Category: Comics Reviews

Comics Reviews: Flash 269, Wonder Woman 251, Green Lantern 112

Flash 269 coverFlash #269 – “Domain of the Dark-Eyed Dragons” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin

This one starts with a guy named Robert Manners, who’s a world-famous scientist and explorer, freaking out in a hospital. Why is he freaking out? Because his daughter Gail has been in a coma for almost a week. Before the coma, Gail was having weird premonitions, which ended up coming true. Gail is also a friend (or maybe girlfriend, I’m not sure) of Wally West, aka Kid Flash. The doctor treating Gail thinks Kid Flash—or the original Flash, he’s not picky—may be able to help Gail out of her coma. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 269, Wonder Woman 251, Green Lantern 112”

Comics Reviews: JLA 162, Superboy & the Legion 247, Jonah Hex 20

JLA 162 coverJustice League of America #162 – “The Creation Conspiracy” – Gerry Conway/Dick Dillin/Frank McLaughlin

This one starts with some JLA members (Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Elongated Man, Green Arrow, and Zatanna) one the scene of a fire at a STAR Labs facility. But this particular facility was so secret that even the JLA didn’t know about it until the scientists called for help. The guy in charge says they have no idea what caused the fire, but it may have something to do with a top-secret chemical named Compound One that they’ve been working on. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: JLA 162, Superboy & the Legion 247, Jonah Hex 20”

Comics Reviews: Superman 331, Action 491, DC Comics Presents 5

Superman 331 coverSuperman #331 – “Lockup at 20,000 Feet” – Martin Pasko/Curt Swan/Frank Chiaramonte

This one starts with Superman confronting Metallo, who has broken out of prison. Metallo has replaced the radium that was powering his artificial body while he was in prison with his preferred power source, kryptonite. He’s attempting to steal some solar mirrors from some energy collector on the roof of STAR Labs—apparently looking for yet another alternate source of power for his bod. His kryptonite heart gives him an advantage over Superman, but the Man of Steel uses the old “empty boots hanging off the ledge” trick to fake Metallo out and turn the tables. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Superman 331, Action 491, DC Comics Presents 5”

Comics Reviews: Batman 307, Brave & the Bold 146, Warlord 17

Batman 307 coverBatman #307 – “Dark Messenger of Mercy” – Len Wein/John Calnan/Dick Giordano

This one starts with a mysterious guy giving a couple of gold coins to a homeless lady. The guy is all wrapped up in a green coat and hat and a red scarf, which maybe should’ve made her suspicious. Only moments after receiving the coins—which are apparently solid gold—she keels over dead. The weirdo places the coins on her eyes and limps off into the night. At the offices of the Wayne Foundation, Bruce Wayne is talking to Lucius Fox (in his first appearance) about a mysterious billionaire named Gregorian Falstaff. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 307, Brave & the Bold 146, Warlord 17”

Year End (P)review

Olde Tyme Gulliver
Mais où sont les singes d’antan?

Welcome to the wrap-up for 1978, which also marks the end of my first year of blogging. The end of the year is traditionally a time for looking back (as with this olde-tyme photo of Gulliver), but I’d also like to look ahead. 1978 has been fun and there were some pretty cool stories, but I’m looking forward to reviewing some 1979 comics. Because of the DC Implosion in late ’78, DC canceled a bunch of titles and cut the page counts of their existing comics drastically. So 1979 is a pretty stable year, at least for my purposes; I’ll be reviewing thirteen titles, all but one of which were monthly (the sole exception being Detective Comics, which was bi-monthly, but mega-sized). I’ll be reviewing three comics per post (except for the posts with Detective Comics, where there’ll be four), so it’ll be easier to keep track of when your favourites will be reviewed. As for specifics, keep reading. Continue reading “Year End (P)review”

Comics Reviews: Flash 268, Wonder Woman 250, Green Lantern 111

Flash 268 coverFlash #268 – “Riddle of the Runaway Comic” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin

This is one of those fake-out issues where they show you the “guest stars” on the cover, but they never appear in the actual story. You’ll see what I mean as we go on. This issue starts with Barney Sands (twelve year-old neighbor of Barry and Iris Allen) looking all over the place for an old comic he lost. Elsewhere in Central City, Flash is tracking down someone named Griselda, who turns out to be a bear that escaped from the zoo. Griselda almost wastes Flash, but he uses super speed to dig a hole in the ground and trap her. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 268, Wonder Woman 250, Green Lantern 111”

Comics Reviews: JLA 161, Superboy & the Legion 246, Warlord 16, Jonah Hex 19

JLA 161 coverJustice League of America #161 – “The Reverse Spells of Zatanna’s Magic” – Gerry Conway/Dick Dillin/Frank McLaughlin

This one starts with the JLA (all 13 of them) taking a vote on electing a new member—Zatanna. Green Arrow is taking it pretty seriously, but Zatanna shows up before they can count the votes and blasts the ballots to ashes. (Any readers paying attention will notice that Zatanna recites her spells normally, instead of backwards like she always has before. That is what’s known as a “clue”.) Zatanna tells them she doesn’t want to join their lousy club and the more they try to reason with her, the snottier she gets. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: JLA 161, Superboy & the Legion 246, Warlord 16, Jonah Hex 19”

Comics Reviews: Superman 330, Action 490, DC Comics Presents 4

Superman 330 coverSuperman #330 – “The Master Mesmerizer of Metropolis” – Martin Pasko/Curt Swan/Frank Chiaramonte

Have you ever wondered why nobody can tell that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person? After all, a pair of glasses is hardly a convincing disguise. We’ve all laughed about it at some point, and we’re not the first ones to do so. I can only imagine that this particular story was cooked up in response to all the people saying “Glasses? That wouldn’t fool anyone!” We start with a satellite falling from orbit and heading straight for the WGBS Building. Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and Jimmy Olsen urge Clark to change to Superman and stop the satellite from killing them all. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Superman 330, Action 490, DC Comics Presents 4”

Comics Reviews: Batman 306, Detective 481, Brave and the Bold 145

Batman 306 coverBatman #306 – “Night of Siege” – Gerry Conway/John Calnan/David Hunt

This one starts with some shifty dudes unloading boxes from a boat in the middle of the night … definitely suspicious behaviour. Batman seems to agree, since he shows up and beats the hell out of them. The boxes are full of heroin and Batman realizes the boat is from a ship called the Golden Girl II. He goes to check it out, sneaking aboard the ship and cornering the owner, Hannibal Hardwicke. Apparently Hardwicke has been suspected of being behind the heroin traffic around Gotham for a couple of years, but he always managed to wriggle out of the grasp of the law. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Batman 306, Detective 481, Brave and the Bold 145”

Comics Reviews: Flash 267, Wonder Woman 249, Green Lantern 110

Flash 267 coverFlash #267 – “Heat Wave’s Blaze of Glory” – Cary Bates/Irv Novick/Frank McLaughlin

This one starts with Heat Wave giving us a recap of last issue: Heat Wave went to a criminal shrink and found out he had a phobia about cold because of a childhood incident. He overcame the phobia by breaking into the home of an Arctic explorer who’d been cryogenically frozen, then luring Flash there and swapping him for the frozen explorer. So now Flash is trapped in a cryo-tube, not due to be woken up for decades—or longer. Heat Wave also unmasked Flash, but didn’t recognize him as Barry Allen (though he thought there was something familiar about him). Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Flash 267, Wonder Woman 249, Green Lantern 110”