Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities NEW GODS (etc)

Wow DC in clueless editorial mind changing shocker. The more the decades change...

A short time after the 6th issue of DARK DETECTIVE, Englehart & Rogers teamed again for part of a Marvel "westerns" event. Their contribution was a brand-new story starring THE BLACK RIDER. Englehart described with some humor, how the guy was not completely sane, as not only did HE have a secret identity, so did his horse!

It was a terrific story, that included a guest-appearance by The Ancient One (no really!!) who, like "The Ancient" on KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES, has really been around a long, long time.

Rogers actually did the coloring job as well as the art, and it looked STUNNING.

Tragically, it was shortly after it came out that hie passed away, suddenly.

In the time since, Paul Gulacy stepped forward, offering to draw the 2nd half of DARK DETECTIVE, but DC turned him down flat. Honestly...! What's wrong with those guys?

DC SPECIAL SERIES #10 (Apr'78)
cover by Jose Luiz Garcia-Lopez

"THIS LIGHT A-BORNING"
Another one I don't have, and never heard of until I ran across it by accident at the GCD. DC SPECIAL SERIES ran 27 issues in various formats, and what set it apart from most such projects in that period was, it mostly contained ALL-NEW material. Among the issues I actually picked up were those featuring SUPERMAN, THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS, WONDER WOMAN, SWAMP THING (reprints), and near the end, the adaptation of SUPERMAN II and the BATMAN-HULK crossover.

This issue featured "SECRET ORIGINS", and you can bet if Roy Thomas hadn't still been at Marvel, he would have gotten himself involved in some way. We get ALL-NEW origin stories for DR. FATE (Paul Levitz, Joe Staton & Mike Nasser, another spin-off from the then-current run of ALL-STAR COMICS with the Justice Society of America), BLACK CANARY (Gerry Conway, Mike Vosburg & Terry Austin), and, oddly enough, LIGHTRAY (Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Frank Chiaramonte).

With 2 of the 3 people responsible for the current NEW GODS series involved, I suppose THIS may be why Don Newton missed NG #15 (when Rich Buckler filled in).

It seems to me DC was really desperate and scrambling around for something, anything to catch on, and didn't consider that maybe some importyant elements to consider might be not only consistent creative teams, but good writing. When Gerry Conway seems to be your "number one guy" in that department... YOU GOT PROBLEMS!!!
(2-12-2014)

NEW GODS #17 (Apr'78)
cover by Jim Starlin

"THE MEMORY MACHINE" /
"THROUGH A DREAM DARKLY"
Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Dan Adkins continue. You know, given DC's track record in the mid 70's, it's actually amazing these 3 guys did as many issues on this series as they did. Out of the 12 episodes (IF you include both SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #15 and DC SPECIAL SERIES #10), Don Newton did 10 of them, Dan Adkins did 6.

UNFORTUNATELY, Gerry Conway did all 12. (I think that says it all.)

Isn't it nuts that Jim Starlin did the cover for this, considering the characters he introduced at Marvel? This was a period where he started doing a lot of work for both DC and Warren, as he seemed to have a falling-out for awhile at Marvel when WARLOCK fell apart. He did eventually do a lot more work for them, but most of it was under BETTER contracts, as he & Mike Friedrich (his pal from Detroit) were 2 of the people MOST involved in knocking out the new contracts for the Marvel Graphic Novels, EPIC ILLUSTRATED, and the entire Epic Comics line, all of which were designed to lure better creators back to Marvel once they started SCREWING everybody over in the wake of the Copyright law revisions.
(2-13-2014)

Out of curiosity prof, how do you rate Giffen's Kirbyesque* art compared to the real thing?


*at least that's what I think he's aiming for.

Well, that depends on which era you're looking at.

When Giffen started on THE DEFENDERS, I couldn't even see any Kirby influence, because what he was doing was BURIED under horrible, wretched, UGLY-AS-HELL inks by Klaus Janson. Who also inked a couple of Kirby covers on those books, if memory serves. When they finally replaced Janson with several other inkers, it suddenly hit me what Giffen was doing. Crude, raw, ugly, but somehow, FUN. Especially when compared to the vast sea of mediocrity Marvel was becoming at the time.

One of the most impressive "Kirby-style" efforts from him back then was the issue of SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP when Dr. Doom managed to awaken Atlantis from their coma, a terrible, pointless sub-plot that had stretched on for far too many years by that point.

Shortly after that, Giffen BLEW the deadline on DEFENDERS so badly he was fired right off the book. A shame. I've seen some sample pages of what he pencilled in FOOM magazine, and it was vastly-better than the last-minute replacement art that was actually published. But you can see looking at that stuff, he was moving away from Kirby at that point, in fact, I believe that was when he started to go thru his Phillipe Druillet period. He picked up on this again when he did DR. FATE in the back of THE FLASH, And on his early LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES episodes near the start of Paul Levitz' 2nd run on the book.

He simplified his art greatly after a few months, and the year that followed "The Great Darkness Saga", with inker (finisher?) Larry Mahstedt, was some of his nicest work. After that, he went thru several different periods, where he did really BAD takes on several different artists, including Alex Toth, each worse than the one before.

