Punk Rock and Trailer Parks Part 4

By Derf Backderf

Part 4
- the cops subdue Ronny who was threatening to blow himself up with some plastic explosive that he had shoved up jus ass, which it turns out was just play-doh
- at high school Otto finds out that Teri doesn't know his name, calls him Oscar when he says hi to her; pregnant Bible thumping Becky snaps and stabs Bozman in the forehead with a fork after he relentlessly teases her
- Otto meets the Clash and Lester Bangs (Rolling Stone magazine) at the Bank and takes them bowling in a cutch that has a bowling alley in its basement
- Otto takes Lester and Stiv Bators to the parking lot outside the Journey concert and helps them to flatten the tires of Journey's tour bus
- 9 panel grids, facial expressions, just a little too much "hey aren't you..." (Celebrity worship or name dropping)

3/30

Punk Rock and Trailer Parks Part 3

By Derf Backderf

Part 3

- the Baron gets angry snaps at the guys who were bullying him, runs a teacher off the road because the teacher has been sleeping with some of his students
- the Baron also gets a job at a club (the Bank) and inadvertently does Wendy O. Williams a favor when he buys the wrong brand of shaving cream, which gets her arrested for indecent exposure which gets her lots of publicity
- elf poop must smell great

3/30

Titan 1

By François Vigneault
Apr 2013

Mngr João Da Silva travels to Titan to inspect the operation on Titan

Phoebe Macintosh - Assistant to the union leader

Cyrus - union leader, very unfriendly

Asst Mngr Joans - company liaison assigned to help Da Silva

Part 1: Far, Far Away

Titan is populated by people that are much larger than humans, there is a small community of a few hundred humans but about 50,000 Titans

The human population lives seperately from the Titans and don't usually mingle with the Titans

Da Silva travels to Titan and meets Cyrus, Phoebe, and Joans

Part 2: 99 Problems

João tries mingling with the Titans in their mess hall, this provokes a confrontation with  Phoebe tries telling João to leave and he quickly finds out why when he is confronted by a Titan who doesn't appreciate his presence in the mess hall

It almost turns violent, João weighs the possible and probable outcomes before deciding to back down from insisting on staying put

Cyrus steps in to try and get his man to calm down

João gets into a confrontation in the Titan mess hall

He was warned not to go in by Joans but did so anyway, he tries sitting with Phoebe but also thinks he should leave

A Titan named Alexi gives him a very unfriendly warning which leads the human security detail to attempt to intervene, which only seems to escalate the situation

João tries to explain, Cyrus intervenes and gets Alexi to back off, things calm down

Back in his quarters João reflects on what happened in the mess hall

Obviously things are not good on Titan, much of the equipment is outdated and the company seems reluctant to make the needed capital investments

Relationships between the humans and titans aren't good
3/29

The Shadow (1986) 4

Blood & Judgment Conclusion
By Howard Chaykin
Aug 1986

- the Shadow's operatives (including Harry and Margo) go to work digging up information, wonderfully disjointed; 4 pages of operatives doing their thing and then reporting back to Lorelei
- page 5, finally get a glimpse of Lorelei, and her monkeys, didn't realize she had them until now; her word balloons are heart-shaped which implies something about the way she talks to The Shadow
- Preston Mayrock reveals to Mercy that they have AIDS, which came a bit out of left field and wasn't really followed up on, or maybe it was in the way she dealt with him later
- the Shadow locates Mayrock who reveals himself to be Lamont Cranston, he didn't die after getting thrown off the mountain in 1922 (64 years ago) but he has aged, unlike Allard
- flashback as Mayrock reveals what happened to him, how he survived and ultimately thrived after being left for dead
- Cranston thinks that he holds all the cards but then everything goes sideways for him, his wife, and his son
- first his wife shoots him, killing him, them his son kills his wife, and then the Shadow sends Cranston and his son through a window and plunging to their deaths from the top floor of his casino
- in the end Allard decides to not to return to Shambala, his sons opt to stay with him
- Mercy - she was originally game show hostess, that's where Cranston spotted her; love the way Chaykin draws her especially her hair; she is in love with the Shadow
- Mavis Lockhart - only has a cameo appearance, what happened to her, has she really changed her tune, is she seriously calling him master un ironically or is the reader supposed to read sarcasm into her use of the word master?
- Chaykin is focused on telling a story, not on explaining everything, if you want all the loose ends tied up you are going to be disappointed
- as I suspected it is revealed that the missile with the nuclear warhead is a SAM, unclear how that could carry enough to destroy NYC, was this a mistake on Chaykin's part or Mayrock's or is it true and I'm the one who is wrong? I can see such a missile having an impact, killing a lot of people, causing a lot of damage but not wiping out NYC

