They also did a version of Hugo Strange finding out Batman was Bruce Wayne on the Animated Series.

Hey--

I just discovered this place on the forum page! I love it! Don't stop with the reviews of the old classics! You have inspired me to dig out my old comics and give 'em a re-read. Some of those old titles still stick in my mind, now 30 or so years later--yep, I'm old!

Special favorites:

Doc Savage
The Shadow
The Avenger (kind of a Doc Savage rip off, but who cared?)
Flash Gordon
E-Man (remember him?)
The Losers (Army comics)

If nobody minds, I'd like to post a review...

Give me a little time...

Star Spangled War Stories #95

It was the single most brilliant idea in the history of the world.

More brilliant than the invention of Double-Stuff Oreos.

A stroke of genius greater than putting Lynda Carter in a Wonder Woman costume.

A leap of gigantic intelligence that would have humbled Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, Lex Luther and Stephen Hawkins.

It was a moment of pure comic book geekiness that has been unsurpassed in the annals of geekdom.


DC Comics put dinosaurs into a World War II comic.

It began in Star Spangled War Stories #93, in 1961, when a patrol of marines, searching a Pacific island, discovered dinosaurs crawling out of a deep crevasse. The corporal leading the patrol instantly realized that an earthquake must have awakened the dinos from suspended animation. (He knew about such things, I suppose, because he was a corporal.)

For month after month, through 40+ issues of Star Spangled War, then later in Weird War Tales and a visit by the Haunted Tank in one issue of G.I. Combat, U.S. soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen would stumble across that island and go up against dinosaurs, giant spiders, giant snakes and other monsterous creatures. Allied Intelligence seemed to have failed badly in keeping the troops adviced about the island, because everyone is always suprised by the existence of the monsters.

The stories themselves were pretty standard in terms of plot or character. Often, there would some sort of conflict between two of the men trapped on the island--guys with a grudge against each other who would have to learn to work together to survive. But these short (usually 12-page) stories didn't really worry about characterization. They were there for the pure geekiness of the idea and to showcase the work of some very fine artists (Joe Kubert and Neil Adams among others). In nearly every issue, the cover art alone was worth more than the price of the book.


My first encounter with this series was a reprint of the story from Star Spangled War #95. The "Guinea Pig Patrol" was a platoon of paratroopers being flown into an area where another platoon had vanished without a trace, hoping to find out what happened to them.

Well, they found out, all right. Their plane is torn apart by a pteradactyl. Those that manage to bail out "shoot down" the pteradactyl with a barrage of hand grenades. They land in the ocean, where a half-dozen of them use the torn-off wing of the plane for a raft. A wounded soldier manages to hand them a bazooka before he sinks under for the last time, giving them a weapon that might allow them to fend off the hoards of prehistoric creatures that are attacking them. After that, the story is simply a series of encounters with various dinosaurs until they're rescued by a submarine.

The interior art for this issue was by Ross Andru and it's simply fantastic. The action is carried along in an exciting manner. The various set pieces (like firing a bazooka rocket into the water to "torpedo" an approaching dinosaur) are probably complete nonsense from any realistic point-of-view, but look just so cool on the page that they make your toes curl. When I saw this as a 12-year-old comic book nerd who read incessently about both dinosaurs and World War II, this was Heaven. I didn't even care about the myriad scientific inaccuracies (such as all dinosaurs, even the herbivores, being portrayed as savage meat-eaters).

In fact, even as a grown-up, it's still close enough to Heaven so as to make no difference at all. World War II and dinosaurs. Why didn't Shakespeare, Dickens or Twain ever come up with anything that good.

This thread seems to be slowly building a readership. I only just ran across it, and read through it over the last few days. I remember a few of these stories, but many more I missed. One forgets how much fun the classic comic stories could be (some of them). Okay sometimes the plot holes were so big you finished them and said "huh?" and they may not have had the gravitas of modern comics, but they were fun. One of the reasons I enjoyed the first story arc of Batman/Superman was that it reminded me so much of these "fun" comics - heroes teaming up, heroes fighting each other, massive armies of supervillains, time travelers, bigger than life plot twists. (President of the US goes crazy and starts balsting at things in a hihg-tech battlesuit - gotta love it.)

