Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Re-Reads (Now Reading: Swamp Thing: 1971 through 1985)

Thanks for the Space Museum reminder, Chaim. I was just teasing Fickles, as there was some recent chat about artists that we found a little difficult to get immediately into. Infantino makes that list for me.

All Star Squadron #14

"Funny Professor, last night I dreamed I was writing a comic book review."
Stop mumbling, thoth lad, and put these '90s Image Comics in the bargain bin like a good fellow."

That was a chilling opening scene where the gladiator heroes fight each other to the death. Thomas throws in that there's gender, national and racial equality... under Degaton's complete control of course. The dictator's dream of everyone being so much better off if they were in charge.

Degaton's machine, much like GLs ring, acts as a literal plot device moving him to Earth Prime and then to the Earth-3 characters. Continuity Roy has to play fair and tell us of all the times the Crime Syndicate have escaped their impenetrable prison, even though it adds nothing to the story.

(Leaving my political hat outside, howling to get in the cat flap) Thomas gives us a dark take on little it would take to push the world to nuclear conflict. It's a balance his writing strikes offsetting the optimistic All Star Squadron heroics.

Degaton is a villain who doesn't care if a million Earths die to achieve his goal... a few years before a certain villain would kill near infinite Earths to achieve his goal. Thomas pioneering again. And getting Degaton to steal form various Earths at different times, shows the scope the villain has and the stories he could be in.

I didn't think much of the Magnetic Marauder. It's a good enough action scene though, but it's essentially padding (unless Marauder turns up later to be a key player of course ). Robotman and Steel in the same panels again.

It was good to see the JSA HQ meeting scene from multiple perspectives in the story. It's a good use of multiple titles to run the tale.

It's an issue that's got a lot going on, and leaves you wanting to read on right away. There's aren't too many books like that.

LOL



Agreed 100 percent.



That was true back in 1982, and it holds true more than ever today. Decompression...bah.

They do pick up the Magnetic Marauder story a few issues later!

It's actually one of Thomas's more effective retcons, as he's telling an actual untold story alluded to in a GA Wonder Woman story!

"CRISIS ON EARTH-PRIME" Part Three (JLA #208) and Part Four (A-SS #15)

Really not much to say, because it's almost all great, just as the previous two installments were. I will say that I continue to especially enjoy the little tidbits of real-life world history that Roy Thomas adds to the mix ("General Jimmy Doolittle?" "No, no, I meant Doctor Doolittle.") And that this is one of the few times I have had *no problem whatsoever* with Zatanna being used in a deus-ex-machina fashion, thanks to the gravity of the situation and the intensely engaging nature of the story.

"CRISIS ON EARTH-PRIME" Part Five (Conclusion) (JLA #209)

Although the resolution suffers slightly from being overly tidy and a bit schematic (not to mention the acquired taste of Don Heck inking his own pencils,) this storyline is still, overall, an immensely satisfying read, and it's easy to understand why Roy Thomas considers it one of his proudest achievements.

As I said earlier in this thread, I don't have issues 16 or 17 of A-SS (and IIRC, the main reason I never sought them was because Ordway was absent from those issues and from 18; what finally sold me on 18 was simply wanting to own a Joe Kubert cover with An Iteration of Thor on it.)

I certainly look forward to what Thoth and EDE have to say about 16 and 17, and, in the interim, here are Roy's capsule summaries from my trusty copy of All-Star Companion v.2:

I'm just going to mention how much I love the Huntress vs. Owlman page in the last issue.

Seconded!

So, the original Nuclear the Magentic Marauder story in Wonder Woman #43 is really odd. It is entitled "Nuclear Returns!", and within the story we're reminded of details of a past encounter in which Nuclear had been believed dead after falling into a flaming furnace after being shot by Steve Trevor, and of Wonder Woman's suspicions that he was really "Percy Playboy", whose lab he was using and whom he claimed to have murdered. We also have the character of Percy's sister Joye who is relieved that her brother has recently returned home after apparently only being non-fatally shot by Nuclear. To anyone reading this story, it really feels like it is discussing the events of a previous issue. Only no such issue exists.

All-Star Squadron #16 serves to give us this story. It's pretty by-the-numbers generally, since there's a clear endpoint that Thomas needs to get to. There's a really nice Firebrand "Br'er Rabbit" moment where the villain tries to dispose of her by dumping her in the furnace. The basic villain scheme of Nuclear using his magnetic abilities to crash ships is the same as in his original story, only here he's working for the Nazis rather than simple extortion. It doesn't really fit that great as far as the timeline goes with his later appearance, in that it apparently takes him about eight years to show up convalescing at his sister's house (assuming WW #43 takes place in 1950, when it was published). Honestly, I think they've could've turned Nuclear into an interesting ongoing villain (knowing that eventually there would have to be a story where he seemingly meets his demise after falling into a furnace after Steve Trevor shoots him). The whole relationship with the sister is actually really distinctive. And he's pretty deadly as an A-SS foe with two of the core members being metal based, as we have seen. So, yeah, this a definitely a bit of a filler issue as is, but there's interesting untapped potential here, imo.