Chaykin & the Shadow

- there are a couple Shadow series that were published by DC in the next few years but other than the cover to one issue Chaykin didn't work on them at all, he didn't return to writing and drawing the Shadow until 2014
- 1st work on TS: inked a couple pages of Shadow 4 (Apr/May 1974)
- this mini-series was his second piece of work on TS
- next work cover to TS (1987) Annual 1 (1987)
- after that nothing until 2012

Punk Rock and Trailer Parks Part 2

By Derf Backderf

Part 2
- escaping Terri's brother
- Otto's great uncle, riding lawnmower
- Otto gets bullied (past & present)
- the Bank (Akron)
- the Ramones
- Otto fights back, hanging with the Ramones
- visiting Lisa

The Shadow (1986) 3

Blood & Judgment Part 3
By Howard Chaykin
Jul 1986

- the bigger picture finally starts to come into focus even though the style of storytelling continues to obfuscate and keep the reader from seeing things too clearly, which seems completely appropriate considering that the Shadow is the title character
- Allard sends Margo and Harry with his sons to a safe house because none of them are safe staying at Margo's mansion, Pres has sent men to kill them all, but he keeps Mavis with him
- the Shadow deals with the killers while the others escape, then he and Mavis take off in his flying car
- there is a transition from Allard and company to Mayrock and family that I particularly like, both groups are watching the news
- it becomes explicitly clear in this scene what Mayrock wants, although it is his wife doing the explaining; he wants to travel to Shambala and have his brain transplanted into his son's body; his young wife loves the idea, his son seems very blasé about the whole idea
- the murders are all just to bring the Shadow out in the open and the nuclear weapon is a bargaining chip
- Mavis argues with Allard about his approach dealing with the killers, she hates it but is also attracted to him, in one panel they are arguing and a couple panels later it looks like they might be kissing
- When Allard is communicating with his agents over the radio he uses a different voice which is signified with double square word balloons, which is a nice touch
- Allard is definitely not a bleeding heart or knee jerk liberal, that becomes apparent from his interactions with Mavis, the way he deals with criminals, and his meeting with retired police captain Cardona, which leads him to the Pink Rat Social Club
- he sends Mavis, in disguise, she seems inept but it all turns out to be a ploy to lure one of the flunkies into a trap at another club, Thorazine, in the hopes of getting information out of him
- the Shadow is disguised as the lead singer of the band on stage when the flunky walks in, it was a nice trick, I didn't see it coming
- finally we see Mayrock explaining that he wants to get revenge on the Shadow, although still no explanation as to what TS did to piss him off, and go to Shambala or he will use his nuclear missile (looks like a SAM) on the big apple
- did Mavis sleep with Allard? It is implied that she did; first he asks her to be his friend and confidant, she laughs and asks if Marho got the same proposal years before, and then a couple pages later she is changing clothes in front of him while he lounges about in a robe, hmmmm? And there's also the possible kiss

Punk Rock and Trailer Parks Part 1

By Derf Backderf

Part 1

- Akron, Ohio
- the Baron
- spats
- high school
- band
- Klaus Nomi
- 68 Cougar, modified, plywood floorboard, tiny steering wheel
- the Baron's Domain
- spying on Terri Workman

Amazing Spider-Man 180

Who Was That Goblin I Saw You With?
By Len Wein, Ross Andru, Mike Esposito
May 1978

