Detective Comics #392

Detective Comics #392 (On Sale: August 28, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams. It is kind of cool that at least one side of this cover is based on the Bob Brown panel on the inside.

Inside we have Batman in "I Died... a Thousand Deaths" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. Angles Moore lets Batman know that he is read to turn on mob-boss Scap Scarpelli. Batman does not trust Angles, and, as expected, Angles tries to kill Batman, their fight ending with them both underwater and the scene on the cover occurring. Angles is a hero to the mob, but he keeps finding evidence of Batman still being alive.

Eventually Scap decides that Angles must have botched killing Batman, so he is going to bump him off instead when it is revealed that, of course, Angles has been Batman since the two went underwater. Batman explains it all as he takes Scap in for booking. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Batman Vol. 5 TPB.

The back-up Batgirl story is "A Clue... Seven-Foot Tall" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. and introduces Jason Bard. On her way to work, Barbara notices a man with a cane looking over the  site of a recent murder in Central Park. When the same man comes into the library later on, Barbara and a co-worker, Stella, try to guess what kind of book he will be looking for. As he checks out a book on botany, Barbara tells of seeing him at the murder site. He, Jason bard, explains that he is an armature criminologist and asks her out for lunch. He explains that while the police say the killer hid in the bushes, Jason notes that the leaves on the ground are not from the bushes, but the tree and surmises that it was hit by someone around seven feet tall. They head off to that night's basketball game and notice that one player, Topper, has a bandage on his forehead, as if he whacked it on a tall tree.

During the game, Jason sneaks off to check out Topper's locker while he is on the court, only to run into two of Topper's "friends" who rough him up a bit. Just as one is about to smack him with a blackjack, Batgirl shows up and saves the day. They both meet back at their seats and bot are wondering how to ditch the other so they can continue crime-fighting. This story is continued next issue and was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Batgirl Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventure Comics #385

Adventure Comics #385 (On Sale: August 28, 1969) has a cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.

Inside we have two Supergirl stories. The first is "Supergirl's Big Sister" by Cary Bates and Kurt Schaffenberger. Supergirl follows an alien spaceship as it lands on Earth. Out pops Kranna, who says she is glad to see Supergirl as she is her sister.  Kranna displays a number of super powers and explains how she was super even on Krypton and that some aliens took her when she was young and wiped the memory of her from her parent's minds. As you might guess, it is all some half-ass ploy by Carol Benton to get Supergirl to create diamonds for her. I'd go into more detail, but, it's really not worth learning.

The second is "The Jilting of Supergirl" by Cary Bates, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. This is an exercise in why Jack Abel should not have been inking anyone. It is really bad. Winslow was not the most dynamic of pencilers, but no one deserved this.

Edited by Mort Weisinger

Action Comics #381

Action Comics #381 (On Sale: August 28, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Superman in "The Dictator of Earth" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos. Superman is doing un-Superman-like things. Gosh! What could be causing that? Dorfman delivers another pretty awful Red Kryptonite story. Do I really need to go over the details? He didn't do it and if he did he didn't mean it. Ugh, this one is a floating turd.

The back-up story is the Legion of Super-Heroes in "The Hapless Hero" by Jim Shooter, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. This is the kind of story which explains why the Legion under Shooter was so popular. Rather than the 800th rehash of the Red K story, or some other normal Weisinger nonsense, this story is all about the home lives of a few of the people in the colorful tights.

We follow Matter-Eater-Lad, Tenzil Kem, home from a late Legion meeting. He lives in the slums, his mother wants his Legion check to pay some bills. His father is a n alcoholic who gambles away his pension every month. Disgusted, he heads back to Legion headquarters where he runs into Shrinking Violet, who is pining away for Qued Orlu, Duplicate Boy of the planet Lallor. She had a date with him tonight, but he stood her up.

To cheer her up Tenzil asks her out on a date and blows a lot of cash making it memorable. When he goes to kiss her good night, Duplicate Boy. Tenzil uses simple logic to stop Qued from creaming him and when he then bemoans losing Violet to M-E-L, she tell him that he is being silly and that it is he she loves. the next day at Legion HQ, M-E-L receives a letter from his parents asking him to come home and that his father is giving up gambling.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Green Lantern #72

Green Lantern #72 (On Sale: August 25, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane.

Inside we have "Phantom of the Space-Opera" by Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane and Joe Giella. The Guardians send Green Lantern to the Berliotz star system on a mission to stop a potential war instigated by the Wagnorians. A group of performers from Berliotz is putting on a space opera. With the help of a spy planted among the performers, the Wagnorians force them to change the play to antagonize a band of rebels known as the Verdees. Angered, the gang attacks the Berliotz performers. Using the incident to intervene, the Wagnorians are then able to move in and begin their conquest of the system. However, Green Lantern uncovers the spy. He then convinces the Verdee leader to stop the fight. Finally he confronts the Wagnorians and forces them to submit to interplanetary justice. Me thinks Denny was a bit fond of opera. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB and Green Lantern:The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2 HC (2018).

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Girls' Romances #144

Girls' Romances #144 (On Sale: August 25, 1969) has another great sexy-girl cover by Nick Cardy.

Inside we have "How Can He Love Anyone Who Looks Like Me?" which is drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinnie Colletta. Joan is embarrassed by a small mole on her cheek, but she knows she's found the right guy when he calls it a "beauty mark."

Next is "Summer Time Romance" by Winslow Mortimer and George Roussos.. Jill breaks up with her summer boyfriend Bruce when she learns he is engaged, but finds that she can't get him out of her mind when she returns home. Both of these first two stories were later renamed and reprinted in Young Romance #202.

The book ends with "I Couldn't Be Faithful" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta Diane moves easily from one guy to the next until no one will date her because of her reputation. She gets another chance when her family moves to another town, and she decides to do things differently. This story was later renamed and reprinted in Young Love #112.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Bat Lash #7

Bat Lash #7 (On Sale: August 25, 1969) has another great cover by Nick Cardy.

Inside we have "(Brothers)" which is plotted by Sergio Aragones, scripted by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Nick Cardy. One night Bat Lash runs into Don Pasqual, his father's best friend, who relates to Bat the night his family was killed and how Pasqual was able to pull Bat's brother, Billy, away from the
"evil ones" who burned his family's farm to the ground and killed his father and mother.

Pasqual related how he took Billy and fled to Mexico, to the house an an aunt, but how Billy would not speak and would not take notice when spoken to. A doctor examined Billy and said his problems were of the soul and he offered to adopt Billy. On the way back to the Lash ranch Don Pasqual was shot by bandits and "struggled with death" for a year. When he finally returned to the farm he learned how Bat had dealt with those who murdered his family and how since that time Don Pasqual has been searching for Bat.