JLA #208

Ah, the old misunderstanding fight. As Firestorm hits on Firebrand, I'm reminded that this story also has a Power Girl/ Firestorm reference or two. That was a good little subplot in these meetings.

Aquaman faces off against, and later properly meets Commander Steel in 1942. A missed opportunity for a few JL Detroit references. The old man surviving reminds me of a few Sci Fi stories.

Conway & Thomas do a good job in reminding us of the previous issues, adding lots of historical context and letting the cast see Degaton's threat. It does look as though the entire world knows about the Manhattan Project (and what it's for) though and Earth 2 had just seen off the Flying Eye also looking to take over the world with future technology. As Conway created Steel, he does seem to get more than his fair share of the Squadron text.

The Perez cover is really impressive.

The cover to All-Star Squadron #18 is misleading. While everything to do with the Thor impostor (Impos-Thor?) is dynamic and fun, most of the issue shows the negative side of Roy Thomas's continuity fixes, including the senseless death of Dian Belmont just because of Sandman's costume changes* -- this is a "Women in Refrigerators" moment long before the term was coined.

Luckily, the next 8 issues plus Annual #2 make up what I consider the very best that All-Star Squadron ever got.


















* FTR -- To me, the hat and gas-mask costume will always be the ONLY Sandman costume.

I take it the point of killing off Dian was to explain her sudden disappearance (and replacement by Sandy the Golden Boy) in the GA stories, but I agree that it was a horrible move. In my head, I've decided that she faked her own death and worked as a secret OSS agent for the duration of the war, and the untold story of her return explains Sandman's retirement circa 1945!

That sounds good to me, EDE.

I think you should write that into a full-fledged fan fiction.

I don't know much about Dian's GA adventures, but I sure do LOVE her and Wesley in Vertigo's Sandman Mystery Theatre!

Yeah, Dian's resurrection (of sorts) is one of the very few Post-Crisis developments that's indisputably good.

All-Star Squadron 19 and 20 benefit enormously from Jerry Ordway being promoted from inker to penciler. Even sweeter, this 2-parter is a rare instance of Ordway in his 80s prime doing *both pencils and inks.* Not to diminish the more-than-capable inking by Mike Machlan et al, but Ordway over Ordway is absolutely breathtaking!

Now, having said all that, this is also the very dark and claustrophobic 2-parter where Brainwave induces every JSA-ers worst nightmares. As well-written and beautifully-drawn as it is, I feel it's not ideal reading during the global health crisis at hand. That's why I'm only touching lightly on it.

I hope to nail down a review of the much brighter and more escapist A-SS 21 within the next twenty-four hours.

Stay tuned.

Yeah, I remember finding the scenes of the JSAers being slaughtered in combat more than a little bit disturbing when I read these as a kid.

It's a weird story on several levels, as it also serves to retcon in a previously untold first encounter with Brain Wave some time before they would have actually encountered him, plus give us a much different take on the JSAers time in the service than what we get in ASC #11.

Oh my gods, if I'd read that story as a kid, it would've given me nightmares!

On a more positive note, I want to give EDE a belated thanks for providing such a great deal of cross-referencing about the original Golden Age stories that Roy Thomas refers to in this series and the other ones (Infinity Inc and Young All-Stars) later to come.

Thanks!

I'm still planning on eventually getting around to saying something about A-SS #17, as soon as I getting around to re-reading it and the GA story on which it is based!

I didn't get the All-Star issues in any particular order. I didn't get this crossover in the right order either. So the plot recaps and (early on) character intros were welcome in books. The Fox plot of splitting up the teams is a welcome treat. The double threat of not only having to deal with the missiles, but also one of the Crime Syndicate gives these issues some real tension. FDR facing resignation and reconsidering the Manhattan Project added some impact. That clock keeps ticking as each group discovers the missiles closer and closer to that launch. That's why we get Kara, Ronnie and Mary Sue (sorry, Hank) dealing with that last one. They have the raw power to put a stop to it. Steel deals with the missile in way that reminds me of Cap America's opening in The Ultimates. It a really well worked ending, tying up all the plots and alternate Earths and giving us repeated scenes but in the new timeline. A Kara/Ronnie romance ends the tale. Too much to comment on, but a round of applause for the writers on this one (even if certain powers were used to solve a bit much)