When Giffen came back in LEGION #50, he seemed revitalized. In #51, however, he started doing a new "Kirby" period, and with Mike DeCarlo on inks, it looked very much like Kirby-Stone. I liked it, except for the inexplicable way he started DISTORTING faces. Everyone started to look FAT and blocky in the face. I mean-- what the HELL was going on with that guy?

When Al Gordon replaced Mahlstedt, the quality dipped badly. When DeCarlo came back for "The Magic Wars" story, it dipped FURTHER, as Giffen had apparently cut back completely to only doing layouts-- as he was doing on JUSTICE LEAGUE. But when Gordon came back for the new LSH #1... it was AWFUL. GHASTLY. HORRIBLE. The idea was completely wrong, the breakdown of the story incompetent, the layouts repetitive, boring, and often indecipherable, and the pencils & inks were just UGLY-AS-HELL. And at some point, it hit me, what Giffen-Gordon were doing with the drawing itself right then actually looked like Kirby-Bell (Roussos), which most rank as the UGLIEST Kirby art of the whole of the 1960's.

I'm afraid Giffen is always gonna be a sore topic for me. He's the only artist I can think of who tends to be on BOTH my "favorite" and "most hated" lists-- at the SAME time.

MISTER MIRACLE #23 (Apr'78)
cover by Marshall Rogers

"AS ETHOS IS MY JUDGE...!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Scott meets Ethos who attempts to give him some form of cosmic awareness."

Okay, this is where it gets really WEIRD. Steve Englehart is GONE... from this book, from DC, from the entire comics industry. Also gone, at least from this book, is Marshall Rogers. In their place is the OTHER "intelligent" writer from early-70's Marvel... STEVE GERBER, and teamed up with him, one of the wildest, weirdest stylists of the period, MICHAEL GOLDEN. Oh, and to try "smoothing it down" by force to make it look like a "normal" DC book... Joe Giella on inks.

After Englehart first raised up Scott Free to almost messiah-like levels in an attempt to have him "live up" to his New Genesis heritage-- and then, have him, completely out of left field, go all "Apokalips" and try to ASSASSINATE Darkseid... Gerber comes in and tries to make sense of it all. He does so in perhaps the most out-of-left-field, bizarre fashion imaginable... by essentially doing a remake of Jim Starlin's CAPTAIN MAR-VELL #29, "Metamorphosis" (Nov'73). In that story, which came right in the MIDDLE of Starlin's "Thanos" epic, Mar-Vell found himself suddenly pulled into another dimension, where he came face-to-face with an alien being of immense power, who forced him to take a good hard look at himself, and then bestowed on him "cosmic awareness", turning him into a guardian of the universe in the process. Believe it or not, Steve Gerber goes and pulls the SAME kind of stunt here.

To be honest, I'm not sure if this might have made a LOT more sense if it had happened with ORION instead. Think about it.

It's wild, it's crazy, it's like something out of "THE TWILIGHT ZONE", and it's intended to set up the rest of Gerber's run. Which is even more outrageous when you consider that-- ALLEGEDLY!!-- Gerber was only supposed to "fill in" for 3 issues until the book's "new regular writer"-- LEN WEIN-- was "ready" to take over. I mean... WTF????

More next time... when the most astonishing thing is HOW GOOD this actually gets before it's all done!!!
(2-14-2014)

That was a fascinating post. Many thanks Prof. I hadn't realised that Giffen had an earlier Kirbyesque period on the Defenders and had changed it before the Legion. I always thought it was a transition that had started from the Legion. I have a sneaky suspicion my few old Defenders back issues may have been a couple of his. They didn't do much for me as a kid.

When he returned in v3 #50 it really made a positive impact for me. You're absolutely right about the blockiness of the faces too, although I still liked the Emerald Empress 2 parter which I think had Gordon on it. The layouts only issues were a bit of a disappointment. The Magic Wars was just a disappointment overall.

As someone who really liked the v4 Giffen/Gordon arc, I'll really need to read more older Kirby material to get a feeling for the comparisons, so that's going to be an education. I agree he's often on that best of and worst of list for a lot of reasons.

The Gerber and Golden issues sound as though they are going to be really interesting. I'm going to be so annoyed if my back issues run out before then...

I got a little carried away there, but I have a long-standing love-hate thing with Keith Giffen, and have been a LEGION fan for ages (well, up to about 5 issues into "Waid's World"-- heehee-- it took a LOT to get me to STOP--DEAD-- after that many years of never missing an issue, no matter how bad it got).

The earliest Giffen I've seen was the 2nd episopde of "The Sword In The Star", a back-up in MARVEL PREVIEW. The next thing I know of from him was ALL-STAR COMICS, where he did layouts and WALLY WOOD did the finishes. I mean-- HONESTLY!!! What a strange combo. A guy who looks like he hasn't learned how to draw yet, with the most STUNNING, exceptionally-professional inks possible.

Personally, I love the 2 issues where Wood took over doing full art, and, I think, the writing.