Meanwhile in El Paso, a blond-haired bounty hunter is pulling a Bat Lash wanted poster off the wall and heads off in search of the man he does not know is his brother, while at the same time Bat and Don Pasqual set off in search of Billy. As the bounty hunter searches he recalls his lack of a childhood and how he does remember Dr. Jimeniz taking him to a camp of revolutionaries where he was trained like a man in the ways of shooting. As a revolutionary the young boy fought against the tyrannical Mexican government before traitors in their midst were their undoing. He sought out and hunted down the traitors, killing them one-by-one, and when he was through, he felt as if a part of him had died with each man. All that he was good for was killing, so he took up the life of a bounty hunter.

Billy hit the small town of Encinitas just after Bat and Pasqual, who are in the cantina trying to enjoy a meal wile being eyeballed by a group of brothers who think Bat looks a whole lot like the bounty hunter that nailed their pa, though, the bounty hunter looked younger than Bat. Bat overhears the brothers, knocks them around and then he and Don Pasqual convince them it is better for them to leave the cantina vertical rather than horizontal. As they are chased into the street they meet Billy coming into town and can't believe that there at two of them.

Unable to figure out which one nailed their pa, they run for cover and decide to take them both out. As bat and Don Pasqual leave the cantina, they are confronted by Billy. Bat tries to talk Billy down to no avail and as they prepare to stand off against each other, a shocked Don Pasqual attempts to break up the fight, telling them "You are bro--!" before he is shot in the back by the ambushing brothers. Fighting side-by-side, Bat and Billy neatly handle the four brothers. A dying Don Pasqual tries in vain to tell them who they each are, to no avail.

Billy lets bat go, for Don Pasqual's sake as he seemed like he "was a brave old hombre...an' he seemed to think yo're worth savin'!" As they go their separate ways, both brothers are haunted by the familiarity of the other. Billy is drawn to watch as Bat buries Don Pasqual while Bat laments how everything he touches dies. A sad ending.

What is unfortunate is that this is the end, the last issue of Bat Lash; a book killed way too soon. I think DC ran the ads touting the book's near arrival longer than they published the book itself.

This story was reprinted in All-Star Western #11, Weird Western Tales #12 and Showcase Presents: Bat Lash TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #124

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #124 (On Sale: August 21, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. 

We begin with "Jimmy Olsen’s Girl Trouble" by E. Nelson Bridwell and Pete Costanza. The will of mob boss, Little Louie, states that his estate will go to the man who kills Jimmy Olsen. The next day, three underworld killers take a shot at killing Jimmy. each time they are thwarted by the clumsiness of cub reporter Hazel Powell. When all three assassins strike at once, Hazel accidentally triggers Jimmy's signal watch. Superman arrives to apprehend the would-be killers. Jimmy then offers to take Hazel on a date to reward her for saving his life. This story was reprinted in Superman: Daily Planet TPB.

We end with the cover-story, "The Secret of Jimmy Olsen’s Lost Father" by Leo Dorfman and Pete Costanza. Continuing from last issue, Jimmy Olsen remains locked in solitary confinement in the basement of his father's house. His dad explains that after the train wreck in which Jimmy's mother died, he had amnesia. He manages to function somehow and ended up in archeology. While excavating a pyramid in the Yucatan, his memory returns, but for defiling their treasure, the natives curse Mark Olsen and force him to live in solitary confinement for five years.

He was allowed to keep the "defiled" treasure which made him wealthy. He obeyed the rules of the curse for four years by locking himself in the basement of his house. However, doctors warned him that he would die if he remained for the final year. The rules of the curse stated that Jimmy could take his place for the final year.

After Jimmy has spent time in the basement cell, Superman picks up a clue that can help his friend. He hypnotizes Mr. Olsen and learns the real truth. He is actually Hal Rand, Mark Olsen's partner in archaeology. When they were in the pyramid, Rand lost his memory and found Mark's pack with pictures of Jimmy and he just assumed they were his. Mark is now believed dead. Superman also convinces Jimmy and Hal that the curse was an illusion. Jimmy is released from the cell. Hal apologizes and offers to adopt Jimmy as a foster-son. Jimmy accepts. Wow. Two guys with amnesia in the same story?

Hey, you ever notice how you never hear anyone tell you how much they loved Pete Costanza's work?

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Heart Throbs #122

Heart Throbs #122 (On Sale: August 21, 1969) has a cover some attribute to Jay Scott Pike but is obviously the work of Mike Sekowsky and Nick Cardy.

Inside we have Episode 21 of "3 Girls--Their Lives...Their Loves" which is penciled by Jay Scott Pike. She got him...but can she hold him after he finds out the truth about her?

Next are a few filler pages with artwork by Ric Estrada and Tony Abruzzo.

The book ends with "Deception" penciled by Jay Scott Pike, inked by Vinnie Colletta and later reprinted in Young Romance #204. Gail feels terrible when she falls in love with Bob while her fiancée Henry is out of town. Later though she learns that Henry and Bob's fiancée have been seeing each other too.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

From Beyond the Unknown #1

From Beyond the Unknown #1 (On Sale: August 21, 1969) has a Joe Kubert cover.

The first issue of this new science-fiction reprint book begins with "The Turtle-Men of Space" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Joe Giella and reprinted from Strange Adventures #118. Next is "The Unknown Spaceman" by Gardner Fox, Bob Oksner and Bernard Sachs and reprinted from Mystery In Space #11. We conclude with "Star-Actor of the Starways" by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs from Strange Adventures #122.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Brave and the Bold #86

Brave and the Bold #86 (On Sale: August 21, 1969) has another great cover by Neal Adams. Nothing like Deadman to bring out the best in Neal.

Batman and Deadman star in "You Can't Hide from a Deadman" which is written by Bob Haney and drawn by Neal Adams. Well, that's the story anyway, but I don't buy it for one minute because the Neal Adams Checklist on Neal's own site and my gut say this is Neal's work through and though. Now it is not that this checklist is all that accurate, as it only lists Neal as the writer and penciler of this story when he is obviously the inker as well, but my gut is pretty good on this stuff and this story so nicely wraps up the writing that Neal was doing on the Deadman strip in Strange Adventures, that I guess it is possible that Bob Haney did some of the dialog, but the plot has got to be Neal's.

This is Neal's eighth Brave and the Bold and his last of this run. Neal would draw one more full issue in a little over a year and finish up a Jim Aparo story a year or so later, but for all intents and purposes, this was the end of Neal's run as the regular penciler and it seems appropriate that he both began and ended his B&B run with Deadman.

However, this end-of-the-run may not have been Neal's idea. According to the DC Timeline "Neal Adams fired by Murray Boltinoff for rewriting Bob Haney’s script for Brave and Bold 86." I can't find any verification of this actually being the case. I know that Neal says that about this time Julius Schwartz came to him with "a handful of letters and he stops me in the hallway and he says, “How come all these fans say the only Batman at DC Comics is in Brave and Bold?” I said, “Well, Julie, in Brave and Bold he’s really Batman. He is not walking around in the daytime in his underwear, he is skulking around at night.” He said, “What makes you think you know how to do Batman?” I said, “Julie, it’s not me who knows how to do Batman, it’s me and every kid in America who knows what Batman ought to be. The problem at DC Comics is that no one knows what Batman is.” He said, “Get back here. Now you are going to be drawing Batman.” So it may have been a more gentle parting of ways than the DC Timeline says, but who knows.