Anyway, thank you Kalel21 for the great reviews. I've enjoyed your articles on interpreting the pulp and now the 19th century characters in light of clix dials. And now these too.

Anyway to pitch in my two cents, here's a comic that's always been one of my favorites: Marvel Two-in-One #51

It begins with the Thing arriving at Avengers' Mansion for an "emergency". He's met my Nick Fury who leads him to the rest of the Avengers with a great sense of urgency. It seems there's no time to lose. Except we soon find that the emergency is that everyone's waiting on the Thing to start poker night.

To my knowledge this was the first comic to use the "superhero poker night" idea, and for some reason it really caught my imagination - all these larger than life heroes getting together to just to play some cards. You can't be saving the world all the time. Even superheroes like to hang out with their friends. It must have resonated with some others as well because it's a device that's been used fairly regulary since.

Of course being a comic book, this can't last. The game is interrupted by a real emergency: a renegade general and his personal army have stolen the Yellow Claw's Sky Dragon airship from a SHIELD arsenal and use it to attack the SHIELD Helicarrier in an attempt to steal the Yellow Claw's Ultimate Annihilator. (Not to be confused with the Ultimate Nullifier. What the Yellow Claw thought of all this no one says). The Thing and Fury, along with Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man and the Beast fly off to stop them. What follows is a mid-air battle between the heroes and the terrorists full of action, light-hearted banter and big colorful sound effects (POW! KLUG! WUUMPH!)

It's a fun comic from the days when comics were fun. No one was trying to write the great American novel in comic form here. Just forty cents worth of pure entertainment.

I've recently reclaimed my youthful collection of comics from my parents' house so hopefully I'll be able to find the time to go back through them and relive the fun. And if I find any that are worth mentioning, I'll be sure to bring them up.

Sorry this took me a while--I had to dig pretty deep into my collection to find the title I wanted to include here.

Batman #251 (September, 1973) "The Joker's Five Way Revenge."
Written by Denny O'Neil, Art by Neal Adams.

This comic really helped establish Batman as my favorite character. And it revolves around the #1 classic villain--The Joker.

The Joker has broken out again and is out to kill off his old gang of thugs- he suspects one of them betrayed him and got him locked up. Batman has to find the gang and try to protect them before the Joker can kill them off.

Batman starts off with a retired boxer, The Joker's ex-hired muscle, who is practicing in the ring. Batman tries to convince him to turn himself in for police protection. The boxer "accidentally" punches Batman a few times. Batman takes a few, being a good sport--"Perfectly all right." "Think nothing of it." When he has had enough, he starts swinging back, punctuating his requests with some devastating combinations. The old thug hits the canvas. He reconsiders Batman's offer of protective custody. "Seeing as how you put it like THAT... jail ain't such a bad joint!" He takes a swig of water "to take the taste of your knuckles out of my mouth," and starts laughing...and laughing...and laughs himself to death! The Joker has spiked his water bucket with laughing nerve toxin! Round one goes to The Joker!

Batman doesn't have much luck with the next few ex-thugs. The Joker seems to be one step ahead of him the whole way. At one point, The Joker has just hanged one of his old accomplices and is hiding in the same room, as Batman comes in. The Joker gets the drop on him and clubs him in the back of the head, then smashes his boot into Batman's face! Batman is down and out, The Joker standing triumphantly over him, his foot on Batman's throat!

The Joker sees this as a hollow victory--he had always envisioned his winning as the result of cunning after a bitter struggle between Batman and himself..."him using his detective skills, and me employing the divine gift men call madness!"

So, he lets Batman live--until he can destroy him properly!

The chase for the final thug leads Batman to an abandoned aquarium--the clinching clue was the oily sand residue that The Joker's boot left on Batman's face! (a great touch!)

The Joker is already there, with the aged henchman (in a wheel chair) perched atop an enormous fish tank. In the water is a huge shark that The Joker has found on the beach, half dead from an oil spill. (Hence the oily sand on his boots!)