I hadn't noticed at first, but when Gerry Conway returned to Marvel (BRIEFLY!), he took Giffen with him. they'd done JSA, then switched to DEFENDERS. Except, instead of Wood, it was Janson (AUGH!!!) Conway skipped before long, and Janson was replaced eventually. Giffen stuck... until he blew those deadlines.

It was "Rampage" (#49) where they have to trick the HULK into following them, by making him SO MAD he wants to kill them, that I suddenly noticed the art had become a full-blown Kirby tribute. I think Mike Royer inked that issue, too, come to think of it. Chic Stone also inked one around that time. Isn't that bizarre?

I recall in between his being fired and starting at DC, he somehow managed an issue of IRON MAN (shortly before Bill Mantlo was kicked off the book). It looked to me like Giffen had returned to his original style, only highly refined it. Bit by bit, I was liking this guy.

I know a lot of people have polarized opinions of the "Giffbaum" era (also known as "Five Years Later"). I tend to feel, it was completely against the grain for the series, and never should have happened. On the other hand, if someone felt they "had" to do it, I just WISH REALLY HARD it had been done 100 times better.

Giffen was doing that damnable 9-panel grid, more a swipe of Dave Gibbon's work omn WACTHMEN than anything else. Had they actually gotten Gibbons to pencil the book, I bet I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Even recently, in some issues of GREEN LANETERN CORPS, when Gibbons would fill in on pencils, the book would skyrocket in quality. His "simple" style was, to me, so much BETTER than the more flashy, illustrative styles that book tended to have. Simply, Gibbons was a better visual storyteller.

I also remember with fondness when Stuart Immonen made his debut. And I found myself imnagining how it might have been if Immonen had illustrated the entire "Five Years Later" storyline.

I don't think I actually commented on Giffen doing Kirby compared to actual Kirby. Oh well... how about if I just say, "Accept no substitutes!", and leave it at that?

NEW GODS #18 (Jun'78)
cover by Al Milgrom

"THE SONG OF THE SOURCE" /
"WAR WITHOUT END"
Once again, not even a brief sypnopsis at the GCD. Somebody really didn't care about these books. "Is this the end of the universe?", it says on the cover. Not even close. It's not even the end of this inteminable storyline. But it's getting close. The 3 guys who started the series, after a few minor interruptions, continue on as they slowly head toward the end.

Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Dan Adkins all do, I guess, solid, professional work. I just wish ANYBODY else had written this thing. Gerry Conway, starting from before Jack Kirby even left DC, seems to have had an agenda to take over from Kirby. He started out by REPLACING already-written Kirby dialogue on KAMANDI with his own, then continued writing KAMANDI when Kirby left, and was said to have "really wanted" to revive NEW GODS, only to have FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL #13 bear witness to one of the worst DC comics of the 70's. With much slicker art, he continued on after a break. But this feels like SILVER SURFER-- only, with less focus, more diluted. And NONE of the characters seem to have any real or consistent personalities.

Makes you wonder, WHY is it so many "fans" over the years, to this day, continue to bad-mouth Jack Kirby's writing, when his stuff stood so far above most of the CRAP that was being spewed out? Maybe that's the answer right there...
(2-15-2014)

MISTER MIRACLE #24 (Jun'78)
cover by Marshall Rogers

"DOUBLE-BIND!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Scott renounces New Genesis and takes his act to Las Vegas."

In a rather surprising follow-up to the previous issue, Scott announces he's LEAVING New Genesis to return with his wife to Earth, and resume his "Mister Miracle" escape artist act full-time. This comes as a shock to his father, who Scott dismisses on the basis that considering what happened when he was very young and the whole time he was growing up, he never KNEW his father, and his actions were absolutely reprehensible for a father to have done in the first place!

In addition, after the way he saw how his escape artist act could genuinely inspire the people of Apokalips to start thinking for themselves, he feels he could do the same for the people of Earth!

This probably came as a total shock to readers as well, considering it was a complete 180-degree u-turn from everything Steve Englehart set up in his first 3 issues!

Steve Gerber supplies story, Michael Golden art, and the ASTONISHING Russ Heath the inks. Last issue, Joe Giella took Golden's utterly off-the-wall pencilling style and somehow managed to make it look "normal". Heath does this as well, but at the same time, makes it look INCREDIBLY good, far better than Giella did. I remember being STUNNED by the art on this book when it first came out. I also remember thinking the Golden-Heath version of Barda was one of the sexiest women I'd ever seen in a DC comic. (Mind you, it would still be a few years before I'd get my hands on the entire Jack Kirby run.)
(2-16-2014)

NEW GODS #19 (Aug'78)
cover by Joe Staton & Bob Layton

"DAKRSEID OF APOKALIPS" /
"THE SECRET WITHIN US..." /
"EARTH... THE BATTLEFIELD"
No plot sypnopsis at the GCD again... suffice to say, things are building toward a climax. The 3 regular guys on this run, Gerry Conway, Don Newton & Dan Adkins all showed up as usual. Unfortunately, for the last time. Dan Adkins, for whatever reason, departed after this episode (perhaps he moved over to ink BATMAN??). Also, this is the LAST issue of this run. Hard to say if sales TANKED or not, but the next episode would appear, in only 2 months (right on schedule) in ADVENTURE COMICS, which was turned into a "Dollar Comic" anthology.