- A New Goblin Part 5
- Spidey, GG, and Silvermane fall from high above RCMH, at first Spidey tries to save them using his web shooters but GG knocks him out with a sonic toy from his bag of tricks
- all three continue to fall, GG manages to get back on his glider; he grabs Spidey but lets Silvermane fall all the way to the floor
- Silvermane's goons shoot at GG as he escapes with an unconscious Spidey but don't score any hits
- GG flies to an incineration plant in Brooklyn and just as he is about to throw Spidey in to one of the tall exhaust towers Spidey wakes up and breaks free of GG
- Spidey and GG fight, Spidey tries to talk Harry out of what he is doing but GG gets angry and says tells Spidey to stop calling him Harry, Spidey insists and rips off the Goblin mask and is surprised to discover that the face beneath the mask is that of Dr Hamilton, Harry's psychiatrist
- Hamilton explains how he learned all of Harry's secrets during his sessions with him, he verified what Harry told him and then started playing with the Goblin's toys that he found in the hideout that Harry told him about
- Harry shows up also dressed as the Green Goblin, and fights with Hamilton, towards the end of which Harry rips off the costume in disgust at what it has done to his life
- Hamilton has a bomb and attempts to use it to kill Harry and Spidey but Hamilton is the only one who gets killed in the blast, Harry gets knocked unconscious and when he wakes up doesn't remember anything
- Peter takes Harry back to his apartment where Liz Allen, who recently dumped him, is waiting to apologize to him

Avengers (1998) 3

Once An Avenger... Part 3: Fata Morgana
By Kurt Busiek, George Perez, and Al Vey
Apr 1998

- The renegade Avengers regroup in the forest and try to decide what to do next
- Morgan Le Fay flips out when she realizes that the Scarlet Witch has escaped
- MLF sends a warming to the renegades that they had better return SW but they don't have her plus it's news to them that she escaped
- the next morning the renegades try to slip into the castle disguised as monks (a la Robin Hood) but they are quickly found out by the loyal Avengers
- a fight begins and MLF shows up but chooses to sit and watch until SW appears, then the two sorceresses fight, during which it is revealed that MLF infused SW with some of her power thus making her stronger
- MLF is winning the duel until Wonder Man shows up to help but that's still not enough until all the Avengers pitch in to help the Witch channel her energy to Wonder Man
- at some point during the fight MLF lost her hold on the loyal Avengers
- the Avengers win but Wonder Man seems to have been destroyed and everything is returned to the way it was

- a better chapter but still not great stuff, it's a bit too flashy for my tastes, too many characters
- fairly surface level, not much in the way of depth
- the only other Avengers story that I really want to read from this series is Ultron Unlimited, but maybe I'll read something else Avengers-wise before that

The Shadow (1986) 2

Blood & Judgment Part 2
By Howard Chaykin
Jun 1986

- mostly an origin story
- opens where the previous issue left off with The Shadow showing up but not in costume
- the reactions to his return vary quite a bit; it has been decades (30 years according to an angry Margo Lane) but he looks just as young as he did the last time they saw him
- he says it is the murders that forced him to re-emerge and to explain he tells them the story of how he came to be the Shadow
- the story begins in 1922; after serving as a spy in WWI he stayed in Europe, eventually making his way east across Russia to Vladivostok and then south into China to Shanghai
- that's where Kent Allard met Lamont Cranston; Cranston hires him to fly his plane along with some passengers and some sort of previous cargo, which appear to be caskets filled with bodies
- they just barely manage to get airborne when they are attacked by Chinese soldiers, although the plane is damaged which forces them to crash land when they are flying over the Himalayas
- Allard wakes up to find himself and Cranston in the hidden city of Shambala, the rest of the passengers of the plane were forced out of the plane by Cranston when it was still aloft, although he refused to jettison the caskets
- the people of Shambala have healed Allard and improved him, Cranston made it through the crash landing without serious injury
- the city is much more advanced than the outside world
- once Allard is healed Cramston decides he has had enough; he drugs the locals, steals a flying vehicle, and escapes with Allard and their benefactor Rudra Cakrin (the one wh operated on Allard and has provided for them in Shambala)
- Cranston forces Allard at gun point to fly them to the site of the crash where the secret of the caskets is revealed, there is heroin stashed in the bodies
- Allard and Cranston get into a fight, Allard throws Cranston off the side of the mountain and then returns with Rudra to Shambala
- with training he gains the abilities that will later serve him well as the Shadow
- in the final scene of the issue the focus shifts to the elderl, wheelchair-bound Preston Mayrock, Mercy (his young wife) and his adult son; the big reveal here seems to be that they have a small missile with a nuclear warhead and that they want to use it to take out the Shadow

