Falling In Love #113

Falling In Love #113 (On Sale: December 16, 1969) has a another wonderful cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "I.O.U.: My Heart" inked by Vinny Colletta. This story may be penciled by Ric Estrada. He penciled either this story or the last one in this issue.

This is followed by a two-page piece, "What's Your Dating I.Q.?" drawn by Liz Berube.

Next is "The Most Bitter Lesson of Her Life" drawn by Lee Elias.

We end with our cover-story, "Please, Please, Don't Tell Him About Me" inked by Vinny Colletta.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Debbi's Dates #6

Debbi's Dates #6 (On Sale: December 16, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We begin with Buddy in "Seeing Isn't Believing." That is followed by Benedict in "The Ski Champ" drawn by Henry Scarpelli. Next is Debbi's Dates in "Two Down and One to Go" and we end with the Ding-a-Lings in "Fun in the Sun."

Edited by Dick Giordano.

World's Finest Comics #191

World's Finest Comics #191 (On Sale: December 11, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Jack Abel.

We begin with Superman and Batman in "Execution on Krypton" by Cary Bates, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. On their way to see General Hill concerning a top secret project, Superman and Batman see Jor-El and Lara, who, when approached, disappears. However, before disappearing Jor-El mentions their "greatest crime" they were about to commit.

They decide to find the meaning of Jor-El's words when they are done with the General, but when they arrive they find the General recovering from a accident, so they decide to take a trip through time to investigate the strange appearance of Superman's parents. When they arrive back on Krypton in the past before Superman was even born, they stop a student protest (oy!) and meet Jor-El. They explain that they are hunters from another galaxy and Jor-El invites them to stay at their place.

Being the cordial hosts they are, Jor-El and Lara sneak away from their home, leaving two unknown aliens to roam it at will, to lead a secret crime school meeting. Superman and Batman follow them and learn that some unknown force transported Superman's parents' away, but they have no memory of where they went or what they saw.

Our two heroes are captured and placed in a glass cage where they will either die or prove they are worthy to join the crime school. This is exactly the image presented on the cover. They manage to escape and join the school, proving to be excellent students. Jor-El tells Superman and Batman that they are being sent to the island of Bokos to streal the pertrified body of Calox, an ancient explorer who was thought to be a god to stone-age Kryptonians.

Superman and Batman successfully snatch the body, bringing the body to Jor-El who discovers that Calox is not dead; he  is in suspended animation. While examining the body, Superman and Batman suddenly disappear, only to reappear back on Earth. General Hill, recovered from his wounds, explains that the army has created a time vortex. Jor-El and Lara were brought to Earth temporarily, but returned after twenty minutes. The heroes, who have also been brought to Earth via the vortex will return to Krypton too. Hill destroys the machine in order to keep Superman and Batman from being returned to Krypton.

The back-up Robin story is "Stone-Deaf Robin" reprinted from Star Spangled Comics #130 and is by David Reed and Jim Mooney. When Batman is away for a few days, a hand grenade is tossed at Dick Grayson by a thug "Fixer" O'Bannon, he loses his hearing. A deaf Robin must use all his cunning to capture "Fixer" even though he cannot hear. A few days later both Batman and Dick's hearing return.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Showcase #88

Showcase #88 (On Sale: December 11, 1969) has a Jason's Quest cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

We begin with "The Beginning" of Jason's Quest, written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Frank Giacoia. Every resource I can find says this story was inked by Dick Giordano, but I am looking at the pages and it just ain't so, no way, no how.

Before we get to the recap of this book, I must say a few words about Mike Sekowsky at this point in his career. Mike had been in comics since 1941 when he started at Timely and had drawn just about every genre there was: super-hero, western, war, funny animal, romance, TV , jungle action and science-fiction, and though he was known as a super-hero artist, he obviously was more attracted to action stories with more humanistic characters.

While everyone else at DC was chasing Marvel super-heroes or attempting to relive their time at EC, Mike Sekowsky was following a different path. He made the Metal Men look human and turned them into thriller characters on the run. He participated big-time in the biggest deflowering of super-powers in comic history by separating Wonder Woman from her powers and costume. He took chances on new types of books and I for one appreciated the effort. I may be the only one, but I particularly appreciated Jason's Quest.

We begin at "The Beginning" as Jason Davis' father has been mortally wounded in a shooting. Summoned by the doctors to his deathbed, the blonde young man listens to a stunning series of revelations. His real name is Jason Grant, Jr. and when he was just a child his real father had been murdered by a mobster named Tuborg, who sought the elder Grant's latest invention. As Tuborg's killers combed the house for witnesses, Grant's servant, Davis, rushed to the nursery, commanding the nanny to take Jason's twin sister, someone Jason never knew existed, into hiding while he did the same with young Jason. The nanny headed for London while Davis brought Jason to America. Over the next nineteen years, Davis moved himself and Jason constantly, always trying to stay one step ahead of Tuborg's searching thugs.