It is rather telling though that in the same Comics Bulletin interview, Neal says of his talk with Boltinoff when getting the book, "I said, “Only one thing, I don’t want to change anything in the writing, I just want to every once in a while change locations and time of day.” I wanted to change the time to night because it just seems silly to have Batman walking around in his underwear in the daytime. Murray said, “That’s fine, no problem.” So, I took the script and I started drawing Brave and the Bold." If this is true and what I suspect as to the identity of the real plotter of #86, Boltinoff may have given Neal the boot.

It's just another night in Gotham as Batman and Robin break up an extortion racket, except that after mopping up the bad guys, Robin picks up a gun and tries to shoot Batman. Blinding the boy wonder with a smoke pellet saves Batman's hide and Robin strangely snaps out of it. When Commissioner Gordon and his men reach the scene Gordon uses an officer's service revolver to try and shoot Batman as well. Everyone is clueless, except Batman who has surmised that his "old friend Deadman is trying to kill me!"

Out on the street Batman runs a gauntlet of people suddenly possessed by Boston Brand's ghost and out to kill Batman. After almost being run over by a truck, Batman heads for the rooftops where Deadman will have a much harder time finding a host to possess. However Deadman finds a pigeon fancier and comes after Batman with a club. Batman tries to talk sense into Deadman, saying they are friends, but Deadman says he is trying to kill Batman. Batman's response is that Deadman is a liar and that he can prove it. "If you really want to kill me, do it the simple way...jump into my body and make me jump off the roof...clean and simple!" The logic of this causes Deadman to freak out and quickly exit the man's body.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong at the secret headquarters of the Society of Assassins, the Sensei is listening to a report from Willie Smith. Smith recounts how Deadman found his killer, the Hook and after confirming that he was dead, returned to Nanda Parbat seeking out Rama Kushna and the end of his unnatural existence. Deadman interfered with Smith's plan to destroy Nanda Parbat and thinking Smith dead, Deadman met with Rama Kushna. Afterward, Deadman chose to leave Nanda Parbat and return to being a ghost (a pretty good recap of Strange Adventurers #215 and #216). As Deadman was leaving, Smith shot him with a poison dart, but because he was only partially corporeal at the time it did not kill him but left him dazed and susceptible to suggestion. Smith used the opportunity to turn Deadman's hatred of the Sensei into a hatred for Batman. With Deadman busy trying to kill Batman the Sensei sees this as the perfect time to once and for all destroy Nanda Parbat.

Back in Gotham Batman visits the Hills Bros. Circus where Boston's brother, Cleveland, has taken over the role of the trapeze artist Deadman. Boston enters his brother's body and once again takes to the high platform, where he attempts his famous quadruple somersault, only to find that his brother's muscles are not as supple as his once were and he is saved only by the intervention of Batman. Boston is more confused than ever now that Batman has saved his brother's life. Just then circus mystic Vashnu arrives to say that Rama Kushna wants Deadman to return to Nanda Parbat.

Batman and Deadman in his brother's body are shot at as they parachute over the Himalayas down to Nanda Parbat. Deadman leaves his brother's body and leaps into the body of his attackers, turning one against the other. Returning to Cleveland's body Deadman leads Batman to Nanda Parbat where upon entrance he leaves Cleve's body and becomes corporeal once again. But as he does so the poison from Willie Smith's dart takes affect and he collapses to the ground.

Rama Kushna appears and explains that Boston has been poisoned but that one of the men coming to attack Nanda Parbat carries an antidote. Batman and Cleve head out to stop the assault on Nanda Parbat and to find the antidote. Using a now arrived blinding snowstorm for cover they take out the Sensei's men one by one, till they finally get to Smith and retrieve the antidote. The Sensei challenges them both, but they ignore him and hurry back to Boston.

Once back in Nanda Parbat Batman uses the antidote to save the life of a Deadman. Boston realizes the absurdity of it all and that Nanda Parbat is the only place where he can be harmed and therefore decides to leave and become a ghost once more. The Sensei is seen trudging down the mountain plotting his revenge on Batman and Deadman.

This classic story has been reprinted in Best of DC #26, Deadman #7, Deadman Collection HC, Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC and Showcase Presents the Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Witching Hour #5

Witching Hour #5 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We began with "The Witching Hour Has Arrived - And I Have A Chilling Tale To Tell!" which is the story wrapper penciled by Alex Toth wherein the witches test the backbone of Cynthia's college boyfriend with their eerie tales. Cynthia's college boyfriend Terrance visits the witches' castle. He was frightened by Egor, who met him outside, but Cynthia's sisters scare him even more when the tell him their tales. Terrance wants to run, but Cynthia makes him stay for her story. Terrance is too frightened to judge the tales and leaves the castle as quickly as possible. This tale interweaves the others in the book.

The first of those is a seven-pager, "The Sole Survivor," introduced by Mildred and drawn by Bernie Wrightson. The bowsprit of a wrecked ship acts as a witness against Captain Dandrigde, who recklessly sails his ship into a storm, killing his crew and stranding himself on a deserted island.

That is followed by "The Non-Believer!" which is a one-page horror story. Mr. Scruje forecloses on Mr. Meek's house and Mr. and Mrs. Meek conspire to scare Mr. Scruje into signing the house back over to them.

Next is "A Guy Can Die Laughing," a six-pager drawn by Pat Boyette and is introduced by Mordred. A clown having difficulty in making people laugh finds himself in a museum where an old jester costume promises laughs to whoever wears it. The night watchman interrupts the clown before he can finish reading the costume description and the clown kills the man in order to steal away with the costume. That evening, he is a success in his new costume, but after the show he finds that he cannot remove it. Everywhere he goes in public, people laugh at him. He returns to the museum to read the rest of the description and, to his horror, finds out that the cursed costume can only be removed upon the wearer's death.

"The Computer Game" is Cynthia's tale and is drawn by Stanley Pitt and Dick Giordano. A dating service computer bent on world conquest is accosted by its boss when its plans are made known, however, the boss turns out to simply be an illusion the computer was responsible for creating in order to keep up appearances.

It is followed by "My! How small You've Grown!" a one-page tale drawn by Sid Greene. Two explorers in Africa run into a tribe of headhunters.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Superboy #160

Superboy #160 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has just an astounding cover by Neal Adams. Every once in a while Neal just knocks one out of the park and this is one of those!

Superboy stars in "I Chose External Exile" a 23-pager by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Wally Wood. I find it hard to believe that these stories have never been reprinted. I remember Frank Robbins doing a good job on the scripts and hell, this is Wally Wood inks we are talking about. Egyptian envoy Abdul Amahdi and his beautiful daughter, Cleop, visit Smallville. Cleop soon clashes with Lana Lang over the affections of both Clark Kent and Superboy. Superboy escorts Cleop to a costume ball, but when they kiss, he appears to fatally crush her. Tormented by what he has done, Superboy exiles himself from Earth.