- Shambala bits of the story is reminiscent of the movie Lost Horizon, although only in passing
- I don't have a lot of history with The Shadow and I always thought his real name was Lamont Cranston not Kent Allard, and that Cranston was someone else
- the way that Chaykin tells the story visually makes it tough to digest it in a single sitting; he doesn't mince words or waste panels; every panel is important in that it conveys information that is crucial to understanding the story as a whole; also there are no standard page layouts in this story, from one page to the next the panel layouts vary sometimes quite a bit

Legion of Super-Heroes 294

The Great Darkness Saga Conclusion
Darkseid
By Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, and Larry Mahlstedt

- Opens with 9 legionnaires (Brainiac 5, Dawnstar, Wildfire, Element Lad, Star Boy, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, Shadow Lass, Timber Wolf) on the planet from which Darkseid emerged; B5 explains that the planet must be Apokolips, love the use of shadows on these pages

- Dream Girl, Sun Boy, Invisible Kid, and White Witch still have the boy delivered to them by the spell cast on Sorcerer's World (LSH 292); Dream Girl decides to call in more reserves (Legion of Substitute Heroes, Supergirl)

- 3 billion Daxamites create havoc in the universe in the name of Darkseid; get glimpses of other individuals and groups (Dev-Em, the Heroes of Lallor, the Wanderers, Thanagarians, and the Legion of Substitute Heroes) fighting the Daxamites; there are some great pages here including a couple (4, 8) which are made up of 4 vertical panels and one splash page of the Legion of Substitute Heroes

- led by the SoD who rides on an Astroglider, a large group of Daxamites attack the LSH cruiser bearing the young boy who has grown quite a bit in the short time he has been with them, but not quite as fast as Alexander Luthor will in CoIE

- first the SoD attempts to take the boy only to be repelled by Sun Boy, then the SoD has the Daxamites tear the ship to pieces and he grabs the boy and he takes him to Darkseid

- the legionnaires are saved by White Witch who casts a spell to keep herself and the legionnaires (DG, Light Lass, Blok, SB, IK) from dying; we get another 4 vertical panel page as WW reflects on the nature of magic and tries to think of a way to save herself and the others, who are all unconscious

- WW wakes up to find that she and the other legionnaires have been saved by some of their teammates, somehow without realizing it, she managed to cast a spell calling for help

- LSH BoomTube to Daxam thanks to WW, love the art especially the way the second panel which shows WW casting a teleportation spell is drawn and colored (red, white, pink, yellow) and the close up on her eyes a couple panels later

-  Interlude 1: Chameleon Boy is chased by a Daxamite boy on Takron Galtos but manages to throw him into Validus' cell without using his powers, because he can't with the inhibitor on his antennae; Validus is one of the Fatal Five, and this is not the last that will be seen of the boy he shows up again in the first arc of the Legion of Super-Heroes baxter or 1984 series collected in An Eye for an Eye

- Interlude 2: Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet back at Legion HQ battle the female SoD, shrinking Violet causes the SoD to have a stroke by shrinking down, entering her body, and blocking the flow of blood in her brain

- LSH arrive on Daxam and battle the Daxamites, great splash page followed by some other great pages

- the child reveals he has been helping WW cast her spells and once again helps her this time to cast a spell moving the people from Daxam to Apokolips and vice versa

- Element Lad changes the air of Daxam to make it 1 part per 1000 lead which is enough to cancel their powers and soon there are Daxamites falling from the sky

- Darkseid gets impatient and strikes down most of the legionnaires, each in a different way and then goes after the young boy, all that stands between DS and the boy is Shadow Lass who uses her powers of Darkness to envelop the two of them

- Darkseid sends his astroglider riding SoD into the Dark Bubble generated by SL but when it bursts the boy has become Highfather and the SoD is now Orion; footnote: Anybody who doesn't know the story of the 20th Century War of the New Gods... too much to explain here

- while Orion and Darkseid fight, Highfather, in his final act restores the dead legionnaires to life

- Orion fights valiantly but ultimately is killed by Darkseid but before DS can get the upper hand Superboy (or is it Superman?) and Supergirl show up to battle Darkseid, they are protected from the red sun by Highfather's magic

- Darkseid zaps Superman/boy back to the 20th century with his omega beams but SG gives him a run for his money and almost defeats him on her own, in the end she underestimates the DS, similar to the way she falters in CoIE when she is killed by the Anti-Monitor but in this case she is saved by the restored legionnaires

