. Except not as edgy. Or funny. Or readable...they weren't really much of a "Secret," either, now that I think about it. I think they had a "Sinister Citadel" somewhere...oh, yeah! Way back when, we saw Sinestro try to level it, pummel Hawkman down, then get beat by Captain Comet. Why, you ask? I don't know. Funky Flashman, maybe? (Crap, I shouldn't have mentioned that name, he'll probably get a 52-reboot next...)

Today, though, we've got "The Wizard's War of the Worlds!" (Written by Bob Rozakis, art by Mike Vosburg and Bob Smith.) Back in the pre-Crisis day, hopping back and forth from Earth-1 to Earth-2 was easier than me driving across town, and the Wizard has enlisted the Society's Plant Master (or Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue) Star Sapphire (not Carol Ferris, maybe?) Blockbuster (the one that gets killed in the Suicide Squad) and Professor Zoom (aka Reverse-Flash, etc.) to fight his foes, the Justice Society. The guys are mostly down with the plan, but Sapphire's had enough and wants to go home, but can't beat Wizard.

That is kind of a weird line, there...

The Wizard's plan is pretty simple: using a mystic summons to draw a hero into a trap, they'll beat the hell out of them one at a time, then gang up on Superman and Power Girl later. Blockbuster beats down the Atom, and Zoom and Plant Master take down Dr. Mid-Nite; with Captain Comet arriving too late to see the fight. Meanwhile, back on Earth-1, the Silver Ghost (who?) hires the Society, or rather thinks he does: Mirror Master and Copperhead tell him they're the Society to get the job! It's a simple gig: Kill the Freedom Fighters!

Will the Mirror Master's "Society" be a match for Uncle Sam and his team? Are the Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite done for? Will Star Sapphire turn on the Wizard? Can the Justice Society defeat the Secret Society of Super-Villains? All these questions and more will be answered...never. SSoSV #15 was the last issue! Per the GCD, "Continuation of this story presented in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2, and summarized in the follow-up story in Justice League of America #166-168."
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A shining example of the unstoppable, never-say-die determination that's made Captain Comet a household name!


From The Secret Society of Super-Villains #12, "The Plunder Plan!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Vosburg, ins by Bob McLedd.

In Comet's defense, it is the super-villains book, and he's not the only hero having a hard time of it this month:

I don't know how strong Blockbuster's supposed to be, but strong enough Robin's not going anywhere for a while, not so strong as to outright kill him. That's one of the little oddities of the old DC universe, one that's especially obvious in books like Legion of Super-Heroes: there's the characters with pretty super strength, like Blockbuster here, or maybe Timber Wolf. Guys that could throw around a semi-truck pretty easily. Then there's super, super strength: like, duh, Superman, who could push the planet across the galaxy. And not a lot of in-between there, for some reason.

Anyway, I'm dogging it out tonight, and hope this is the weekend I get to finally see either the Simpsons or Rise of the Silver Surfer, or Rao forbid, both. Wish me luck! Read more!

At long last, Friday Night Fights!

I don't want to oversell this issue, but when the second half features Sinestro knocking over a skyscraper in San Francisco, and that isn't even the most exciting part of the comic? Hell, it's even a bit of a letdown after the first half. Although, it is a good excuse to see Hawkman on the receiving end of a beating.

Even though Sinestro is Green Lantern's villain, Hawkman sticks him on a point of order: he has monitor duty. Captain Comet and Hawkman take this one, but Hawkman doesn't make as good of a showing as he would've hoped.
Sinestro smashes Hawkman's anti-gravity belt, leaving him to fall and buying time to bail out into space. Huh, you'd think he would want to hang out and see the destruction, but Sinestro plays it smart.

Only Captain Comet can stop the building from collapsing (the narration is odd, noting Superman could stop the building from falling by "merely lifting a pinky," but the Captain has to put his back into it) and stop Sinestro, using his mightier mental powers to override Sinestro's yellow power ring. Leaving Hawkman talking out of his beak:
Hawkman's gained a lot of respect in recent years, but this story's from around the Superfriends era, when he was just a guy who flapped around.

But, like I said, this wasn't the main event for this issue, so let's skip back to the front of this issue, where Mantis begs for his life, the Black Racer arrives, and Darkseid faces the assault of the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

I don't have the previous issue, and there's no recap or reason given for this one. Suffice to say, the Society is going to take Darkseid down. They know why. Darkseid dismisses the Black Racer, as if he was a vulture, stating if he's patient there will be more victims; and sets Mantis on the Society.

Currently, the Society consists of undercover hero Captain Comet, Flash Rouges' Gallery regulars (back when that meant something) Mirror Master and Captains Cold and Boomerang, Star Sapphire (not Carol Ferris...I don't think) and another clone of Manhunter Paul Kirk. From what I can piece together, Comet and Manhunter were trying to use evil against evil, and this may be the most successful they ever were at that.

Left against Mantis, a warrior that has fought Superman to a standstill, the Rouges don't even work up a sweat. Well, they probably never sweat much with Cold around, but you see what I mean. Comet puts the finishers on Mantis, leaving Manhunter clear to make a run on Darkseid.

A suicide run.


The 'Endgame' comes on page 7 of the comic, so naturally the rest of the book is a bit of a comedown--it's why heavyweight title fights don't come before the bantamweight matches. Especially when the next few pages are devoted to thinly-veiled Stan Lee parody Funky Flashman, Comet pulling Green Lantern out of a hole he's apparently been in for issues, and Green Arrow being much more of a dick than usual.

Even putting aside that I have only the vaguest idea what's going on this issue, it's jarring to see how much of it is back in vogue in current DC comics. Sinestro has his own corps, Star Sapphire and Captain Comet have recently made appearances, Darkseid's due back in short order, and the Rouges recently had their greatest victory ever...beating to death a child in a grown-up's costume. All of a sudden, this issue seems a lot better, especially when you factor in a mere thirty cents cover price, versus various and sundry purchases of Countdown, Flash, Green Lantern, Mystery in Space, JLA, and so on, and so forth. From The Secret Society of Super Villains #5, "Endgame!" Written by Bob Rozakis, art by Rich Buckler and Vince Colletta.

And again, this one's for Always Bet on Bahlactus, home of Friday Night Fights. Bring back Milestone Mondays while you're at it! Read more!