Batman agrees to go into the tank with the shark if The Joker will spare the old man. The Joker kicks the bound hero into the tank, then pushes the old man in the wheelchair in, too! Batman yells "You promised!" The Joker replies "I'm a NOTORIOUS liar! Ta-Ta, all! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Batman has to fight off the shark, using the chain that binds his wrists as a makeshift garrotte, slippin it into the shark's mouth and getting onto its back, pulling with all his strength--he breaks the shark's spine! Then (if THAT wasn't enough for you) he uses the old man's wheelchair to break the glass of the tank!

The old man is OK, and Batman takes off after The Joker, who is still there in the Aquarium. A chase starts, with The Joker hollering back to him, "Ohhh, Batman! I've seen you angry like this--often! Nobody alive can beat you when the anger is upon you!...You'll get no battle from me! I may be insane...but I'm not crazy! So, I'll run away--and live to put egg on your face another day!"

At this point, there is a full page rendering of Batman running across the sand with the full moon behind him, grim determination on his face, sand kicking up under his boots--this is a classic, iconic vision of the Dark Knight--one that has stuck with me for decades. Such a great image, DC used it on jigsaw puzzles and t-shirts and in all kinds of Batman related ads, etc. A great drawing that really captures the spirit of Batman--then and now.

Needless to say, Batman catches The Joker before he can make his getaway. (The Joker slips in the oily residue on the sand before he can reach his get away car.) Batman clobbers him and as he leads him off to Arkham, he notes that it is funny that The Joker "...my arch-enemy--would make me grateful for pollution!"

A couple of key points about this comic that makes it stand out to me:

The cover--A gigantic image of The Joker straddling the city of Gotham, holding a large playing card (Ace of Spades) with Batman manacled to its front ...and a banner headline that reads "LOOK OUT GOTHAM! THE JOKER'S BACK IN TOWN!" That evil, grinning face--designed to make kids afraid of clowns for life!

Another classic frame--Batman finds The Joker in the aquarium, framed by a display of enormous shark jaws and teeth.

One of the ex-henchmen escapes from Batman, runs back to his flop house to grab his gun and knife--as he is looking into a cabinet for these items, he thinks "In a couple of minutes, my troubles will be over." Behind him, with that trademark evil grin, The Joker is just standing there. The thug's troubles WILL be over, indeed.

If you haven't ever read this comic, I have to recommend it as a must read--certainly for any Batman fan. But, really, any comic book fan would agree that this is a classic--great art, great dialogue, a complete story in one issue, and The Joker at his best!

Sorry if this ran long.

Let me also recommend

X-Men/Teen Titans Crossover
1982, Chris Claremont & Walt Simonson

Crossovers are always fun, and when you crossover with teams, so much the better. This one's from the early 80's when the X-Men were just becoming popular, but weren't yet prima donnas. It features Darkseid and Dark Phoenix, as well as Deathstroke in the adversarial roles.

Darkseid's plot is to resurrect Dark Phoenix, and using her powers, turn Earth into a new Apokolips. He begins by stealing residual psychic energy that the Phoenix left with the X-Men while they sleep, until he gets to Kitty Pride who wakes up and alerts the others to the intruder. He then hires Deathstroke to set up power siphon at the other sites where she had manifested her power.

Raven meanwhile is disturbed by dreams of Phoenix. She tells Starfire about them and Kori recognizes her description, having heard of Dark Phoenix's destruction of D'Bari. The Titans uncover her association with the X-Men and raid Xavier's School. Professor X is alone there while the X-Man are off trying to stop Deathstroke. They overpower him, but Darkseid has sent parademons (Simonson draws cool Parademons) to capture the X-Men. Mistaking the Titans for the X-Men, they capture them instead. Meanwhile Deathstroke manages to almost single-handedly defeat the X-Men.