- Darkseid laughs when the legionnaires seem confident that they can defeat him but then he sees why, he no longer controls the Daxamites and they have joined forces with the Wanderers and the Heroes of Lallor and are headed his way

- rather than surrender DS vanishes but not before cursing the legion and telling them that their purest member shall be the next to die

- Epilogue 1: Light Lass and Timber Wolf - LL is willing to try to give their relationship another try but she has decided she needs to quite the team and if TW wants to be with her then he will have to come with her

- Epilogue 2: Brainiac 5 and Supergirl - SG says goodbye to B5 before returning to the 20th century, flirts with him, which he doesn't realize she is doing until she has flown off

- Splash pages
1 - Darkseid, heroes in silouette, red sun
7 - Legion of Subsitute Heroes fighting Daxamites on Weber's World
20 - LSH versus Daxamites
25 & 26 - Double Page Spread - Darkseid and son emerging from a warp the attack Light Lass, Shadow Lass, and the boy
37 - Darkseid seeing the swarm of Heroes of Lallor, the Wanderers, and the Daxamites headed his way, reflected on his face

- the female legionnaires play crucial roles in this story
- White Witch - with her spells with some help from Highfather
- Supergirl taking on Darkseid after Kal-El has been sent back to the 20th Century
- Shrinking Violet, single handed , defeating one of the SoD

- similar to the annual this issue bears re-reading for all the little details that are included in it, I had lots of fun researching all the details especially about the minor characters who show up here briefly and just pulling it all apart and looking at how neatly it all flows together


Additional Notes on Characters, Teams, and Places

Dev-Em - survivor of Krypton, on Krypton he was Kal-El's babysitter; escaped Krypton thanks to Jor-El's warning and his own preparations, later left the 20th century and traveled to the 30th century where he joined the Interstellar Counterintelligence Corps; makes several more appearances in LSH, pre-CoIE but largely disappears after that

Adventure Comics 287 (Aug 1961)
Adventure Comics 288 (Sep 1961)
Adventure Comics 320 (May 1964)

Links: Comic Book DB - Wikipedia


Heroes of Lallor - Beast Boy (deceased), Duplicate Boy, Evolvo Lad, Gas Girl, Life Lass

Originally known as the Legion of Super-Outlaws, they were good guys who where tricked into fighting the LSH, their powers come from their parents who were exposed to radiations (sounds like the X-Men), as a team they had three appearance prior to GDS, although Duplicate Boy had a few more appearances without the rest of the team and also had a romantic relationship with Shrinking Violet, the group had a few more appearances in LSH pre-CoIE (5) and a few more (4) afterwards

Adventure Comics 324 (Sep 1964)
Adventure Comics 339 (Dec 1965)
Superboy 200 (Jan/Feb 1974) - guests at Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy's Wedding

Links: Comic Book DB - Wikipedia


Wanderers - Celebrand, Psyche, Quantum Queen, Elvo, Dartalg, Ornitho, Immorto

A team of 30th Century adventurers who in their first appearance fought the LSH because they had been turned evil temporarily, they later got their own ongoing series in the late 1980s which lasted for 13 issues, but nothing since then

Adventure Comics 375 (Dec 1968)
Superboy 200 (Jan/Feb 1974) - guests at Duo Damsel and Bouncing Boy's Wedding

Links: Comic Book DB - Wikipedia


Legion of Substitute-Heroes - super-powered heroes who applied for membership in the LSH but were rejected; in this issues we see Polar Boy, Night Girl, Chlorophyll Kid, Fire Lad, Stone Boy

Previously seen in Annual 1,

Adventure Comics 306 (March 1963) - first appearance, 11 total in Adventure Comics
Superboy - 9 appearances 200 - 254
Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen 72 (October 1963)
Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane 47 (February 1964)
Secret of the Legion of Super-Heroes 3 (March 1981)

1980s, Post GDS Appearances

Legion of Substitute Heroes Special
DC Comics Presents 59
Secret Origins 37

Links: Comic Book DB - Wikipedia


Weber's World - artificial planet built by the United Planets government, played a role in the Earthwar story arc (Superboy 241-245) also written by Paul Levitz, in which the Legion faces off against the Khunds, the Dark Circle, the Dominators, and Modru

Amazing Spider-Man 179

The Goblin's Always Greener…!
By Len Wein, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito
Apr 1978

- Part 4 of A New Goblin

- crazy cover: how did Silvermane get up there? It looks like he's flying

- was that supposed to be Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland in the theater sitting next to Silvermane?

