Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

We end the month with this 1965 Joe Kubert cover.

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

This Win Mortimer cover is from 1964.

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

A 1964 cover by Carmine Infantino.

Cover Cavalcade

 AUGUST IS DC 80-PAGE GIANT MONTH!!!

A Curt Swan cover from 1964.

Time Travel, Jesse James and a lot of Accidental Deaths (maybe).

 

cover art by Curt Swan

I'm okay with the rules about Time Travel--DC was reasonably consistent about that even during the often-inconsistent Silver Age.

But what the heck are the rules for Jimmy's Superman Signal wrist watch?

"The Gunsmoke Kid," a story from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #45 (June 1960) raises this question. In fact, it does sort of raise a time travel question as well. The strength of the story is in the fact that we can still enjoy it as over-the-top fun and asking questions about internal logic just adds to the fun.

The story's author is unknown (though I would guess Otto Binder) and the art is by Curt Swan.

Jimmy and Clark are interviewing Professor Potter about his newest invention--a time machine. The professor hasn't perfected it yet--you can travel back in time, but he hasn't figured out how to return you to the present.

Jimmy, who is wearing a Wild West costume because he's attending a costume party later on, plays with the machine. This is unwise and after 45 issues of bizarre adventures and previous encounters with Potter's various inventions, he really SHOULD know better.

He's teleported back to the Old West. Here's where the time travel logic becomes a bit skewed. He appears in a prison cell and is mistaken for an outlaw called the Gunsmoke Kid. So did he replace the REAL Gunsmoke Kid? If so, where is the real Kid? And why didn't anyone recognize him as NOT being the Kid? Unless the Kid is Jimmy's double? Did the sheriff just decide to accuse anyone who mysteriously appears in his jail of being a dangerous outlaw? Is the sheriff just really bad at his job? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

The Gunsmoke Kid--er, I mean Jimmy Olsen--is busted out of prison by Jesse James, who promises Jimmy a chance to kill the three most famous outlaws in the West: Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickcock and Bat Masterson.

Jimmy tries to miss on purpose all three times he ambushes one of the lawmen, but each time it appears that he's accidentally killed them anyways. He also is mysteriously able to cheat at poker (something he has to do to keep Jesse from shooting him), dealing himself four aces after dealing other players four kings and four queens respectively. Jimmy is both concerned that he's inadvertantly committed murder AND wondering if he's changing history.

It's at the poker game that the signal watch issue arises. The watch normally sends out an ulta sonic sound that only Superman can hear. But Jimmy uses it as an audible alarm to distract the losing poker players. So is there a second alarm set in the watch that is audible to normal humans--which I don't think was every mentioned either before or after this story? And wasn't the Superman signal able to penetrate the time barrier on other occasions, even though we are told here that it can't? (I can't think of an example--please comment if you do know of one.)

Eventually, the three supposedly dead lawmen are spotted. Jesse decides to kill Jimmy, but Superman does turn out to be nearby, blowing up a dust storm to rescue Jimmy without being seen. (The story is consistant with the DC Comics Time Travel rule that you can't change the past.)

It was Superman in disguise who posed as the lawmen and faked their deaths, as well as Superman fixing the poker game. He's recorded all this, so Jimmy has some awesome film foogage of himself to show at parties. I guess that was worth the mental agony of thinking you were a murderer, Jimmy? Superman? What about that, huh? Is emotional anguish a fair trade for party bragging rights?

I am, of course, making fun of the story. But I do so without rancor or any heartfelt criticism. With some comic books, imaginative fun should be preferable to narrative consistency. Superman's Pal is a prime example throughout its run of when this is true. Its a fun story and if I could time travel, replace Mort Weisinger as editor and change history--well, I just wouldn't. In Weisinger's universe, YES, mental anguish is a fair trade for party bragging rights! I mean, of course it is! The story is perfect just as it is. 

Next week, we'll begin a five part visit with the Avengers, then the X-Men, then (eventually) both groups.

Cover Cavalcade

 JUNE IS DC WAR COMICS FIRST ISSUE MONTH!!!

A Jerry Grandenetti cover from 1952. It was re-titled from All-American Western and kept the same numbering system for two issues. After two issues with the old numbering system, though, future issues were renumbered starting with an Issue #2. (So there never was an All-American Men of War #1).

Cover Cavalcade

 JUNE IS DC WAR COMICS FIRST ISSUE MONTH!

A Jerry Grandenetti cover from 1957. DC acquired G.I. Combat from Quality Comics and kept the same numbering system, so the first DC issue is #44.