With both the X-Men and Titans in fetters on a small asteroid near the great Promethean Wall, Darkseid uses the residual Phoenix energy to bring Dark Phoenix back. Leaving the heroes marooned, the villains go off to execute Darkseid's plan. The heroes get over their initial misunderstandings and join forces, use Metron's chair to return to Earth (it's not as much of a Deus ex Machina as it sounds, as Claremont did set it up in the introduction) and defeat the villains.

One interesting thing about this comic is that normally for crossovers, the writer comes up with some contrived explanation for bridging the two worlds. Claremont wrote the story as if the ###### and ## worlds had always been one. In one panel Cyborg observes, "This used to be a skyscraper 'til it got trashed by the X-men. Media describes 'em as outlaws. I wonder why the Titans have never tangled with 'em."

It was obvious that Claremont was the X-Men's primary writer as he really gave them depth and captured the characters perfectly, but he also does a good job with the Titans. He does stretch Beast Boy's powers a tad, but its forgivable. And the ultimate defeat of the villains is nicely done. One of the best crossover stories I've read.

Since when is it taboo to name the two big comic companies?

That is odd--especially if you note that in the post above yours, I mentioned ## without getting censored...

Whoa! Now it got me, too! I wrote that other review last night. Must have just started doing that this morning--on April Fool's Day! Coincidence? I think not!

Same thought occurred to me just now. You beat me to the post.

That would be a good gag. I wonder if it works for any indy companies?

How about Impact? Charleston? Image?

Guess not.

You can see I am not much of an indy reader...Charleston? That has to be ancient, but it is one of the only ones I remember!

Deacon and Gargantua:

Thanks for the reviews you contributed. I appreciate your input and you both made great choices for your subjects.

Kalel21--
Thank you for starting a great thread...I have another comic I'd like to include here. Maybe tonight I can get it posted.

Defenders #15-16

Baby Magneto looks just plain cute sitting on the floor of the U.N. Building in his oversize helmet.

Baby Magneto? Yes, and chubby little baby Blob and baby Unus the Untouchable and baby Mastermind and pretty little baby Lorelie.

How, you might ask, did the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants end up quite literally living out a second childhood? It all begins in Defenders #15, when Doctor Strange receives a psychic message from Professor X. Magneto is planning something horrific and the X-Men are off on a mission. Can the Defenders help?

They can, so Dr. Strange, Nighthawk, Valkerie and Hulk, with Professor X in tow, head off to a remote area of the Southwest, where they confront Magneto and the Brotherhood in the process of using advanced alien technology to create the ultimate mutant.

A battle ensues, but the good guys are not able to stop the experiment. Alpha, a 20-foot-tall mutant of obviously limited intelligence, is born. He is indeed the ultimate mutant, with powers that evolve to do whatever he needs to do. For instance, after enduring one mystic blast from Dr. Strange, he is able to erect a force field to protect him from further attacks. He becomes stronger and tougher than the Hulk after getting punched once.

But, unfortunately for Magneto, Alpha is evolving in intelligence and moral fortitude as well as in raw power. Magneto uses Alpha to teleport to New York and kidnap the entire United Nations, levitating the U.N. Building into the air. But Alpha begins to question the morality of these actions.

It all ends with Alpha basically switching sides, zapping the evil mutants back to infancy before zipping off into space to explore the universe.

The concept of the all-powerful being dealing with moral questions is a fairly common science fiction concept, but it's always a good one if done well. Writer Len Wein constructs a good plot and keeps his entire cast in character. The art by Sal Buscema and Klaus Janson is good and the action flows along nicely.

It's also always nice to see a story that crosses over characters from other books without requiring you to buy those books just to get the entire story. Professor X's presence in the story and his motive for asking the Defenders for help are perfectly reasonably--it's another example of using a cohesive fictional universe to tell an entertaining story.

And the ending is really pretty cool. At the beginning of the review, I was making a little fun of it, but in the context of the story it works really well. Alpha doesn't just destroy the mutants he has come to realize are evil--instead, he gives them a second chance at life. A chance at redemption. It's a great ending.

But I can't help it. Baby Magneto is just so cute. I have to wonder, though: How do you change the diapers of Unus the Untouchable?