Superman #223

Bought at Has Been Collectible Toys and Comics, Wilbraham MA USA.

Title: Superman
Issue: 223
Date: January, 1970
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cary Bates, Henry Boltinoff
Artist: Curt Swan, Henry Boltinoff
Editor: Mort Weisinger

Clark Kent encounters three women who know that he's Superman. They soon reveal themselves to be part of an extraterrestrial team of superheroes who are considering recruiting him for their team. But a test of his powers goes badly wrong, Superman soon finds himself facing a new threat to Earth.

So, this is one of those stories where everything would have been solved much more easily if people had just talked to each other. It's got a bunch of plot twists, a surprise guest appearance, and the general silly vibe typical of Silver Age DC.

The story is a fairly entertaining ride, but the grim situations that come up don't mesh with the overall goofy flavor of the story. The superheroine team, the Galactons, turn out to be not what they seemed, which is too bad, because their introduction was pretty intriguing, and they might have made interesting longer-term characters.

Rating: 5.5/10

Action Comics #1000

I bought this at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH this past summer.

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 1000
Date: June 2018
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dan Jurgens, Peter J. Tomasi, Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, Scott Snyder, Tom King, Louise Simonson, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, Brian Michael Bendis, Cindy Goff, Curt Swan, Bob Rozakis, Kurt Schaffenberger, Butch Guice
Artist: Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund, Patrick Gleason, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Curt Swan, Butch Guice, Kurt Schaffenberger, Bob Rozakis, Olivier Coipel, Rafael Albuquerque, Clay Mann, Jerry Ordway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Kevin Nowlan, Walter Simonson, John Cassaday, Jorge Jimenez, Jim Lee, Scott Williams
Colorist: Hi-Fi, Alejandro Sanchez, Peter Steigerwald, Dave McCaig, Jordie Bellaire, Trish Mulvihill, Brennan Wagner, Laura Martin, Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Rob Leigh, Tom Napolitano, Nick Napolitano, John Workman, Carlos M. Mangual, Josh Reed, Chris Eliopoulos, Cory Petit
Cover: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair,
Editor: Paul Kaminski, Andrea Shea

I love these big-round-number issues! At one point, when DC made the idiotic decision to renumber Action and Detective, it looked like we might never get here, but fortunately the original numbering was restored a few years back, and so here we are at #1000.

This is an anthology featuring some truly legendary Superman writers and artists, most of it assembled around a loose theme of inspiration: How Supermans is an inspiration, and more importantly, how the courage of ordinary people serves as an inspiration to Superman.

The opening story had Superman reluctantly attending a Superman appreciation event in Metropolis with some encouragement from Lois Lane, and a bit of behind-the-scenes manipulating that took on a distinctively silly Silver-Age vibe.

Next up was "Never-Ending Battle", a sort of walk down memory lane in the form of single-panel pages taken from various alternate timeline and Elseworlds-style adventures, all framed around a battle with Vandal Savage. This was aimed right at the hardcore fans who have read every story. Casual readers were going to miss a lot here.

"The Enemy Within" features Maggie Sawyer and the question of how Superman decides which crisis to intervene in with so many things always happening at the same time. This was handled pretty well, considering the difficulty of the question it was addressing, and Maggie came off great.

"The Car" was my favorite story in this issue, a throwback to Action Comics #1 set in the 1930s that answers (among other questions) what became of that car that Superman is demolishing on the famous Action #1 cover.

"The Fifth Season" was a great little Lex Luthor vignette, and "Of Tomorrow" was a sentimental far-future piece.

My second-favorite story was "Five Minutes", focusing on the staff of the Planet, with a some introspective moments leading to a humorous ending.

"Actionland" featured Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Brad Meltzer's "Faster Than A Speeding Bullet" was another story hitting the theme of ordinary people inspiring Superman, in this case with the action condensed down to a second or less.

The last story was a preview of the upcoming Brian Michael Bendis run, and it introduced a new villain who didn't seem to have much trouble beating Superman and Supergirl. The book ends with the new villain making some "shocking" revelations about Krypton and Superman's origin story.

The opening and ending stories were my least favorite in the book, which is unfortunate, since those were the ones most tied to current continuity. This was my first introduction to Superman and Lois' son since I haven't been reading much in the way of current in-continuity comics, and he comes off mostly as annoying.

Rogol Zaar, the new villain, certainly comes off as powerful, but that's not difficult to write, and the tone of the scene was uneven, with some weak humor mixed into what should have come off as a grim scenario. The tease of big new revelations (read retcons) didn't do much for me either. I don't need every new writer to rework Superman's past.

But that being said, there was plenty to like in this book. Most of the one-shot stories with well thought out, with some pleasant surprises. And as mentioned earlier, the cast of talent here is spectacular.

There was a lot of beautiful artwork, and enough of the nostalgic and introspective stuff to make this special in the way it needed to be.

Rating: 7/10

World's Finest #159

And now for something a bit different. I got this comic at The Comic Shop in Randolph MA USA last summer. This is one of the oldest books I've reviewed. Older than me by two years, in fact!

Title: World's Finest
Issue: #159
Date: August, 1966
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Edmond Hamilton, Ed Herron
Penciller: Curt Swan, Lee Elias
Inker: George Klein, Lee Elias
Editor: E. Nelson Bridwell, Mort Weisinger
Cover: Curt Swan, George Klein

Some classic Silver-Age stuff here, including the Fortress of Solitude, the Bottle City of Kandor, and gold kryptonite!