The costume ball continues without him. Cleop, who was not really killed, meets Lana on the roof. Pete Ross witnesses Cleop fall to her death and believes that Lana pushed her. Lana is then taken into police custody for murder.

Meanwhile, back on the moon, Superboy decides to return to Earth and report his crime to the police, but when he does so, the police explain that Lana was the killer, not him. Superboy investigates and discovers that Cleop was never truly alive. A former assistant of Professor Lang named Tingly discovered Cleopatra's tomb. He animated her corpse in order to frame Lana and get Superboy out of the way. The Boy of Steel's provides evidence to clear himself and Lana and exposes Tingly.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Sugar and Spike #86

Sugar and Spike #86 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has a cover by Sheldon Mayer.

Inside we have Sugar and Spike and Bernie the Brain in "Tale That Can Never Be Told" written and drawn by Sheldon Mayer.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Star Spangled War Stories #147

Star Spangled War Stories #147 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has an Enemy Ace cover by Joe Kubert.

"A Grave in the Sky" is by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and, my god, is Kubert on fire this issue. The story surrounds a British pilot who as a child was obsessed with the story of St. George and the Dragon. Years later he is still obsessed and sees the RAF as a way of attaining knighthood and flying a steed and using machine guns as his lance.

The delusional pilot wears the top half of a suit of armor when he flies and believes himself to be the reincarnation of St. George. As with all Enemy Ace stories, the real story is about the killer skies and the terrible strain leading men into battle is for Hans Von Hammer. It has some amazing Kubert artwork, bringing the aerial dogfights of Fokkers vs. Sopwith Camels to glorious life. Kubert in his early 40s at this time was a master of the brush for sure, but it is his amazing story-telling abilities that make these books come to life.

Suffice to say that in the end St. George is defeated by his own personal dragon, Hans von Hammer, the Enemy Ace. This story was reprinted in Enemy Ace Archives Vol. 2 HC and Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Secret Hearts #139

Secret Hearts #139 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has a cover by Dick Giordano and another great example of a through-the-legs shot, which I gotta say, I find sexy.

We began with "Not That Kind of Girl" by Joe Gill, Winslow Mortimer and Vince Colletta. Following her mother's advice, Rosalie is not very popular; she does not want to be known as that kind of girl. However, it is her aunt who helps her to loosen up a little and have some fun.

This is Joe Gill's first full writing credit at DC; he would have 15 more in a DC career that for the most part, paralleled the editorship of Dick Giordano. Joe came to DC with Giordano and had so far been relegated to writing the scripts based on E. Nelson Bridwell's plots for The Secret Six and a Marv Wolfman's plot for the Showcase #78 issue, featuring Johnny Double.

Joseph P. Gill was born July 13, 1919.  He came to do comics work through the prodding of his brother, Ray Gill, an editor at Funnies, Inc., which supplied comics publishers with stories and artwork. His work in the early days for Timely (now Marvel), was mainly uncredited, and is said to have started in the early forties, where he was one of the writers to work on Captain America after the departure of Simon and Kirby. In the late forties, Timely switched from super-heroes to teen comics and westerns, and Joe became one of their busiest writers. The work at Timely began to dry up when he fell out of favor with Stan Lee and by the early fifties, was working for Charlton, writing just about everything they published.

Besides writing 100 to 120 pages a week, Joe worked as a colorist as well. In fact, his final recorded credit is as one of the colorists on the small-press superhero comic Ebony Warrior #2 (June–July 1993), published by Ania. At Charlton Joe Gill co-created the superheroes Captain Atom, Peacemaker, and Judomaster. In 1975, Gill and artist John Byrne co-created the post-apocalyptic series Doomsday + 1, the first series-creator credit for Byrne.

Gill retired from comics for the most part in 1986 when Charlton finally collapsed for the final time. He passed away on December 17, 2006.

That is followed by "How Can I Tell Him the Truth?" by Jack Miller, Winslow Mortimer and Mike Esposito. Childhood sweethearts, Wendy and Richy, have always assumed that they will be married, but when Richy has to go away for a few months, Wendy falls in love with Peter.

We end with the 13-pager, "Hide from Love" penciled by John Rosenberger. Tom is pressured by his girlfriend, Gwen,  to give her roommate, Freya, a job. Things go badly when Freya falls in love with Tom herself.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Metal Men #40

Metal Men #40 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has a cover by Mike Sekowsky and George Roussos.

As the Metal Men franchise is sputtering to a close next issue we have "Madman and Traitor," written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and inked by George Roussos. Back from the remains of Magna Studio, the Metal Men are summoned to a meeting with Mr. Conan. He informs them that Doc has recovered from his coma, but has been kidnapped by Karnak, the dictator of a small island nation you have never heard of. He also informs them that Karnak operated on Doc's brain, turning him evil, and that he is now willingly building an army of robots to help Karnak conquer the world. Conan is sending them to the island to kill Doc.

After Conan convinces them that Doc is really evil, the Metal Men parachute onto the island where they are immediately attacked by Doc's new robot soldiers. They are able to defeat the soldiers and take their uniforms to impersonate them.

Impersonating the new robots, the Metal Men gain entry to Karnak's lair and Doc's laboratory. They are able to destroy the central computer that ran all the robots, putting them out of commission. Tina gets separated from the rest of the team and runs into Doc, who does not recognize her. She has the opportunity to kill Doc, but just can't do it. When Doc realizes it is Tina he shoots her and leaves. As Doc makes his get away, the team calls Conan asking for technicians for Tina, who is in bad shape.   Continued next issue.

One interesting thing in this issue is the letters page, now dubbed "Metal Scraps Scrappers' Page" and features one half of the page to comments against the new Metal Men look and the other to comments for the new look. On the "against" side, someone asked, "Who was the idiot who thought up this ridiculous change?" They answered, "Carmine Infantino, that's who!!"  

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Debbi's Dates #4

Debbi's Dates #4 (On Sale: August 19, 1969) has a cover by Samm Schwartz..

We began with three Debbi's Dates' stories, "Better Date Than Never," where Buddy and Debbi sign up for a computer dating service, "Double Date, Mate," where Bernard wins a new car and clothes enabling him to easily get dates, and "A Date with Him... is Quite a Charge," wherein Debbi goes out with Harold but ends up paying for everything. This last one was drawn by Doug Crane.

We end with the Ding-a-Lings in "Swing n' Slay" where Bingo, Jinks,Denny, and Yo-Yo decide to form a band called The Ding-A-Lings.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Young Romance #162

Young Romance #162 (On Sale: August 14, 1969) has a cover by Ric Estrada and Vince Colletta.

We began with "What Kind of a Girl Are You?" by Jack Miller, Winslow Mortimer and Vinnie Colletta. Ginny can't help looking at other guys when she's out with Frank, which causes Frank to break up with her. Later, when she falls in love with Bill, she knows that her love is real this time because she has no interest in anyone else. This story is reprinted in Young Love #110, but retitled as "Little Flirt!"

Next is "Tears for a Dream" reprinted from Secret Hearts #45 and drawn by Werner Roth. Sylvia and Lee spot a house in the country and declare it their dream house, but can they afford it?