- Spidey escapes from the Green Goblin's polymer bag thanks to Silvermane's goons who fire a bazooka at the pair, which damages both the bag and GG's glider, Spidey is briefly the prisoner of The goons but quickly escapes

- Peter finally makes his way to the hospital and signs the consent forms

- GG returns to his lair on his damaged glider; he's there for his spare glider, he messes with his prisoner some more but soon takes off to look for Silvermane, upon whom he has secretly planted a transmitter during their last encounter (ASM 177)

- GG finds Silvermane at Radio City Music Hall (he's there to see the Rockettes), panic ensues at RCMH once GG makes his entrance flying over the crowd on his glider

- Robbie Robertson shows up at the hospital to provide emotional support to Peter but after getting a call from JJJ, he sends Peter to RCMH to cover the riot unaware that GG and Silvermane are the cause of the disturbance

- once Peter arrives and sees the dueling villains he changes into costume and joins the fight, he tries to save Silvermane from getting nabbed by GG but this leads to all three of them falling from high above the floor, cliffhanger!

- finally, GG's prisoner escapes after cutting the ropes loose from his hands using the sharp edge of the broker glider that GG discarded, he rips off his mask to reveal that he is Harry Osborn and he's mad as hell

The Shadow (1986) 1

Blood & Judgment Part 1
By Howard Chaykin
May 1986

- confusing at first, well, for most of the chapter
- lots of murders, at least 5, the murders are layered in with the introductions of characters who will presumably play important roles in the story: the Shadow, Harry Vincent, Mr. Mayrock (plus his young wife and son by an earlier relationship), Mavis Lockhart, Margo Lane, and Ching Yao Chang
- a reporter (Mavis) who turns out to be the daughter of a former associate (Harry) of the Shadow
- a journey from a city high in the Himalayas
- finally the Shadow, at the very end, although he was in it all along
- very disjointed and choppy in the way the story is told, which from all appearances is intentional
- definitely worth reading more than once as it is a little easier to read on subsequent readings, and much easier to put the pieces together

- nice intro to the Shadow and the publication and radio history of The Shadow by Anthony Tollin
- interview/conversation about the genesis of this story between Joe Orlando and Howard Chaykin

3/10

Amazing Spider-Man 178

Green Grows the Goblin
By Len Wein, Ross Andru, and Jim Mooney
Mar 1978

- part 3 of A New Goblin
- GG leaves the meeting at the WTC after promising to kill Spider-Man and bring back his body as proof
- after GG leaves SM inadvertently reveals his presence to Silvermane and his flunkies, after a scuffle with the gangsters SM escapes
- GG returns to his lair to resupply his weapons and visit briefly with his prisoner who tries in vain to escape
- Spidey returns home to study but can't stop thinking about GG and soon decides to go back out; just before he leaves he gets a call from MJ who tells him that AM is still in the hospital and the doctor needs him to sign the consent form so he can perform an operation on AM
- PP agrees to meet MJ at the hospital and heads there but on the way gets attacked by GG
- final scene (similar to the one on the cover) from inside AM's hotel room: MJ is with comatose wondering when PP will arrive, outside is Spidey wrapped up in a polymer steel bag getting dragged away by GG
- once again it is implied that GG's prisoner is Dr Hamilton and that GG is Harry Osborn, but what if it is just the opposite?

Legion of Super-Heroes 293

The Great Darkness Saga Part 4
Within the Darkness...
By Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, and Larry Mahlstedt
Nov 1982