In the main story, Perry White and Commissioner Gordon get tours of the Fortress of Solitude and the Batcave in preparation for a series of Daily Planet articles on the greatest foes of Superman and Batman. But shortly thereafter, a villainous duo known as Anti-Superman and Anti-Batman appear. They have powers to match those of the World's Finest, and seem to know an awful lot of the secrets of Superman and the Batman as well. To make matters worse, they've got their hands on a piece of gold kryptonite! (If you are familiar with Silver Age DC, the implications of that should be well, scary. I mean, except for the fact that it's Silver Age DC, where nothing ever had really scary implications.).

After some back-and-forth battles and a fair amount of investigation, the mystery, which proves to be very typical Silver-Age convoluted, is solved.

This was harmless fun, with Batman and Robin in full 1966-TV mode ("Holy Santa Claus!"), not to mention the full array of goofy Superman gimmicks. There are brief appearances by classic villains Toyman, Prankster, Penguin, and even the Joker, but these don't end up amounting to much. There's also an emotional moment involving Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, which still doesn't quite manage to raise the story beyond the level of silly.

The backup story was basically a parody of Green Arrow's ridiculous trick arrow gimmicks. Green Arrow and Speedy attend a circus where they meet a clown/impersonator who goes by the name of Green Error and does an act making fun of Ollie. Ollie takes the whole thing in good humor, but when robbers strike the circus, there is a mixup of equipment, and Ollie and Speedy have to use Green Error's even-more-ridiculous trick arrow gimmicks to catch the thieves.This dragged one joke out longer than it really needed to, but the basic idea was pretty funny.

A couple of other real gems here: A public service comic page reminding teenagers that "The Policeman Is Your Friend" (all the teenagers in the comic page were white; just sayin'.). And the letter column was wonderfully snarky, complete with bad puns and some good trolling of the letter-writers by the editors.

This was fun for the 60s flavor more than anything else. It's a good example of the kind of comics DC was making during this era, and it was amusing to read, even if I had to avoid trying to think too hard about the stories.

Rating: 6.5/10

Superman #269

I love finding inexpensive silver/bronze age comics at the various shows I go to. I picked this one up at the South Attleboro Collectibles Show a couple of weeks ago.

Title: Superman
Issue: 269
Date: November 1973
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cary Bates
Artist: Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson
Editor: Julius Schwartz

Evil circus own BB Farnum (no, really) creates seven Superman puppets each one with the ability to steal one of Superman's powers.

Meanwhile Clark Kent picks up an assignment from Morgan Edge to do an in-depth story about a local sports hero who's a bit of an egotistical jerk. While Clark enjoyed showing up the dumb jock with some sneaky application of superpowers, the puppets begin their work of stripping those very powers away.

The story, although a bit slow in its pacing, does a nice job of showing how Superman remains a hero as his powers diminish, even taking on Farnum and the super-puppets in a seemingly unwinnable final battle.

In the end, we get to see Superman bust out that most classic of Silver Age powers: The super-ventriloquism! Totally makes the ridiculously contrived ending worth it! Gotta love the super-ventriloquism!

I'll also add that the cover is absolutely awesome.

Rating: 7/10

Action Comics #421

Here's an oddity from the 1970s that I picked up today at the South Attleboro Collectibles Show, which capped off my attending four conventions in eight days (Queen City Kamikaze, Boskone, Totalcon, South Attleboro Collectibles Show).

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 421
Date: February 1973
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cary Bates, Elliot Maggin
Artist: Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson, Sal Amendola, Dick Giordano
Editor: Julius Schwartz

Let me guess? This is a tribute, right? Or maybe it's just a coincidence that Superman happens to be going up against a bald musclebound sailor who just happens to gain super strength by eating a special green vegetable? No, really, it's called "sauncha" (hey, that is several letters off from spinach!).

Interestingly, when you google "sauncha", the first entry that comes up is Wikipedia's page on "Captain Strong".

The story is also a bit on the mean-spirited side in the sense that sauncha affects Captain Strong as an addictive drug. He's well-intentioned, and presented as more of a victim than a bad guy, but it was still an unexpected tack if the intention was to pay tribute to Popeye. And it was played a bit too seriously for it to be treated as a spoof.

The story itself is pretty straightforward. Superhero fanboy Billy Anders is trapped in a collapsed building. When the door is busted in, he expects Superman to be the one to rescue him. Instead, it's Captain Strong. Billy tells the story to Clark Kent, while Strong tries to make a deal to sell the secret of his mysterious sauncha vegetable to a greedy businessman. When the food executive tries to doublecross the sailor, Captain Strong shows up looking for revenge (and amped up on a sauncha overdose). Superman arrives and it is ON.

Lots of Silver-Age goofiness, including silly identity-concealing tricks by Clark Kent.

With the weird Popeye ripoff going on, this had me scratching my head more than anything else. It is certainly an interesting curiosity piece.

The backup story featured Green Arrow. Dinah Lance is getting set to open her new flower shop ("Pretty Bird Flower Shoppe"; sorry, guys, "Sherwood Florist" was a much better name). After meeting an obnoxious press agent while saving a theater audience from a forest, Oliver Queen decides that he might just have a future as a publicist. After all, he can out-obnoxious just about anyone. So he promises Dinah that he's going to get her shop on the front page of the local paper.

Then he just has to figure out how to do it. The answer comes in the form of a fugitive mob hitman. All Ollie needs to do is to make sure he apprehends the criminal in exactly the right place.

This is a light story where not much really goes wrong. The action is secondary to the romantic comedy vibe between Dinah and Ollie, which is pretty amusing. It helps that Dinah is gorgeous, in spite of her appearing only in small panels on a couple of pages. It also helps that she's not buy into any of Ollie's attempts to turn on the charm.

Trick Arrow Count: Net arrow, bugging device arrow, siren arrow. Ollie also uses one regular arrow. You know, the pointy kind. Sadly, no boxing glove arrow.

Good backup story and a historically interesting (if only in the "how could this not have resulted in a lawsuit?" sense) main story.

Rating: 6.5/10