Lastly is our cover story, "Wheels of Passion" written and drawn by Ric Estrada. Kathy falls for the motorcycle racer who works for her father.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

G.I. Combat #138

G.I. Combat #138 (On Sale: August 14, 1969) has a cover by Joe Kubert.

We began with The Haunted Tank in "The Losers" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. This is the first story of The Losers, though the cover calls them the Born Losers, who would eventually take over Our Fighting Forces. After falling for a trap and loosing the big gun on the Haunted Tank, Jeb is feeling like a loser. While driving along they run into Captain Storm, who lost his PT boat command and entire crew. He too is feeling like a loser and hitches a ride on the Haunted Tank.

As they continue on they meet Gunner and Sarge, who have lost their entire patrol of green recruits to a Nazi ambush. Feeling like losers and needing a lift, they too jump onto the tank. Later on they find a downed plane and the pilot, Johnny Cloud. He lost his plane and the green horn he was training this morning and he is feeling, go ahead, say it with me, "like a loser."

With the help of the new Losers, Jeb and the crew are able to complete their mission. Not the greatest of origin stories, though the artwork by Heath is very good, at least when Kubert kept his hands off it.

The Losers consisted of Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, Gunner and Sarge. This Losers origin story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Haunted Tank Vol. 2 TPB.

Next is a one-page Warrior: History's Mightiest Men of Combat! featuring Genghis Khan. This is a beautiful page of glorious Ken Barr artwork.

The back-up story "Bright Banner" was expertly drawn by George Evans. The tide of the battle seemed to change when the regiment's flag was torn from the hands of 16-year-old Jess Canfield, a Confederate soldier in the Georgia Regulars. Believing the loss his fault, Jess sneaks across enemy lines and into the Union camp to steal back the flag. He finds the flag but awakens the camp and has to take a hostage to get out alive.

As they ride off in a hail of trailing bullets they are carried across the battlefield to the Confederate camp. The Union Captain returns the banner and "the body of a brave soldier--your Regimental Flag Bearer."

Edited by Joe Kubert.

DC Special #5

DC Special #5 (On Sale: August 14, 1969) has a cover by and about Joe Kubert. This is the second of the DC Special issues honoring a specific artist and it is too bad they did not continue with these. In a way it is sort of a cross between a reprint book and a fanzine, though it is mainly a reprint book.

We begin with "The Cartoonist -- at Home" a four-page introduction by Joe Kubert of Joe Kubert and which I thought was very well done. It has lots of humor, introduced us to his family (including later to be artists Adam and Andy Kubert). the script is funny and has a wonderful cameo by Russ Heath, who calls to say he won't be able to finish his story on time, but he is working hard and hasn't slept for days. Russ is pictured at the Playboy Club with a blond on his arm.

I loved the style Kubert utilized for this one, great stuff indeed.

We begin the reprints with Sgt. Rock in "Eyes of a Blind Gunner" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Our Army At War #113. Easy Company is attacked while crossing a river. Wild Man takes out a plane with his bazooka, then gets dumped in the river with Sgt. Rock and Jackie. Together the trio take out a tank. Jackie and Wild Man then form a team.

When Easy awaits a supply drop, they are ambushed. The only weapon they have to rely on is a machine gun. Jackie and Wild Man are set on guard duty with the gun, when another attack occurs. Jackie is blinded by an explosion, and Wild Man's hand are injured. Wild Man uses his eyes to guide Jackie in firing the machine gun. Together the two soldier successfully hold off their attackers.

Next is "Rider of the Winds" also by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Showcase #2. This short tale is of an Indian boy, Eagle feather, who was given his name when Rider of the Winds, a giant eagle caught a feather during the boy's naming ceremony. As the boy turns 14 he is told to guard over the tribes flock of sheep. One day one of the lambs gets stuck in quicksand and Eagle Feather wades in and tosses the lamb to safety, but is himself stuck. Rider of the Winds appears and Eagle Feather grabs one of his wings and is pulled to safety himself.

But while this was happening Black Lightning, a mountain lion, slaughters five of the sheep. Eagle Feather is disgraced and the whole village holds him in shame. He seeks the council of a wise man who tells him that he must defeat the bearer-of-that-disgrace, Black Lightning in order to remove his shame. Eagle Feather tracks Black Lightning down ans with the help once again of Rider of the Winds is able to kill the big black cat and regain his standing in the tribe.

That is followed by Hawkman in "Menace of the Matter Master" by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Brave and the Bold #35. While attempting to turn base metals to gold, chemist Mark Mandrill discovers the secret of Mentachem, a chemical which gives him control of any material in its natural state. He creates a directing wand, and uses the material to steal a half-million dollars from an armored car, then creates an army of meteor men to loot the Midway City Art Center. Tipped off by Commissioner Emmett, Hawkman and Hawkgirl battle the rockmen, but Matter Master intercedes, and escapes with the treasures by directing helicopter blades at them.

The criminal trips up, however, when directing flowers to steal a parchment from the museum, as Hawkman’s acute sense of smell comes to the force in time to track these flowers to Matter Master’s underground lair, where he and Hawkgirl capture him.

Next is a two-page spread by Joe Kubert of a number of characters he has drawn over the years, each done in the style he used "back in the day." This spread features Doctor Fate, Johnny Quick, Hawkman, The Flash, Wildcat, The Vigilante, Sargon the Sorcerer, Zatara and Firehair.

We end with Viking Prince in "Threat of the Ice King" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Brave and the Bold #18. Kubert's work on this strip is just beautiful. Jon, the Viking Prince, continues his quest to complete the twelve tasks of Thor in order to regain his throne. His travels bring him to the domain of the Ice King on a mission to awaken a rose. Jon fights his way past the Ice King's two-headed bear and other dangers until he reaches the castle. Inside he finds a sleeping maiden which he awakens with a kiss.

The woman is the rose princess who was placed in a trance by the Ice King. Jon's kiss broke the spell. He then faces the Ice King himself who has the power to freeze men. Jon prevails in the duel, then escapes the castle with the rose princess. With the rescue, he completes the fourth task of Thor.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #96

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #96 (On Sale: August 12, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. This one has an interesting gimmick on the cover, with the empty word balloons and the question to the reader.

We began with "The Girl Who Died for Superman" by Cary Bates, Irv Novick and Mike Esposito. Lana Lang returns home one day to find her apartment filled with 3D images of Superman and Lois together. Also in her apartment are two aliens from another dimension who explain that a few months ago Lana saved their dimension when a rift opened up and was blocked by her news helicopter. As a reward they promise to make her the wife of Superman.

Across town Lois Lane also is greeted by an alien who tells her that Superman is trapped in their dimensions and shackled with green kryptonite and that Lois has a chance to save him if she comes back to their dimension to take part in a contest. Both Lana and Lois are put asleep in interdimensional travel bubbles and awake in rooms alone. Lois exits a door to find herself in another world where she quickly locates a still green Superman when shakes her and tells her that he feels nothing for her and when he leaves to go back to earth, he will not be taking her with him.