The oddest thing about this issue may be the team of Joe Staton & Bob Layton doing the cover. Staton, probably most known for "humorous" series like "E-MAN" and "Michael Mauser, Private Eye" (both with Nicola Cuti) did a run as inker over at Marvel, then started doing some "serious" superhero work at DC, mostly JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA and its spin-off, "The Huntress", both with Paul Levitz (who-- no surprise!!-- was the EDITOR on this run of NEW GODS).
(2-17-2014)

MISTER MIRACLE #25 (Sep'78)
cover by Al Milgrom (layout) & RUSS HEATH (pencils & inks)

"DOOM UNTO OTHERS...!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Scott brings the gospel of escape to Earth."

Over the course of a mere 7 issues, first Steve Englehart and then Steve Gerber really put Scott & Barda thru the wringer. Barda was kidnapped, her life or her soul were in deadly danger, and now, she got BRAIN-WASHED into almost murdering the man she loves.

Gerber did TERRIFIC stuff here, as did Michael Golden & Russ Heath. Especially Russ Heath, in my mind, which makes me almost wonder why they didn't just have him doing full art. Maybe they figured his storytelling "wasn't dynamic enough", or some such nonsense, or that his skills as an inker were vastly superior and that's what they were really interested in? It happens.

The story in here was brought to a conclusion, but the overall "big story" of Scott & Barda seemed like it should have gone on and on and ON a long, long way. Which makes it a TRAGEDY that the book got cancelled HERE, for the 2nd time. Unlike when, say, CAPTAIN MAR-VELL was calncelled twice and both times was miserable, ugly & unreadable, MISTER MIRACLE had, in my opinion, NOT ONE bad issue in all 25!!!!! Whoa!!!

When anyone goes on about how Jack Kirby's books "all got cancelled", they should look around. EVERYTHING from DC (except for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) was getting cancelled. EVEN when it was as ASTONISHINGLY GOOD as this book was for these 7 issues.

I guess some people just HAVE to make Kirby a punching bag... ESPECIALLY on a "Jack Kirby" page.
(2-18-2014)

ADVENTURE COMICS #459 (Oct'78)
cover by Jim Aparo
Oh, the IGNOMINITY of it!!!

ADVENTURE COMICS #460 (Dec'78)
cover by Ross Andru & Dick Giordano

"CLIMAX OF CHAOS" /
"PURSUIT TO ETERNITY"
Okay... near as I can tell... the storyline Gerry Conway & Don Newton had been building up to since the revival began had been heading toward a climax, and that climax was intended to be a 25-page episode in an expanded-size issue of NEW GODS, which would be part of the "DC Explosion". DC added a pile of books to their line-up, expanded the page counts, and added back-ups in most of the books. For example, KAMANDI added a revived OMAC as a back-up.

BUT... after a single month, things suddenly COLLAPSED, and the higher-ups at DC changed their minds, and CANCELLED many books all at the same time, including several new series that had started within the previous year or so (like FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN and STEEL THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN, 2 new series from Gerry Conway that I actually LIKED). The revived ALL-STAR COMICS with the Justice Society saw one expanded issue before also being canned. NEW GODS didn't even get that far.

The one 25-page episode intended for NEW GODS #20 was instead shoved into the expanded "Dollar Comic" anthology version of ADVENTURE COMICS-- and not only that, to make things worse, it was SPLIT UP over the first 2 issues!! #459 featured the first 15 pages, wedged in between GREEN LANTERN and ELONGATED MAN, while the last 10 PAGES turned up in #460, wedged between DEADMAN and AQUAMAN!

Geez!!! I mean... this is like what the TV networks started doing in the late 70's and on with shows they knew were coming to an end. Instead of allowing them to go out with a bang, they'd shuffle them around the schedule, in an apparent effort to make sure that NOBODY would actually be able to see them!

As if Gerry Conway's painfully-dull and pointless handing of this series wasn't bad enough, this was a supreme show of outright disrespect.

The only thing I can remember about this story at all... is that, in search of the anti-life equation (I think), Darkseid raced to a barrier at the edge of the universe, where he approached the Promethian Giants. (Remember NEW GODS #5 ??) And somehow (the details escape me), as he got closer, his atoms expanded, until he became as big as they were... and, IMPRISONED, as they were. In effect, if he wasn't DEAD, he was so close to it that the difference hardly mattered.

And so, the "war between the gods", which had never really ended when Kirby left, but which, in Conway's handling of things, had apparently ended, and started up again-- TWICE-- was now at an "end", with Darkseid GONE.

Dan Adkins didn't even manage to be involved. Inks were by someone named Augie Scotto, who I've never seen before or since.

Oh, the INGNOMINITY of it all!
(2-19-2014)

DC COMICS PRESENTS #12 (Aug'79)
cover by Ross Andru & Dick Giordano

"WINNER TAKE METROPOLIS"
Less than a year after the Fourth World revival ended abruptly, the first new contribution to the mythos appeared in, of all places, Superman's "team-up" book. Well, that's a change from Batman's team-up book (THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD).