- The Master of Darkness arrives on Daxam and uses his powers of persuasion to enslave the 3 million residents, he uses his power to make Daxam and the world on which he emerged from to change places, and now Daxam is bathed in the rays of a yellow sun, rather than red which unleashes the potential of the Daxamites as they become powerful like Mon-El
- he has the Daxamites reshape their planet into a monument to their new master who is finally revealed to be Darkseid
- the legion does not encounter the Master of Darkness but when they land on the planet that switched places with Daxam they are confronted by his servants
- for the first time the Legion has some major success in battling the SoD
- the first legionnaires on the scene are Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl; they get blindsided by the SoD
- the next team to arrive is Wildfire and Dawnstar but are soon followed by Element Lad, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, Starboy, and Superboy
- Dawnstar gets abducted early in the fight
- the legionnaires use what they know about the origins of the SoD to knock two of them down for the count
- Wildfire uses yellow sun radiation or yellow fire to vaporize the egg headed SoD, think about it, yellow is the weakness of the GL rings
- Superboy tries taking on his clone but he doesn't fare very well so Element Lad uses his powers to first create a protective lead shell around Superboy and they turn the rocks around the SoD to Gold Kryptonite which permanently robs him of his powers after which Timber Wolf smashes him to pieces
- interlude: Chameleon Boy in prison, fighting against other Durlan prisoners; he is able to defeat them without the use of his powers which none of them are able to use because of the devices on their antennae; after the fight he gets a visit from his father RJ Brande which is a tear filled reunion of the father and son who haven't seen each other since before Chameleon Boy led the espionage squad to Khundia

3/7

Amazing Spider-Man 177

Goblin in the Middle
By Len Wein, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito
Feb 1978

- Part 2 of A New Goblin
- Spidey saves Flash but Green Goblin escapes
- Flash doesn't think that Harry is the Goblin, but Spidey does
- GG returns to his lair where he has a bound, gagged, and hooded prisoner, no explicit reveals as to who it is but it is implied that it is Dr. Hamilton
- GG doesn't hang with his prisoner for long, he spends the next hour or two attacking mobsters trying to find out where some meeting is going to take place, apparently he wants to become the crime boss of NYC
- Eventually he gets someone to tell him the meeting is at the World Trade Center and he crashes in, Silvermane is in charge
- PP visits his aunt in the hospital, later while breaking up a gangland execution he stumbles across an invitation to the meeting at the WTC and heads there, he gets there just in time to watch GG tangle with SM's muscle and then reveal that he knows Spidey's secret identity
- nicely setting things up
- there is a quick recap of Spidey's history with GG on page 8, which mention how the original Goblin knew his secret identity, mentions the death of Gwen Stacey and GG 1, and Harry taking on the identity of the Goblin and being cured until Liz dumped him
- Aunt May experiences more chest pain after Peter leaves

Amazing Spider-Man 176

He Who Laughs Last…!
By Len Wein, Ross Andru, and Tony DeZuniga
Jan 1978

- Part 1 of A New Goblin
- Spider-Man bickers with J Jonah Jameson as he takes him home, which  is follow up to the previous story which involved the Punisher
- Spidey heads home to get some rest
- later (the next day?) he goes looking for Aunt May only to find her at a protest, where she gets into an argument with a cop and then has either a stroke or a heart attack
- then PP gets into an argument with the cop and shoved him harder than he meant to and then almost gets shot by the cop, who gets talked down from it by another cop
- MJ meets PP at the hospital, are they an item at this point? She is there for support
- after leaving the hospital Pete goes to Dr Hamilton's office to find out how Harry Osborn is doing only to find the place has been trashed and Harry is probably the one who did it
- Pete goes to the apartment that Harry shares with Flash Thompson only to discover that Harry is dressed as the Green Goblin and beating up Flash
- the issue ends with the Goblin tossing Flash out of a window
- mostly setup, a definite in between-er
- priceless: Aunt May at the protest, fighting with the cop, hitting him with her sign

Astro City 6

Dinner at Eight
By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Jan 1996

- Samaritan and Winged Victory go on a date; they've been set up by some of their teammates of the Honor Guard
- they try going to a restaurant, in costume, but that doesn't work out as they are a bit of a distraction to all around them who insist on intruding on their personal space
- they change into civilian clothes and wind up at a burger joint (beefy bob's)
- they talk about their private lives a bit, neither of them has much of one; he works all the time in either his civilian or superhero identity; she spends most of her time in her superhero identity, when not saving lives with her superpowers she helps to run schools for women (to help them with their confidence)
- they argue over her bias towards saving women, a subject that he brings up
- he talks about the need for perspective, she doesn't want to do that, she just wants to keep forging forward and doesn't think she could handle the big picture
- in the midst of all this he tells his origin, of how he came from the future to change the past and did (by saving the Challenger space shuttle) but in the process eliminated the world from which he came
- in the end, in a brief moment of peace they share a kiss but then the moment is broken and they streak off in separate directions to save lives or foil criminals
- excellent end to this short series, I enjoyed both sides of the story and the glimpse into the world of Astro City
- loved the clash of Superman and Wonder Woman and the various ways that the clash was framed, their differing world views and perspectives on themselves and how and why they are superheroes