Lana emerges into the landscape and also confronts a Superman, this one fully recovered. He says he has decided to leave earth and remain here as the dictator of this dimension. A voice asks Lana if she still loves Superman now that his true personality has been revealed. She is being watched by the three aliens, now looking quite human, from a secret booth.

The girls are brought together where they begin to fight one another when one of the aliens returns with Superman once again in green K shackles. Superman says the aliens made him say those things, that they were not true. The alien offers to spare Superman if one of the girls will take his place and offers them a glass of poison. Lois drinks it and the aliens reveal that they are human psychologists and this was just a test to see how the emotion of love will drive a person to extremes.

Lana and Lois reveal that they knew it was fake all along and planned out their actions.

The back-up is "Weep for Lois Lane's Baby" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos. This is a sequel to "The Lois Lane in the Mystic Mirror" from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #94. In that story the Lois from another dimension switched places with our Lois. Our Lois is now in the other dimension trapped on a space station with Jor, the son of that realms Superman and Lois. When the other-realm Superman is brought to our dimension, the mirror used to transport between realms is destroyed trapping Superman and Lois in our world, and our Lois in theirs.

Our Lois is given the super baby's powers by Gold Kryptonite and sues them to escape from the space station. back on earth she finds the smashed mirror and using her new super powers restores it.  While our Lois finds dealing with baby Jor a chore, his mother is on our world living it up as a bachelor girl once again.

At least she is till one day both Supermen arrive at her apartment to tell her that our Superman knows she is not the real Lois. She refuses to go back till she looks through the mirror and sees Lois punishing her son. When she realizes he is no longer super-human and that what Lois is doing is actually hurting him, she agrees to return. Superman destroys the mirror and Lois explains how she acted mean to Jor to get Lois's motherly instincts to kick in and drive her home.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Leave It To Binky #69

Leave It To Binky #69 (On Sale: August 12, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We began with Binky in "The Miss-Understanding" drawn by Winslow Mortimer and Henry Scarpelli. While helping the girls decorate their sorority for a party, Binky slips off a ladder. The other girls come to help him up just as Binky's girl, Peggy, comes back into the room. Thinking Binky is making a play for the girls she throws him out. Eventually Binky goes to the local newspaper to seek relationship advice from Miss Ann Martin, the Advice to the Lovelorn columnist. Miss Ann Martin ends up being a man who tell Binky to ignore his girl to get her back. One the way out he sees Peggy also going into the newspaper office. She too is seeking advice from Miss Ann Martin. The columnist takes Peggy to lunch and they see Binky, who ignores her. When Peggy finds out he is only doing what the columnist told him to do, she runs to Binky saying that no one is going to give them relationship advice.

Next is "Don't Be Mod, Pop" which looks like it is drawn by Henri Scarpelli. Peggy asks Benny to go into town with her to try on some close she is getting someone for a birthday present. Benny is sure the clothes are for Binky and can't believe how unhip and conservative the outfit she picks out is. Benny offers to pick them up for her later and when he does so, he changes the clothing to something more Binky's style. Unfortunately, the clothes were for her father.

Next is Dopey in "The Preparation," a one-pager gag about getting prepared to give Dopey the dog a bath.

That is followed by Binky again in "Careful Living," which is reprinted from Leave It To Binky #56. When Binky sees a list of his father's insurance tables he become worried about getting into an accident. When his father offers him his car for a date, Binky declines, saying he would rather walk. Peggy is a little miffed when Binky shows up late, having walked to her house. He then begins to question every step he takes: are the steps up to code, are the cracks in  the sidewalk too large? When it begins to rain, they hail a cab, which Binky has to be talked into getting inside of. Finally at the movies, Binky worries about each thing the actors are doing and how dangerous they are. Peggy is tired of Binky's rants and leaves the movie. Binky follows and takes Peggy to a soda shop to make up for it. When they get home Binky starts to recite the dangers of marriage and Peggy hit him over the head with a picture.

We end with Binky in "'Li'l Allergy's Pet Project." When Uncle Horatio visits he leaves his parrot, Captain Bligh, with Allergy. When Allergy makes the bird a snack the parrot suggest that he reward himself with some cookies. When Allergy's mom comes looking for him, the bird says he is stealing cookies and Allergy has to stand in the corner. When Allergy's new teacher shows up to get acquainted, the bird imitates Allery's voice and insults her. Allergy is sent to his room for the night where he makes plans to get even with the bird in the morning using some exploding cigars he has.

That night, when burglars try to break in, Captain Bligh scares them away be roaring like a lion. Allergy's dad makes the bird a muffin and Allergy give him the cigar, which blows off all his feathers. The bird reattaches his feathers just as Uncle Horatio returns. As he leaves he give Allergy $5.00 for watching his bird. As he leaves you can see another relative coming up the drive with an elephant in tow.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Girls' Love Stories #146

Girls' Love Stories #146 (On Sale: August 12, 1969) has a cover by George Tuska and Vinny Colletta.

We began with "Abandoned" drawn by Tony Abruzzo and Mike Peppe. Fashion model Susan is dumped by her boyfriend, Peter, and can't seem to get over it. She is even rude to her model friend, Amy, who she used to give advice to. Photographer, Clay, is in love with Susan, but she is unable to get over Peter, till one night when she receives a call from Amy, saying she doesn't want to live and has taken "quite a lot" of sleeping pills. At Amy's apartment, Susan and Clay find her struggling to stay awake and alive and the help her walk and drink coffee to stay awake. Susan tells Amy, that one little setback is not going to ruin her life. By morning Amy is out of the woods and agrees. So does Susan, who leaves to start a new relationship with Clay.

That is followed by "Secret Love" by Ric Estrada and Bernard Sachs. We finish with our cover-story, "Which Love is Mine?" pencilled by John Rosenberger.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

World's Finest Comics #188

World's Finest Comics #188 (On Sale: August 7, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Superman and Batman in "The Super-Rivals" by Ed Hamilton, Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye and reprinted from World's Finest Comics #85. Princess Varina visits the United States and meets her heroes Superman and Batman. The heroes begin competing for Varina’s affection because if she elopes with Stefan, her royal guard, a commoner, she must abdicate. Abdication would lead to civil war in Balkania.

The heroes continue their pursuit of Varina, but when Pete Kaney’s gang try to steal the royal jewels, the heroes make Stefan appear to be a hero. Stefan’s notoriety allows him to safely marry the princess without risk of war pleasing not only the princess but Lois Lane and Vicki Vale as well.

Next is Superman and Batman in "The Super-Newspaper of Gotham City" also by Ed Hamilton, Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye and reprinted from World's Finest Comics #80. Lois Lane and Clark Kent are asked to work for the Gotham Gazette temporarily to save it from ruin. Bruce Wayne also joins the staff as a reporter to help track down a large crime ring. Bruce and Clark compete for stories, while working on breaking up the crime ring as Batman and Superman. They eventually track down the ring with Robin’s help and deliver the story to the Gazette. The newspaper increases in circulation due to the story and is saved from bankruptcy.