Under an Andru-Giordano cover (Andru seemed to have become very popular at DC again around this time, having put his years on SPIDER-MAN behind him), the surprise was, STEVE ENGLEHART wrote a new story, illustrated by Rich Buckler (the "SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS" guy) and Dick Giordano.

MY question is... was this an "inventory" script that Englehart had written, which had been sitting in a draw, unused, since his year at DC (before he quit comics entirely to become a novelist), or, was this Steve taking a break from trying to break into a different field, as a way of helping to pay the bills?

I'd say more, except I haven't read it since it came out, and frankly, MOST of these "team-ups" just aren't that memorable.
(2-21-2014)

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #183 (Oct'80)
cover by Jim Starlin

"CRISIS ON NEW GENESIS" or
"WHERE HAVE ALL THE NEW GODS GONE?"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: When the JLA and JSA plan a new twist to their annual meeting, one group from each team enters its transmatter unit to swap Earths, but both groups end up on New Genesis. They discover the entire population of New Genesis has been kidnapped to Apokalips except for Orion, Metron, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Oberon. Teaming-up, they all head to the dark world where they find the Injustice Society bringing Darkseid back to life."

33 issues into his seemingly never-ending run of JLA, Gerry Conway once more brings back the NEW GODS, as part of the annual JLA-JSA team-up. These things have grown since the old days, and this one's a 3-parter. With this MANY characters running around at once, it would have to be, wouldn't it? Art is by Dick Dillin and the over-powering Frank McLaughlin. This would be their FINAL issue together. When Dick Dillin took over JLA, he was only the 2nd penciller to ever illustrate the series. By this point, Dillin had actually managed to pencil MORE issues than Mike Sekowsky had. Like his work or not, he was indisputably one of the most DEPENDABLE artists in DC's stable of talent. He didn't even quit-- or retire. As the saying goes, "He DIED on the job".

Jim Starlin, who'd created his own cast of characters at Marvel who were clearly a tribute to the NEW GODS, supplied the cover.
(2-22-2014)

Th real villain for a lot of the JLA's run was Transmatter Repair Man.

There's an excellent splash by Dillin illustrating just how otherworldly New Genesis is when the teams arrive from their respective Earths. Both Earth-2 Wonder Woman and Earth-1 Superman are both very comfortable in their new surroundings. Power Girl feels the same way when it's explained to her. A lot of this would be expanded upon greatly in the years to come at DC - Moore's Twilight of the Gods and Kingdom Come for a start. Conway throw-aways here.

Firestorm goes off exploring instead of listening to Wonder Woman's odd religious rant. She recognises the Gods of Olympus. But in order not to offend stores, tacks on another deity. An editor at work or a careful writer?

New Genesis is deserted and JLA readers will know just how powerful their new member is. Firestorm is taken out easily by a silent, brooding Orion. To readers not familiar with the New Gods, it's one heck of an introduction. Orion is stopped by Fate, Superman & Wonder Woman who sense they have attacked an ally. That it takes these three to bring Orion down shows the levels of power the New Gods have. It is not the rage driven Orion here. It's one guilty about having defeated his own father, and feeling a huge responsibility about his now deserted world. Conway paints a more complex character than many later writers would about the son of Darkseid.

Conway & Dillin introduce us easily to the concepts and history behind the New Gods as Metron and the Miracles turn up to seek assistance and heal Firestorm and Orion. The issue isn't clogged up with back story. Instead it's added where needed throughout, increasing the pace and tension.

Not knowing the reasons behind the New Genesis kidnappings, the heroes split into three teams, and we're into the effective and familiar Fox plots of old.

The teams are well chosen, allowing everyone to receive some of the spotlight. Miracle, Batman & Huntress show off their stealth skills while Dr Fate and Hal Jordan really let loose on a barracks.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Barda see the heart breaking conditions the children have to live under.

Power Girl & Firestorm are teamed up (more on that next issue) with Orion. The three witness the return of Darkseid being returned from beyond by the Injustice Society of Earth-2. Conway's framing of Orion contemplating Darkeid's death earlier in the issue and then seeing him return at the end is a good touch.

The other worldly power and stark brutality of Apokalips and its residents builds throughout the issue. When Darkseid is seen at the climax, there is little doubt about the evil that is being returned to the universe.

Wow! Great post. I've only ever read these once, when they came out. I'm hoping to rectify that before too long.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #184 (Nov'80)
cover by George Perez & Dick Giordano

"CRISIS BETWEEN TWO EARTHS" or
"APOKALIPS NOW!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: The JLA, JSA, and New Gods, who have split up into teams, locate Highfather, try to stop the Injustice Society from resurrecting Darkseid, find an underground movement of Apokoliptian children, and discover Darkseid's master plan to transport Apokolips into Earth-2's universe, where there are no gods to thwart him, destroying Earth-2 in the process."

TRAGEDY strikes the JLA behind the scenes...

"Indexer Notes: Longtime JLA penciller Dick Dillin died after completing the first two pages, which were then redone by George Perez, as noted in the letters page. Those incomplete pages were first printed in Alter Ego #30 (Nov. 2003)."