Cover Cavalcade

 JUNE IS DC WAR COMICS FIRST ISSUE MONTH!

Carmine Infantino drew this cover in 1952.

Cover Cavalcade

JUNE IS DC WAR COMICS FIRST ISSUE MONTH!

This Jerry Grandenetti cover is from 1954.

Time Traveling Tank

 

cover art by Russ Heath

The Russ Heath cover for G.I. Combat #121 (December 1966-January 1967) is magnificent and does depict a scene from the story accurately, but it does not hint at the main plot twist. That plot twist being the Haunted Tank travels backwards in time!

The story, written by Bob Kanigher and drawn by Russ Heath, begins in a standard enough manner--with the Germans trying to kill Jeb Stuart and his crew. After a close call battling a German fighter, things get mildly odd when a confused pigeon lands on the tank.

Slim, the driver, makes the unwise decision of allowing an animal that is famous for not being house-broken nest in his helmet. We never see the consequences of this, though, so I guess it worked out. 

Anyway, the ghost of General Stuart appears to say the pigeon is going to be responsible for them fighting in two wars. It's a different sort of warning than Jeb normally gets from his ghostly mentor. It's not a cryptic warning that will save their lives later on. Instead, its merely a prediction of what will happen. And it's not quite accurate--the pigeon doesn't seem to be responsible for their eventually side trip to World War I. It does lead the tank back to World War 2, so it does have a key role in the story.

That last paragraph seems nitpicky. This is a fun story highlighted by Heath's typically magnificent art.

Anyway, a little later, the Haunted Tank blasts a German tank off a cliff. To avoid the 60-ton monster from landing on them, the small tank drives into a cave. The German tank crashes down outside the entrance, trapping them in the cave.

It's a large cave, though, and there's a number of tunnels leading out of it. They try one at random and find themselves on a World War I battlefield!

I love how nonchalant Jeb is about this. He deduces that they apparently gone through a time warp in the cave and then just goes with it. We get no indication of what the rest of the crew thought. Maybe they were busy cleaning bird poop out of Slim's helmet.

The American troops are pinned down by early model German tanks. The leader of the Americans is a double for Sgt. Rock. Jeb deduces that this is Rock's dad.

The Haunted Tank takes out one of the German tanks and WWI-Rock leads his troops on a charge to destroy the other enemy tank. He uses a tactic his son will often employ, crawling onto the tank and spraying gunfire through view ports until ammunition is touched off. 

Having saved the WWI-era Americans, Jeb takes the tank back into the cave tunnels to hopefully find a way back to World War II. It's here the pigeon takes a role, leading them through the right tunnel and getting them home.

They almost get nailed by another Tiger tank, but WWI-era Rock and his troops show up to save them.

WW1-Rock heads back to his own time and has some interesting stories to eventually tell his son. Jeb and his crew return to their war--once again very blase about having just traveled through time. Of course, Jeb regularly talks to a ghost, so perhaps he's just gotten used to the unusual.

This really is a good story. Heath's art is especially noteworthy in the large panel depicted a First World War battle, but its... well... magnificent from start to finish. (It is very difficult to talk about Heath's work without regularly repeating the word "magnificent.") And the story itself takes a bizarre but fun concept and runs with it, without worrying about detailed explanations or rigid story logic. 

Next week, we'll stay in the DC Silver Age as we visit Hawkman. 

Cover Cavalcade

 FEBRUARY IS THE ORIGINAL HAUNTED TANK MONTH!

Another Joe Kubert cover, this one from 1969.

Cover Cavalcade

 FEBRUARY IS THE ORIGINAL HAUNTED TANK MONTH!

From 1970: A Joe Kubert cover

Cover Cavalcade

 FEBRUARY IS THE ORIGINAL HAUNTED TANK MONTH!

A Joe Kubert cover from 1970. 

Cover Cavalcade

 FEBRUARY IS THE ORIGINAL HAUNTED TANK MONTH!

This 1967 cover is by Russ Heath.

Justice League Annual #1 (1983)--The Final Chapter

 

cover art by Rick Hoberg

JLA Annual #1 (1983): Plot by Paul Levitz, script by Len Wein, art by Rick Hoberg

The last chapter ended with Zatanna summoning the entire League (or, at least the members working on the current case) to the Dream Dimension. Now they are assaulting Dr. Destiny's base.

Once inside, they battle some random nightmares and also discover that Destiny is holding the current Sandman a prisoner.