All-Star #16: I might have got this one a bit later. It's Kubert cover doesn't do much for me. It opened with a repeat of the JLA crossover. Libby even think she sees shapes for a moment, before realising it's a very Golden Age looking Wonder Woman in trouble. Half the book is really a flashback on Wondy tackling Nuclear. The All Stars chase him down easily enough and there's a Republic finale. I probably enjoy it more now than at the time, as Thomas was clearly sticking close to some GA origins (Thanks EDE). I'd have thought a villain calling himself "Nuclear" would have got a lot more government attention, considering what they working on. We'd just seen Firestorm guest, making Nuclear look a bit more pedestrian. Just imagine, Percy Playboy falls into the fiery pit beneath his mansion, only to fuse with the Fire elemental matrix of Earth-2... Thomas goes to some lengths to explain why Wondy turns up at JSA HQ before she's a member of that team. There's also the obligatory Hawkman scene and Thomas getting Robotman to explain why Steel couldn't have done something that he managed all by himself. Wondy being such a patriotic Amazon that the US flag takes her out of delirium gave me a smile.

All-Star 17: There's a bit of the later Robotman/ Ben Grimm about the Squadron's version telling his origin. I was fondly reminded of a number of Universal/ sci-fi films as He's brought to trail in chains, to determine if he's human. The issue was interesting in seeing the All-Stars bluntly disagree with each other, and form some personality as they did so Robotman's secret ID is out though. Well, the one he died with anyway. 17 issues in and Steel still just gets in the way, as a second Robotman. For the plot to continue, Robotman didn't get any support from FDR or other government sources I don't think that lack of support is mentioned again.

All-Star 18: Like Nuclear, Thomas gets to play with a GA villain up against the Squadron. This time it's Thor. He's without Mjolnar in this story, having replaced it with a maraca instead. The hammer isn;t he only thing missing. In his original story he, and his cronies, had bulletproof, light weight armour made of Lucite. Just the sort of thing he could have made a fortune from, for the war effort.

Thomas must have loved the connections in this one. He uses DC's own Thor in a story with the guy called Spider Man by an announcer in his first story. Thomas even adds "Hobgoblin" into the text as an extra bit of fun (DC had a Dr Doom I think too, so a sham Thor wasn't working for him). Added to that Thomas gets to deal with why Tarantula and Sandman wear the same costume. To give the purple and gold costume a bit of gravitas, Dodds wears it because Dian Belmont is killed. That also explains why Dodds would be seen with Sandy Hawkins as a sidekick. It's only looking back, you realise what a good character Belmont was. Even in this story she's a stand out. She gets killed in a crash, following a lucky bullet strike.

The purple and gold guys don't get a scratch running at fully armed people who should have easily shot them at point blank. This was the time of sidekicks. Hourman went through a couple at this time: Martin the Minute Man and Thorndyke the Minuteman. Thomas makes Tarantula feel right at home. This issue adds Tarantula taking a fancy to Liberty Belle (something that would appear in Robinson's Golden Age. The team brush off Brainwave at the end of the issue in a very unheroic way. I'm reminded that the All Star Squadron spend a lot of time in this volume running up and down streets as a group.

Just recently, Lardy did a question about PAD's Hulk: Countdown storyline in one of the Spaceopoly trivia threads:

https://legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=995793#Post995793

So I thought I'd bump up my thoughts on it. Six years or so after that review, I still feel pretty much the same about it -- great story that rises above three issues of bad art, and then rallies for a great fourth and final issue with a different artist, possibly the best Hulk artist of all time, Dale Keown.

Thanks, Lardy.

The inspiration for that question was the fact that I'd just completed the PAD/Hulk Omnibus Vol. 1. I meant to post some about it as I read it but just got swept away in the experience.

It's never too late. Especially since your reviews are always so enjoyable.

To celebrate the release this week of the late Martin Pasko's Swamp Thing run, collected as Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Volume 3, I have decided to do a substantial (but not comprehensive) Swamp Thing re-read.

I plan to start this weekend with reviews of House of Secrets #92 and Swamp Thing v.1 issue #1.

This re-read will begin with the indisputable classics from Bronze Age v.1 (Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson/Nestor Redondo,) then bravely plow through Bronze Age v.2 (an insane amount of creators, none of them sticking around for long,) then the entire Pasko run, and finally, the early (and in my opinion, best) installments of the Alan Moore/Steve Bissette/John Totleben run, most likely ending with the done-in-one masterpiece "Rite of Spring" from Saga of the Swamp Thing issue #34.

A caveat: I may change my mind and continue to the end of the Moore run. If I don't, anyone participating in this re-read is free to pick up where I leave off.

I think a good title for this re-read would be "Swamp Thing: 1971 through 1985."

Lardy, if you'd please update the title of this thread? Thanks in advance.

Done! Sounds neato-mosquito!