After breaking Mike Sekowsky's record as JLA penciller by a whole lot of issues, Dick Dillin got ONE issue into the 3-part JLA-JSA-NEW GODS crossover and dropped dead. It's not really funny, but I have often commented that it was just too much for him.

In comes GEORGE PEREZ-- fresh from being FIRED from Marvel Comics for BLOWING one deadline TOO MANY!!! George, who started out as an assistant of Rich Buckler, picked up Buckler's worst habit-- that of taking on too many assignments at once and blowing multiple months' worth of deadlines on all of them. George realized he had ONE chance to put things right... and I suppose the opening on JLA was too good to pass up. After all, what other comics artist is crazy enough to love drawing THAT MANY characters on EVERY freakin' page??

According to the GCD, Perez did layouts, and Frank McLaughlin did "finishes". That seems about right. McLaughlin's inks here are even MORE over-powering than Pablo Marcos' were on THE AVENGERS. I mean, George's art is SO detailed, SO sharp, SO "finished" looking, it takes a special sort of somebody to ALMOST murder his pencils. Which is what we got here. But as I said-- "almost". Hey, McLaughlin had been doing this to Dick Dillin for YEARS by here.

After being so COMPLETELY disappointed by Gerry Conway when he took over JLA from Steve Englehart (exactly as I'd been when he took over AVENGERS from the same guy), by this time, I had actually given him another chance, and had started reading JLA regularly. I got the story where Conway's own character, FIRESTORM, joined. I got the story where BLACK LIGHTNING refused to join. And I got the one where GREEN LANTERN decided to quit. There was even the 2-parter where MR. TERRIFIC was murdered (which actually made so little sense an explanation had to be retconned in more than 15 years later.

As he'd done on virtually EVERY book he ever worked on, Perez managed to drag UP the writing to where he actually made Conway look like he knew what he was doing for a change.
(2-24-2014)

It's the greatest heroes of three worlds versus history's greatest villain!

Those heroes surround a raging Darkseid on the cover of #184 by Perez and Giordano.

The story doesn't break its stride, bringing readers up to date by giving a synopsis in the silhouette of Darkseid's returning form. A bit of artistic license shows all the awed and readying heroes of the story, although only three were on the scene at the time.

Those three, Orion, Firestorm and Power girl confront the Injustice Society. We see the blossoming of the Power Girl/Firestorm relationship. All it takes is a panel. Something else else today's decompressed stories could learn from. A panel is also about all it takes for the heroes to succumb to their fears at the hands and notes of the Fiddler.

Orion's fears are of his mocking father: failure to kill him or fear of becoming him? Firestorm fears the demons of uncontrolled other selves, tellingly including Prof Stein. Of Power Girl, there isn't really anything. Perhaps losing her invulnerability. The Fiddler, in one of his best ever scenes, returns to his task of returning Darkseid.

Superman, Wonder Woman and Barda enter beneath Granny's prison orphanage. Each step takes the grim, determined Barda back into her own childhood. As we meet the resistance movement, again all children, Barda shows how she has grown from her traumatic childhood. She tells the children about love. It's a really moving speech made all the more powerful as it breaks the cycle of violence and hatred in the children. After a convenient, and a little out of place, scene showing how the Injustice Society were contacted by Darkseid, the heroes go after Granny.

Having defeated an army Fate and Oberon encounter Hal Jordan desperately trying to free a chained Highfather. It's an interesting look at Jordan, who identifies Highfather with the Guardians. He sees even the punishments from the Guardians as being important in making him a man.

Orion, the orphans, Barda and Hal: We see how all deal with trauma and difficult pasts in this issue.

It's interesting that the final characters are very closely connected across a generation. The Huntress and Earth-1's Batman. The former determined to follow in her father's footsteps. The latter not yet over his own childhood trauma to become a father. As they sneak into Darkseid's abandoned palace, Mister Miracle takes on a more direct route. It's a great Mister Miracle scene. He's capable, confident, direct and has plenty of gadgets. The three meet and discover Darkseid's plan.

In JLA crises from this era, it's not enough for Darkseid to simply come back from beyond. He plans to replace Earth-2 with Apokalips and conquer that universe.

The JLA Mail Room runs letters of tribute to Dick Dillin. The opening credits name a "weary" creative team, showing just how sudden Dillin's departure was.

The issue is a classic second act. Lots of characterisation within the action capped by the revelation of the finale to come. No character is left out and several characters have some of their better moments in comics.

Conway deserves credit for showing how a harrowing environment can be overcome, and to stand up against such places where they exist. He also deserves praise for not having his own character Firestorm hog any scenes or stand out (at least until next issue).

The art is a joint effort, but Perez shines through even if only on layouts.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #185 (Dec'80)
cover by Jim Starlin & Bob Smith

"CRISIS ON APOKALIPS"
or "DARKSEID RISING"

from the GCD: "Synopsis: The three teams free the gods of New Genesis and regroup, but apparently not in time as the Re-Creation Machine fires. However, due to Metron's interferance, it fires not at its intended target Apokolips, but at Darkseid himself, reducing him to atoms once again."