This version of Sandman is a little obscure, because he only had a few appearances in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in 1974, I believe his identity was retconned by Roy Thomas in a later appearance in Wonder Woman. Anyway, by this time, he's a professor who has gotten trapped in the Dream Dimension (able to visit Earth only an hour a day) and who now operates as a protector of that realm.

But for the moment, he's not doing anyone any good. In a tactical blunder, the various heroes try to charge Dr. Destiny one at a time, allowing him to use Sandman's sleep-inducing sand to knock them out. I suppose it can be argued that the nightmares they are fighting stopped them from making a coordinated attack on the master villain. But this isn't explicitly stated and the heroes come across looking a little silly.

But before going down, Elongated Man presses a button ejecting Sandman from the tube in which he's trapped, sending him back to Earth. Dr. Destiny doesn't care, though. He has captured the Justice League and now plans to force them to sleep without dreaming until they deteriorate the way he has.

Because he wasn't conscious, Sandman has no idea how he got to Earth. But from observing dreams, he knows that Superman is nearby, taking a nap as Clark Kent.

Sandman enters the apartment and gets attacked by nightmares. This wakes up Superman, who disposes of the nightmares. Sandman then brings them both to the Dream Dimension.

They fight Destiny, who at first appears to be getting the best of them. But (as we learn in the Epilogue), Ralph come up with a plan that allows the League to break out of their tubes while Destiny is distracted by Sandman and Supes. Confronted by a dozen superheroes, he faints. 

A brief epilogue explains how Ralph planned the escape and has Sandman turn down membership in the League. (Being able to visit Earth for just an hour at a time puts a limit on his usefulness.) 

I do think the heroes getting captured one at a time does make them look bad, but other than that, Hoberg's art looks great and the bizarre fight scenes are fun to look at. Ralph regaining his confidence in the previous chapter is highlighted nicely here by his saving the day twice. And its nice to see a character falling into obscurity--the Sandman--get another day in the limelight before he disappears into Comic Book Limbo. 

As for the book as a whole, it tells a strong story that follows Comic Book Logic and thus makes internal sense, it looks good and it uses a large cast of characters effectively. It come out near the end of the Bronze Age, demonstrating that this era of comics was still capable of telling fresh, fun stories.

Next week, we'll jump back to the Golden Age and visit with yet another obscure hero.

Justice League Annual #1 (1983)--Chapter 5

 

cover art by Rick Hoberg

JLA Annual #1 (1983): Plot by Paul Levitz, script by Len Wein, art by Rick Hoberg

Chapter 5 is pretty short, existing to first-- let Ralph Dibney overcome the self-doubt he was having at the beginning of the story; and second -- to set up the big battle coming in Chapter 6.

Back on the JLA satellite, Zatanna has magically traced Dr. Destiny to the dream dimension. She transports there, bringing Red Tornado and Ralph along.

They are attack by giant, nightmare versions of Dr. Destiny. Ralph briefly thinks this is the sort of situation he dreaded, where his skills as a detective are meaningless. But he realizes he's got to do something and uses his powers in a clever way to take out one of the nightmares. The other heroes dispose of their opponents as well.

After spending several pages setting up Ralph's self-doubt in Chapter 1, the resolution of this does come across as a little abrupt, but it does make sense. Ralph is tossed into a "the chips are down" situation where he's got to either act or give up. It is a little abrupt for storytelling purposes, but it makes complete character sense. And, to be fair, Ralph will get a Moment of Awesome in the final chapter.

Anyway, this confirms that Dr. Destiny is in the dream dimension, so Zatanna ends this brief chapter by summoning the rest of the League.

It is another well-written chapter. The brevity makes me a little embarassed to dedicate an entire post to it, but it does logically advance the story and resolve Ralph's character arc, leaving the comic book free to use the last chapter for a epic final battle with a fun plot twist. We'll look at that final chapter next week.

Justice League Annual #1 (1983)--Chapter 4

 

cover art by Rick Hoberg

JLA Annual #1 (1983): Plot by Paul Levitz, script by Len Wein, art by Rick Hoberg. 

Chapter 4 takes us to Gotham City, where Wonder Woman and Flash are joined by the John Stewart Green Lantern to continue the search for Dr. Destiny.

John isn't a League member at the time, was suddenly found himself in costume with his ring filling him in on the case. Apparently, the Guardians have sent him to lend a hand.