Spectacular Spider-Man 69

The Return of Cloak and Dagger: In Darkness Seldom Seen
By Bill Mantlo, Ed Hannigan, and Al Milgrom
Aug 1982

- much better than the previous story
- part 1 of 2
- the art at times reminds me of Steve Ditko
- Cloak and Dagger are back, once again hunting criminals, specifically drug dealers, specifically Silvermane
- C&D don't seem quite as one note as they did on their first appearance; of the two Dagger seems more nuanced as she struggles with her conscience and her sense of loyalty to Cloak
- hints of a romantic attraction between Spidey and Dagger
- a number of Spider-verse characters make brief appearances: Nathan Lubensky, Debra Whitman, Marcy Kane, Jean DeWolff, Wilson Fisk
- in tracking down Silvermane, Spidey inadvertently leads C&D right to their intended target
- once again Spider-Man fights to save criminals from vigilantes but this issue ends with the apparent death of Silvermane by the hands of C&D

3/3

Astro City 5

Reconnaissance
By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson
Dec 1995

- The Fool (Crackerjack) and the Alien
- told from the perspective of the alien
- seems to be played for humor
- kept hoping for more, a character I might like
- alien gives up on humanity in the end after following Crackerjack around for a night
- buyer's remorse
- so far 1,2,4 great; 3,5 so-so

Spectacular Spider-Man 64

Cloak and Dagger
By Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan

- a little underwhelming, very straightforward

- Spider-Man meets Cloak and Dagger as they are chasing down a pharmacologist who experimented on them and other kids

- Spider-Man tries to prevent them from killing the scientist, unsuccessfully

- Peter gets someone at the Daily Bugle to do some research for him and discovers that Cloak and Dagger were just two of many who were used as test subjects by the mob on Ellis Island after it was no longer in use for immigration purposes

- Spider-Man heads to Ellis Island where he finds C&D who have captured the other men responsible for pumping them full of drugs and killing other teenagers, whom they plan on executing

- once again Spider-Man is unsuccessful in preventing C&D from executing the gangsters

- very 80s feel to it, not crazy about the art, probably cutting edge at the time

Feb 28

Scalped 49

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Conclusion
By Jason Aaron and RM Guéra

- Catcher tries to kill Bad Horse but fate in the form of Officer Falls Down, intervenes and saves his life
- After getting shot in the face by Catcher BH shoots back, this is all while they are riding together in a pickup truck; Catcher promised to lead BH to the man who killed his mother
- just as Catcher is about to shoot BH OFD emerges from the mist and instead of getting shot in the back of the head BH gets shot through both cheeks when he slams on the brakes to avoid hitting FD
- Catcher gets shot in the gut by BH
- BH helps FD using Catcher's horse
- Catcher winds up in the hospital next to Lawrence Belcourt (?)
- Red Crow shows his true colors as he lets Hassel Rock Meficine almost die from a heart attack and seems to have found a new blood lust by the end of the chapter
- magnificent art by Guera, especially some of the panels of Catcher trying to escape

Scalped 48

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved
Part 4: Are You Honest Enough to Live Outside the Law?
By Jason Aaron and RM Guéra

- Pulls together bits from the previous chapters as Bad Horse meets with Red Crow, Nitz, and Catcher, individually
- Red Crow opens up, promises to tell him anything
- Bad Horse seems ready to abuse this trust later, when talking to Nitz
- Catcher tells him about the fate of Officer Falls Down and the role he can play in savings him or that he can kill the man who killed his mother, Bad Horse chooses the latter path
- it all seems to revolve around BH and RC at the sweat lodge
- RC admits his love for BH's mother
- BH has a hallucinogenic nightmare about Diesel whom he killed a few arcs back, possibly for good cause
- Nitz has a new found level of confidence since inadvertently taking down a terrorist cell
- definite inbetweener chapter, lots laid out on the ground but no real resolution