The big finale. I had to do a bit of searching and double-checking, but it appears the review I did of this book at "The Jack Kirby Fan Page" group may have been written JUST before "the incident", as I DON'T have it in my files, and assuming I did it, I must have neglected to make a copy of it in WORD before what happened happened. Which was, a deranged lunatic taking over the group and booting out all the other moderators, ME, and about 200 other members all in one go.

Sounds like something from a comic-book story, doesn't it?

Further, my bringing up this incident at CAPTAIN COMICS led to me being "permanently banned" from that board, for legitimately complaining about someone who WAS NOT EVEN A MEMBER there, and further, for then complaining about the CC board MODERATORS, not at the CC board, but in my own KIRBY LAND Facebook group. As a friend of mine in Wales said... "Who do these guys think they are???"

Thothkins, GREAT, GREAT reviews!!! I haven't read these stories since they came out, and any comments I've been making have been mostly based on long-term memories. I've seen so much AWFUL, UNSPEAKABLE, GHASTLY, UNREADABLE stuff from Gerry Conway, it's actually a relief to be reminded that-- YES-- he actually DID some decent work, when teamed with the right people. The "right" people in this case being GEORGE PEREZ.

As I look back on Perez' career, I can't help but note how many different writers he's worked with whose work was suddenly VASTLY better than usual when Perez was onboard. Gee, it's not hard to figure what that means. (The list includes Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Kurt Busiek...)

Are we sure Perez only did "layouts"? At least one inker (Joe Sinnott) apparently said to Perez once, "George, leave something for ME to do!"

Let 'er rip!

Justice League #185

Bodies fall from the hands of Darkseid on the cover of 185. He’s swept them up like a miser gathering his riches to him, letting them drop around him. The assembled heroes look on in horror.

With the tone set by the cover, we open it up and meet Metron who uses his Mobius chair to view events around the story via a Boom Tube. This handily gives the reader a plot synopsis of the last two issues, as well as reminding us how cosmic the New Gods are.

We would see a similar approach played out by Pariah as he witnesses events from his anti matter cube in Crisis.
Despite seeing these events, Metron’s Cassandra complex prevents him from acting, for fear he will unleash greater ills.
This approach is now consistently used to keep all of the really powerful DC characters out of every event.
Following last issue’s revelation that Earth-2 is to be replaced by Apokalips, Batman, Huntress and Mister Miracle witness the return of the creature behind the plan: Darkseid.

The dark lord considers his time beyond death, and how he was weakened by sentiment. It is a weakness that he will never allow again. Unlike Conway’s previous peeks into his character’s personalities, this one doesn’t really work for me. A redeemable Darkseid doesn’t tally with the single minded force of personality and power that I’ve read elsewhere, admittedly outside Kirby’s originals.

Perez gives Darkseid Gordanian features in one panel, revealing a previously unknown connection between Apokalips and Vega.

Darkseid returns to malevolent form by punishing the Injustice Society for daring to capture his son in the last issue. All captives are to be placed into chamber 13, the Apokaliptian version of room 101, but the captured heroes are rescued by Miracle’s group.

Having rescued Highfather, Fate, Jordan and Oberon seek out the Recreation machine that will doom Earth-2. There’s a bit of clunky dialogue when Highfather tells the reader who Oberon is, and explains the plan we’ve just seen on a giant board.

As they take on the para-demons once again, Jordan & Fate reach an understanding about pursuing light regardless of whether it’s through magic or science. Between talking and fighting, Jordan leaves Highfather and Oberon exposed. Highfather weakens significantly defending himself and Oberon. Considering how important Highfather was to Jordan last issue, it’s a very worrying slip.

Of the remaining group of heroes, Superman and Wonder Woman attack Granny’s orphanage with the child resistance. Crimson, the leader of the children, is prevented from killing a guard. “You can’t fight hatred with hatred,” says Superman. Behind him, I imagine Wonder Woman thinking “It’s easy for you to say,” as she would years later in Kingdom Come. Why Superman allowed Crimson to go into deadly combat with the guard in the first place isn’t explained.

The large panel of the chained children in the orphanage is harrowing. Guards have weapons that can only kill, while granny wields a barbed whip for further punishments. While Darkseid metes out punishment like a feudal lord with no concept of failure, Granny clearly enjoys twisting and killing the future. This story is the one that made her the bigger villain for me.

While Superman almost casually disposes of the guards, and the children free their brethren, Wonder Woman fights Granny. Disarmed, the villainess escapes into the tunnels she knows only too well. Granny encounters the other person who knows those tunnels intimately. The heroine missing from the group: Barda. Perez gives Barda an expression showing utter contempt. A disgust that only a woman raised in this hell could have. There’s no Superman here to talk about morality. As the story moves directly on to Miracle’s group, I felt that Granny did not survive her encounter with Barda.

Miracle’s group go to Chamber 13, where Orion tells them his mother was once imprisoned by Darkseid. Orion, obsessed with his father goes towards what he hopes will be a final encounter. The partnership of Firestorm and Power Girl follow.