That is followed by Superman and Batman in "The Negative Superman" by France Herron, Jim Mooney and Sheldon Moldoff and reprinted from World's Finest Comics #126. Luthor uses a new device to cause Superman to split in a positive and negative half. The Negative Superman begins helping Luthor and other criminals. The real Superman is unable to stop his duplicate because of an energy field.

Batman and Robin assist the Man of Steel in combating the super-powered menace. Batman uses Kryptonite, but the mineral causes the Negative Superman to grow more powerful. When Superman collides with his negative half, the increased power of the Negative Superman breaks the energy field and allows them to merge back into one being.

Next is Green Arrow in "The World's Worst Archer" by Robert Bernstein and Lee Elias and reprinted from Adventure Comics #262. Roy Harper, a promising athlete and archer, wants to become Green Arrow’s partner. His guardian is Brave Bow, an Indian chief whose life was saved by Roy’s late father. Brave Bow has trained Roy to master the bow and arrow, but is now too old to care for Roy.

Green Arrow gives the boy a chance to prove himself at the Greenville Fair. Roy’s arrow misses the target horribly. Roy doesn’t give up and follows Green Arrow after some crooks. Roy uses Brave Bow’s lucky flint arrow to catch the criminals. Green Arrow misses the action and believes the crooks were caught by a lucky accident.

G.A. gives Roy another chance after Roy wins a track meet. Again the boy’s arrow goes wide of the target. Roy is disappointed, but again trails Green Arrow after some crooks. His flint arrow punctures the tire of the getaway car, but the shaft breaks off leaving no evidence that Roy was responsible. Roy finally gives up, but Green Arrow returns later to explain to Roy that his arrowhead was in the tire. The shots he missed were metal arrows which had become magnetized at the fair, causing them to go wide of the targets. Green Arrow gives Roy the nickname Speedy and takes him as a partner.

We end with Superman and Batman in "The Batman Nobody Remembered" by Bill Finger and Jim Mooney and reprinted from World's Finest Comics #136. Batman is forced to crash land the Batplane during a lightning storm. When he returns to Gotham City no one remembers him. He also discovers that certain things are different. Bruce Wayne is really Superman and lives with Robin and Alfred; Vicki Vale looks like Lois Lane; and the Joker is a TV comic.

Batman’s behavior causes Superman and Commissioner Gordon to think he is a criminal, so he is hunted. He eventually proves himself by helping Superman rescue Robin. After relating his story to Superman, the Man of Steel reasons that Batman has been on a parallel Earth. Then he sends Batman to his own dimension, where he belongs.

Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Unexpected #115

Unexpected #115 (On Sale: August 7, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with "Diary of a Madman" by Carl Wessler and Ed Robbins. Some sources indicate that this was the last story Ed Robbins drew for DC, others say he drew some war stories in 1970 and 1971, but I haven't tracked those down yet. Robbins' last comic book work appears to be for Western in Grimm's Ghost Stories in 1975-76. Born in 1919 Ed Robbins died in 1982.

He was one of those guys who worked everywhere, but rarely made a name for himself. He worked at the Beck and Costanza Studio between 1942 and 1953, the Iger Studio in 53-54 and the Simon and Kirby Studio in 1955.

For Archie he drew Roy, the Super Boy, the Scarlet Avenger, The Shield, Steel Sterling and Zamboni, the Miracle Man. At Centaur he drew Craig Carter and the Masked Marvel. At Charlton he crime and war stories. At DC he drew Gang Busters in the 50s and horror, romance and war stories in the 1960s. At Dell he drew horror stories in the early 60s and at Feature Comics he drew romance stories during the late 50s. At Fawcett he drew romance comics for years along with Captain Marvel, the Marvel Family and Mary Marvel. In the 40s and 50s he work for Atlas/Marvel on the Black Avenger, the Human Torch, the Thunderer and assorted horror and war stories. He did one story for Warren in 1970.

If Ed Robbins ever made a name for himself though, it was during his two-years stint on the Mike Hammer newspaper strip in the 1950s, where his hard-boiled gutsy graphic style was years ahead of the British strips of the 60s, such as Jim Holdaway on Modesty Blaise and Yaroslav Horak on James Bond (I used to follow both of these strips in the wonderful Menomonee Falls Gazette in the 1970s).

Next we have "Abracadabra -- You're Dead" by Dave Wood, Curt Swan and Jack Abel. We end with "The Day Nobody Died" by Dave Wood, Werner Roth and Frank Giacoia. This story was reprinted in Unexpected #161.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Swing With Scooter #22

Swing With Scooter #22 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We have Scooter and Sylvester in "He Who Learns Karate... Gets Sore Back," which is inked by Henry Scarpelli. When one day at the beach, Sylvester is pushed around by the captain of the football team, he decides to take up karate. Scooter takes him to a local dojo and is signed up for classes with Sylvester. After beating up the sensei's young son, Sylvester thinks he is ready to go back to the beach. When the football captain again beats up Sylvester, Cookie takes the player out with judo moves she learned by watching Batman on TV.

Next is Cynthia in "Hat a Girl," which is again most likely inked by Henry Scarpelli. When Cynthia puts a deposit down on an expensive hat, she works for a month babysitting in order to afford it. When she finally has enough to buy it she sees a horse wearing the same hat.
 
Malibu stars in three one-page gags: "The Expert," "The Poet" and "Room for Rent," all which are again most likely inked by Henry Scarpelli.

We end with Scooter and Kenny in "Mod Addict." Scooter tries to make some extra money to buy some clothes for a Mod Dress dance on Saturday night. He gets fires before he earns anything. When his Uncle Freddy hears of his problem, he offers to pay Scooter to clean out his attic. There Scooter finds some old clothes from the 1920s that look pretty mod, so he wears them to the party. As with all the stories in this issue, this again most likely inked by Henry Scarpelli.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superman #220

Superman #220 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a nice cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

"Who Stole My Super-Powers?" is by Jim Shooter, Curt Swan and George Roussos and guest-stars the Flash. This story was reprinted in Best of DC #8. Superman and Flash both awaken in separate locations wearing the other's costume and without a memory of who they are. Superman wearing Flash's costume and possessing super-speed believes he is the Flash and returns to Central City. Meanwhile Flash discovers his own speed also, but cannot utilize the other powers Superman possesses.

He does discover Clark Kent's id and clothes in his cape pouch. Using a plastic mask he assumes Clark's identity at the Daily Planet. Superman, still believing that he is the Flash, reads about a planned meeting with the Man of Steel, so he races toward Metropolis. The Flash is having difficulty adjusting to the role of Clark Kent because he does not possess Clark's writing skill.