I don't think we get an explanation for what brought the heroes specifically to Gotham, but John is soon using his ring to home in on some delta wave activity. This gives us a wonderful panel in which John manifests a giant green bloodhound sniffing out the delta waves. It's probably not a necessary thing for John to do, but it's awesome all the same and using a GL ring to call up cool images to represent whatever practical thing you are doing should be standard practice among all members of the Lantern Corps.

Soon, they find the missing artists mentioned in the previous chapter. When John tries to free them from the equipment to which they are attached, this manifests villains from Wonder Woman's subconscious. The three heroes are fighting dream versions of the Tornado Tyrant, Amazo and Dr. Light.

What follows is a short fight scene--each hero only gets a few panels for his/her part of the fight. But in each case, the hero uses his/her powers intelligently to defeat one of the dream villains. I especially like the swift and practical method Wonder Woman uses--wrapping the Amazo manifestation in her Lasso of Truth, forcing it to realize its just an illusion, which in turn forces it to vanish.

The heroes find Dr. Destiny in a back room, but this is just a hologram. The real Destiny has become "one with his dream machine," though Wonder Woman wonders how he can do this when he can no longer dream.

That's it for Chapter 3. Next week, we'll pay a visit to the Dream Dimension,

Justice League Annual #1 (1983)--Chapter 3

 

cover art by Rick Hoberg

JLA Annual #1 (1983): Plot by Paul Levitz, script by Len Wein, art by Rick Hoberg. 

Today, we get to Chapter 3, in which Aquaman, Black Canary and Green Arrow travel to New York to follow up a possible lead to Dr. Destiny.

That lead involves several missing artists who are noted for the vivid imaginations. There's a chance their disappearance might involve the villain. And, in fact, it does. Dr. Destiny, monitoring the heroes from his secret HQ, strikes out at them for getting too close to a real clue.

He causes creepy-looking creatures to come into existence over equally creepy-looking statues created by the missing artists.

What follows is a short but really fun fight scene. I actually like it a lot better that the abrupt fight scene from the previous chapter. This time, we get to see each of the three heroes involved have a Moment of Awesome.

Aquaman lures his opponent into the harbor, where he then summons up electric eels to "disrupt the creature's unliving substance." I'm not sure that electric eels (which I THINK are exclusively a South American creature) would be living in New York Harbor, but what the hey. It's still a cool tactic and perhaps the eco-system in the DC Universe works a little bit differently than it does here on Earth Prime.

Black Canary takes out her monster with her sonic cry. Green Arrow repeats this tactic against HIS monster with a sonic arrow, then realizes taking out the statues will prevent any more monsters from appearing.

As I said, it's a cool fight. Each hero uses his or her brains as well as individual powers/weapons to deal intelligently with the threat. That's how a battle in a comic book universe SHOULD play out.

The chapter ends with Dr. Destiny remarking that he's found something "drifting in the dreams of Wonder Woman" that will destroy the Justice League. We'll find out more about that when Wednesday posts resume after the holidays.

Justice League Annual #1 (1983)--chapter 2

 

cover art by Rick Hoberg

Chapter two of JLA Annual #1(plot by Paul Levitz, script by Len Wein, art by Rick Hoberg) picks up with the JLA's efforts to track down Doctor Destiny. The first team we follow is Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Adam and Firestorm, with Firestorm carrying the others in a "nuclear air-bubble." Gee whiz, I love Comic Book Science!

Hawkgirl has rigged up a sensor to detect Delta Waves, brain waves that are generated when we sleep. So there are moments when Comic Book Science sort-of, kind-of matches up with real-life science. Of course, in this case, we have an alien with a delta wave detector being carried in a bubble made of nuclear energy--proving that in the end Comic Book Science beats the snot out of real life. 

The detector brings them to a sleep research facility at Ivy University. It's not Dr. Destiny's HQ, but he is still monitoring the League. So he brings the dreams of the sleeping subjects to life and has those now solid dreams attack the heroes.

The heroes fight back against the dreams until Firestorm puts a stop to it by freezing up the mind-machines to which the sleepers are attached, waking them up in the process. This causes the dreams to fade away. The heroes are victorious and have confirmed that Dr. Destiny is definitely out to get them.

It's a good chapter, which includes some fun banter between the Hawks while they are in the air bubble. A longer fight scene would have been nice, giving a greater sense of a real threat to the heroes, but what we have looks cool and I do appreciate that the story as a whole had to fit into a certain page count.

Next week, we travel to New York City to see what Aquaman, Green Arrow and Black Canary are doing.