Green Arrow (1983) 1

Green Arrow (1983) 1

May 1983

All My Sins Remembered!

by Mike W. Barr, Trevor Von Eeden, Dick Giordano, Tom Ziuko, John Costanza, Len Wein

Oliver Queen returns home from fighting crime as Green Arrow only to discover a lawyer waiting for him with a summons. Abby Horton, a friend of Oliver’s has died, and his presence is requested at the reading of her will. 

Ollie reminisces about his friendship with Abby and how he briefly dated her daughter. Abby was much older than he was. He also reflects on how he became Green Arrow and then later lost his fortune. 

Tomb of Dracula (1972) 1

Tomb of Dracula (1972) 1

Apr 1972

Night of the Vampire!

by Gerry Conway, Gene Colan, John Costanza, Morrie Kuramoto

Frank Drake, Jeanie (his girlfriend), and Clifton Graves (his best friend) travel to Transylvania to take possession of Castle Dracula. Frank, whose family name was originally Dracula, is descended from Count Dracula. He hopes to be able to capitalize on his ancestor’s notorious legend.

Frank’s quest is complicated by Clifton who resents Frank for stealing Jeanie away from him. Frank’s quest is further complicated by Clifton when his actions lead to the revival of Count Dracula. 

Queen & Country (2001) 6

Queen & Country (2001) 6

Jan 2002

Operation: Morningstar - Chapter 2

by Greg Rucka, Brian Hurtt, Christine Norrie, Sean Konot

Tara continues to resent being left behind. She tries drinking and a casual hookup but neither seem to slake her need. She gets kicked out of the operations room and told to go home and get some rest.

Paul Crocker gets into an argument with Don Weldon over whether to abort Operation Morningstar or proceed with the plan. Tom and Ed cross into Afghanistan with some help from Dennis, the number two guy from the Delhi office. They check two of the three drop sites without finding anything. All the while they are under surveillance from the Taleban.

Secret Origins (1986) 14

Secret Origins (1986) 14

May 1987

The Secret Origin of the Suicide Squad

by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Dave Hunt, Albert De Guzman, Carl Gafford, Robert Greenberger 

This is presented as one story but it is really four stories in one. The issue opens with the origins of the World War 2 incarnation of what was then called the Suicide Squadron. It was led by Captain Richard Montgomery Flag. There are some descriptions of the exploits of this team but Flag is the only member of the team who is named.

President Harry Truman asks Rick Flag to form a team codenamed Task Force X, which he does. Flag gets married after the war to Sharon Race, a cousin of J.E.B. Stuart. Rick and Sharon have a son whom they also name Rick. Task Force X continues operations until about 1960. Tragically, Rick Jr. loses both his parents while he is still young.

Fantastic Four Annual 15

Fantastic Four Annual 15

1980

Time for the Prime Ten

by Doug Moench, George Perez, Chic Stone, Mike Esposito, Jon D’Agostino, Barry Grossman, George Roussos, Jim Novak, Jim Salicrup

Reed Richards builds an energy transmitter. Mailman Willie Lumpkin shows up just in time to interrupt Reed’s celebration and deliver a package from Alicia Masters. Not all is as it seems. Willie Lumpkin is a Skrull. The package he delivers is a device that sends Sue Richards, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm a couple hours into the future.

Mr. Fantastic is left alone to deal with the Skrull, who has brought some friends. There are ten Skrulls in all and they call themselves the Prime Ten. Mr. Fantastic gets some unexpected help from Captain Mar-vell. Sue, Ben, and Johnny return just in time to join the fight and help eject the Skrulls from the Baxter Building.

Queen & Country (2001) 5

Queen & Country (2001) 5

Nov 2001

Operation: Morningstar - Chapter 1

by Greg Rucka, Brian Hurtt, Bryan O’Malley, Sean Konot

A British agent is taken prisoner by the Taleban in Afghanistan. He hid a list of agents before he was arrested. Minders One and Three, Wallace and Kittering, are briefed and prepared to go overseas. Chace (Minders Two) is not. She’s angry about it. She is still recovering from her last mission. The issue ends with the reveal that MacMillan, the agent who was arrested earlier in the issue, has been executed by the Taleban. 

Shade, the Changing Man (1977) 9

Shade, the Changing Man (1977) 9

Oct 1978

The Deadly Ally!

by Steve Ditko, Michael Fleischer, Jerry Serpe, Ben Oda, Jack C. Harris

Dr.  Z.Z. continues to execute his plan to take over the Earth Zone. Lieutenant Emp (aka Kempo) returns, kills one of Wizor’s agents, and makes plans to regain some of what he lost and more. Shade teams up with Xexlo and together they battles Zeckie, another villain who seeks to conquer. Xexlo turns on Shade after they have defeated Zeckie thus forcing Shade to deal with him too.

Thoughts

Shade’s story does not have a satisfying ending. It feels like one battle has ended but the war is still in progress. 

Terry and the Pirates (39.B)

Vol. 6: 1945-1946

By Milton Caniff

Die-Hards

Nov 6, 1945 - Mar 11, 1946

This is the first of four stories in what Carl Horak, author of the Terry and the Pirates Companion, considers to be the fifth and final era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era began in late Nov 1945 and ran through the end of 1946 and is called On Final Approach in the companion book.

The Wikipedia article on Terry and the Pirates breaks the entire series down into 60 arcs. It breaks this arc down into the following arcs:

55 - "Forced Landing" (11/6/45 to 12/28/45)

56 - "Still the Traitor" (12/29/45 to 3/12/46)

10/06/24

Dec 29, 1945 - Terry wonders what they can do now that Fob has been taken hostage. The Japanese commander is quite pleased with his unit’s accomplishments.

Fantastic Four 223

Fantastic Four 223

Oct 1980

That a Child May Live…

by Doug Moench, Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Sinnott, Jim Novak, George Roussos, Jim Salicrup

The Fantastic Four, Agatha Harkness, Gabriel, and Franklin Richards fly to New Salem, CO. Franklin is held in a force bubble by his mother. They do battle with the Salem Seven and Nicholas Scratch, who tries to use Franklin to help him escape from the Dark Realm. Gabriel leads Agatha in helping the Fantastic Four to combine forces and use the power of love that they have for Franklin Richards to overwhelm Nicholas Scratch. 

Thoughts

This is an okay story. It didn’t knock my socks off. It wasn’t terribly complex. There were a few too many characters in this story for them all to get more than just a brief moment to shine. The fact that they defeated Scratch by using the power of love wasn’t exactly a plus in my book. Maybe if they hadn’t done it in such an obvious way then I would feel differently or better about the story as a whole. 

Junior 11

Junior 11

Jan 1948

Stories by Bill Brown aka Al Feldstein

1. Junior: On the Outs at an Outing!

Junior and Deena take a ferry up to Bear Point. Junior can’t seem to do anything right. He shows up late. He's in a rush and they get on the wrong boat. He spills chocolate milk all over Deena. He steps on another man’s picnic basket. He gets them lost in the woods at Bear Point. 

2. Junior: A Record Breaking Day

It’s Junior’s birthday and he wants the new Ken Stanton album. He tells Goofy but Goofy has already bought him a present. Goofy tells Deena and Gwenny and they both buy him the album. Meanwhile, Junior asks his mother for money so he can buy the album himself.