The two heroes cross paths in a subway tunnel. They come to realize who they really are. Both were attacking an intelligent space seed that was threatening Earth. They switched costumes to confuse the seed, but they were thrown back to Earth in defeat. With the seed still threatening to land on Earth, the heroes combine forces to briefly stop Earth's orbit around the sun. The seed's trajectory misses the Earth and carries it into the sun.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Our Army at War #211

Our Army at War #211 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "The Treasure of St. Daniel" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. Rock and Easy Co. are greeted as saviors by the townspeople of the Swiss Alp village of St. Daniel. We learn that the people of St. Daniel are hiding a treasure that they are saving for the allies, which is why Rock and Easy are there. Until yesterday, the town was under Nazi control, the Nazis having heard rumors of the treasure. It is surmised that the Nazis must have seen Easy coming and rather than fight, they left.

A crippled boy leads Easy to a grotto up the mountain where the treasure is hidden. Amongst all the valuables is a solid gold statute of St. Daniel. Rock says they will need to call HQ for some trucks to carry all this off the mountain. The Nazis sneak up on Easy and we learn that they did see Easy coming and knew if they left, the townspeople would lead Easy to the treasure.

Rock leaps at the Nazi commander and all hell breaks loose (I gotta tell ya, Russ Heath was a national treasure. His three panel page of the brawls beginning is just a thing of beauty and raw energy. It has the staging and raw power of the best Frazetta paintings.). As the fight wears on and Easy goes down one man after another, the Nazis start screaming as the statue of St. Daniel begins to cry.  Frightened, the Nazis all run out of the grotto, only the crippled boy sees them and brings the roof down on the Nazis and himself, saving the treasure.

The back-up story is "Dragon with Wings" by Ken Barr. German pilot Lt. Krueger distinguishes himself during WWI battles and is nicknamed the Dragon with Wings. When the war ends in defeat, Krueger vows to one day lead the fatherland to glory. He marries, has a son Rudi, whom he teaches all his flying and fighter tricks to. On his 15th birthday, his father comes home wearing his Nazi uniform and his mother sneaks Rudi and herself on a ship for America to escape the Nazis (something people used to do back in those days).

Rudi becomes a fighter pilot and later over France he meets the enemy for the first time and the Nazi squadron is lead by his father, Rudi recognizing his insignia on the German plane. Rudi gets his father in his sites, but cannot pull the trigger. Later now Col. Krueger wonders about the American who spared his life. Later Rudi receives a letter from his father calling him a coward.

The next day they meet again in the skies and Col Krueger tells his men to back off, that the fight is just between him and his son. Due to the lessons given to him as a boy, Rudi is able to out think and out anticipate his father's moves and eventually he shoots his father down.

As usual, Ken Barr's art is top notch; just beautiful stuff in gorgeous details.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

House of Secrets #82

House of Secrets #82 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with a framing sequence by Bill Draut featuring Abel telling stories to Goldie and his friend.

The first actual story is "Realler Than Real" drawn by Werner Roth and Vince Colletta. Producer Talbert Talcott fires the director of his latest film as bemoans about the state of art in Hollywood and how none of the pictures are real enough. Back at his mansion a director, George Purkos awaits, but when he offers to direct Talcott's next picture, he tells him to leave.

Sometime later Talcott receives a call from Purkos saying he has some real realism to show him in the screening room. As Talcott watches the western film in the screening room he once again screams that it is not real enough. When they next find Talcott he has been shot with an arrow. How's that for realism?

Most sources list this as Werner Roth's first work for DC since his first pencil job in Secret Hearts #42 in 1957, but Jerry Bails' Who's Who of American Comic Books contains a long list of Roth work for DC romance books covering most of the 60s. This includes long runs on Falling In Love, Girls' Romances, Secret Hearts, Young Love and Young Romance.

Roth spent most of his early career at Atlas/Marvel, beginning in 1951 when he started drawing the Apache Kid. Roth was so good at drawing women that Atlas publisher Martin Goodman had a comic created just for him: Lorna, the Jungle Girl. His last work at Atlas was in Strange Tales in 1958 and he didn't return till 1965 when now Marvel needed an artist to replace Jack Kirby on the Uncanny X-Men. At Marvel, Roth sometimes used the pseudonym Jay Gavin. He would remain the X-Men penciler till 1969, when he would return to DC starting with this story. However, in the later half of the 60s and the early 70s Roth also worked on a number of Marvel's other book, including The Avengers, Sub-Mariner, GunHawk, Kid Colt, The Rawhide Kid and Werewolf By Night.

Werner Roth also worked at Dell Comics and drew Mandrake the Magician for King Comics and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. for Western Publishing. He also worked for a time as an assistant on the On Stage newspaper strip.

In 1970 Roth became the penciler of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane, a book he would work on til his death in 1973 at the age of 52.

The next story is "Sudden Madness" drawn by Dick Giordano. All over the world posters saying "Sudden Madness, the new game sensation is Free and Fun!" Some of the signs say the game will arrive in a few months and a few months later the game arrives in everybody's mail. As people try to put together a block puzzle they begin to quarrel and fight.  Soon, people all across the planet are fighting as the aliens arrive to take over a soon to be uninhabited planet thanks to their "mind-retroverters" which were disguised as a game.

Next is "The Little Old Winemaker" drawn by Jack Sparling. Rudy is unable to keep his aunt Teresa from marrying Gino, a poor grape grower. Rudy fears that Gino is just waiting for his older aunt to die so he can inherit her fortune, which is what Rudy was expecting to do. After they are married, Gino seems to dote of Teresa as he works his vineyard, but Teresa's health is not very good. When she is not seen in town for two weeks, Rudy heads for Gino's, barging in and demanding to know where he buried his aunt's body as he is sure Gino murdered her.

Gino tells him that her health was faltering so she went "to sea" for her health. Rudy does not believe him and takes an ax the nearest barrel of wine, declaring, "Which one! Where have you hidden her?!" He smashes barrel after barrel and Gino fearing for his life leaves to get the police. So that Rudy wont get away, Gino locks the door. Inside, the room fills up with wine and Rudy, unable to open the door, drowns. We all know this is nonsense, but, hey, it's comics.

A few days later the police come to Gino's door with more bad news. His wife Teresa, on hearing of the death of her nephew, Rudy, had a heart attack and died. After the officer leaves we find out that that was Gino's plan all along.

We end with "The One and Only, Fully Guaranteed Super-Permanent, 100%?" by Marv Wolfman, Dick Dillin and Neal Adams. Just to be clear here, the art is very uneven and there are some pages that don't look like Neal Adams ever touched them. But, that said, the art is really interesting at times. Stanley Landman is constantly dominated by his wife, Stella. She doesn't want him looking at catalogs, like "Catalog of Miscellaneous Services and Products" and she doesn't want him reading magazines; she wants him cleaning the house.

As he gets to it, he reads an ad for "The Problem-Solving Institute of America" that fell out of the catalog when Stella was tearing it up. He has never heard of them, but he does have a problem, so...

A week later a huge package arrives for Stella. She opened it and inside is another box, and another and another. 30 minutes later she opens a tiny box to find a gold cube inside. From the other room, Stanley hears a blood-curdling scream. He walks into the room and Stella is gone, only the cube remains. He gets a bill for $29,99 from the Institute and promptly pays it, while tossing the cube into the trash.

This last story was reprinted in House of Mystery #224 and Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 3 TPB, The entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.