Batman frees Miracle from a trap in chamber 13. I like to think that Miracle would have freed himself moments later. But it’s the writer’s way of letting Batman become part of the action. We leave this group as they are about to convince the Injustice Society to release their hold on the New Genesians.

Despite his earlier warnings about cosmic balance, Metron’s Watcher complex overwhelms him and he races off towards the palace.

Orion confronts his father, who unleashes the Omega force. Firestorm forms a U-tube, turning the energy back on Darkseid, stunning him. Now this was a fairly common plot device to topple villains, but handling Darkseid’s feared power so effortlessly just doesn’t work. Firestorm has time to explain to the reader what he is about to do, not to mention handle an energy source he has never encountered. Perhaps reading the Legion’s Devlin O’Ryan have this as a superpower doesn’t help when seeing earlier uses.

As Mister Miracle leads a cavalry charge of freed New Genesians to aid Jordan and Fate, Darkseid unleashes the recreation device. In the second dues ex machine of the issue, it turns out that Metron had rigged the device to aim its energies at the palace. Better yet, the beam seems to be focused at Darkseid, who returns to his previous state.

Curiously, Firestorm does not attempt the U-tube trick with the second blast of energy aimed his way this issue.

A brooding Orion is left looking at the smoking space where his father stood and New Genesis looks to rebuild. I really prefer Orion’s helmeted red uniform over the standard superhero outfit he wears in this story.

It’s an issue where we get to see the fall of Darkseid and the prevention of a global catastrophe. Nearly all of the cast contribute, although Batman, Huntress and Oberon are virtual bystanders.

But Darkseid is felled by a comic cliché, and there are a few unsatisfactory moments throughout. A story with such huge scope was always going to struggle to keep up with its promise, and that seems to be the case here.

Overall, the new Gods came out of this story very well. Each held their own easily with a very powerful Justice League and Society team up. Orion, and particularly Barda are written with some depth and other characters, such as Hal Jordan, also have high points.

When Morrison brought both into the Justice League years later, these were the characters he brought. They actually work better here, than in that later run. It''s no coincidence that Morrison also brought back the Shaggy Man, Conway's villain in the issue following this story.

The Perez art does seem a little lost under the McLaughlin inks, as Prof stated, but it’s still a treat to read.

SUPER POWERS #1 (Jul'84)
cover by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

"POWER BEYOND PRICE!"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Darkseid sends his Emissaries of Doom to distract the superheroes of Earth while he readies his invasion force. Each of the Emissaries finds a supervillain and gives them new powers."

Hanna-Barbera's SUPER-FRIENDS-- that watered-down for the innocent little kiddies version of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, had been on Saturday morning TV since 1973. Kenner Toys got a license to do a series of DC action figure toys, which someone decided to call SUPER POWERS. (You've already seen the covers of all 23 mini-comics which came with the toys.)

The 2nd year of the toy line, quite a few Jack Kirby FOURTH WORLD characters were made into toys. DC actually got Jack Kirby involved, re-designing several of these, SPECIFICALLY so he could collect royalties on them. Clearly, under Jeneatte Kahn, DC was finally starting to move away from the depression-era GANGSTER mentality which had been at the foundation of the entire American comic-book industry from its inception.

To tie in with the new toys, DC decided to do a 5-issue SUPER POWERS mini-series. As it's a licensed comic, based on a toy line, it's not exactly what you'd call "in-continuity" with the rest of the then-DC Universe ("Earth-1"). On the other hand, as it features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and so on, it's actually much more traditional for a JLA book than what Gerry Conway & co. were doing with the actual JLA book at that time!

Further-- JACK KIRBY apparently supplied the story! It does NOT appear he did layouts, which means, if anything, this is a throwback to the days when Kirby was supplying stories for Don Heck on IRON MAN and AVENGERS. Adrian Gonzales (who had also worked on many issues of Roy Thomas' ALL-STAR SQUADRON) did the pencils, Pablo Marcos (who did a TON of work for DC, Marvel and Warren) did the inks, and Joey Cavalieri (who much later became editor of SUPERMAN following Mike Carlin) wrote the script. Was this full-script before-the-art, or just dialogue afterwards? WHO CAN SAY?

It may not be great "art"... but it is kinda fun, and probably MUCH better-written than the TV show, which also began to feature Darkseid, Desaad, Kalibak, Para-Demons, Apokalips-- and, oddly enough, Gerry Conway's FIRESTORM-- about the same time.
(3-15-2014)

Well done Jenette Khan, yet again.

I've never read any of the Super powers comics, although I own plenty that advertise both it and certainly the dollies action figures. I wonder if Kirby drew the ad I'm thinking of. It was certainly one that didn't draw me in, which was a typical Kirby reaction I had.

SUPER POWERS #2 (Aug'84)
cover by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

"CLASH AGAINST CHAOS"
from the GCD: "Synopsis: Superman and Flash defeat Lex Luthor. Flash goes to help Green Lantern and Aquaman and Flash stop Penguin and Superman helps Batman, Robin and Hawkman stop the Joker."

JACK KIRBY supplies story, Adrian Gonzalez supplies pencils, Pablo Marcos does inks & Joey Cavalieri does dialogue. Part 2 of 5.
(3-16-2014)