In preparation for the day Jason would take over the fight, Davis drilled commando training into the boy's head. With his final breath, he gasped, "Your sister ... somehow your father secreted on her person evidence that will end Tuborg and his evil empire. In the fireplace at home ... the box your father gave me -- it has your papers ... money ... and -- and ... I'm ... I'm ... sor --"

In five and a half short pages, including one splash, Sekowsky has neatly set up the entire series and there is not a spandex outfit or alien super-power in sight.

Unknown to Jason, Tuborg had planted a bug in the hospital room and heard every word. Finding Jason's sister was now their number one priority. Jason flies to London, buys a motorcycle and begins his search for his sister. From an ex-neighbor he gets a picture of her and a direction; she is heading for the continent.

Tuborg's men ambush Jason on the road and though they don't get the picture, they get enough clues to track her to a ferry soon to go across the channel. On the ferry Jason saves a woman named Gee Gee from two thugs. Gee Gee asks if Jason would like to travel with her, but he declines, wanting instead to head out looking for his sister. As he drives away Gee Gee removes her black wig and is revealed as Jason's sister.

The three-page back-up "Ghost Rider" is written and drawn by Mike Sekowsky and really is inked by Dick Giordano. It is the tale of teenagers, bikers and ghostly riders.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Justice League of America #78

Justice League of America #78 (On Sale: December 11, 1969) has a more than slightly misleading, though nicely-drawn cover by Gil Kane.

We begin with "The Coming of the Doomsters" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. In Star City Green Arrow assists a night watchman at a factory on the docks shooting it out with a group of armed thugs, using a Flare Arrow to throw some light on the situation. When the arrow hits the water it erupts in flames and Arrow signals for some JLA assistance. Answering the call is Green Lantern and Superman who make quick work of the flames now threatening the city. Once the fire is out they disburse, not hearing the plea of the watchman to talk about something that the watchman says may hold the key to the future of the entire human race.

Green Lantern and Superman take Green Arrow to, well, to New York (not called by name of course) to the top of the building which houses DC Comics (also not called by name of course) to show him the Thanagarian relativity beam system (think Star Trek-like transporter device) which the JLA has installed there. Superman explains that since their headquarters was compromised by the Joker in Justice League of America #777, they have built a new headquarters and Green Arrow in now standing in the doorway. The transporter energizes and Green Arrow is teleported to the new JLA satellite headquarters 23,300 miles above New York in a geosynchronous orbit, where the rest of the team is waiting for him.

The JLA are to appear at a charity event that night and down earthside the watchman is making his way toward it when he is the victim of a drive-by shooting. He avoids the gunfire though and returns his own, blowing out a car tire and sending the car into a pole. When the thugs extract themselves from the wrecked car, the watchman is gone, but they now think they know where he is going and their conversation makes it clear that they are not from Earth.

Meanwhile, at the charity event the JLA are introducing the crowd to Black Canary when the watchman arrives, followed closely by the two goons from the car. Canary attacks using her judo and Green Lantern protects her from the goons' alien weapons. As the thugs go down Superman jumps on their bodies shielding everyone from the self-destruct blast of the thugs, now revealed as androids of some sort. The watchman grabs the alien weapons and he and the JLA retire to a more private facility, their orbiting headquarters.

The watchman explains how he was hired on by the new factory in town and was assaulted by the amount of pollution the thing put out. When he asked workers what they were producing, no one seemed to know. The watchman soon realized that the product the factory was making was pollution and he stole some papers proving it. Some "men" from the factory chased him and that is where Green Arrow found him. The watchman introduces himself as Greg Sanders, who used to go by the name of the Vigilante, but gave up that life years ago. Now of course, since the Vigilante from the Golden Age was from Earth 2, this is actually the first appearance of this character. So, not only has Denny O'Neil given us the new JLA headquarters this issue, he has introduced a new DC character as well.

The stolen paperwork includes a star map and Superman and Green Lantern head off to explore that end of the story. The rest of the JLA head off to the factory, except for Green Arrow who wants to have a "conversation" with the Star City City Manager, where it seems the City Manager knows the factory only makes pollution and doesn't care as it provides jobs and taxes and that is all that matters. He has Green Arrow thrown in jail Personal aside here: as the husband of an ex-City Manager, the person you might find with that sort of attitude would be a Mayor, i.e., a politician, not a City Manager, who is governed by a whole set of ethics that politicians know nothing of.

Meanwhile the rest of the JLA have made a quick stop at a western goods store and purchased the makings of a new Vigilante costume. Along with that and the alien guns, the Vigilante is back in business. While at the same time on the alien world pointing at by the stolen paperwork Green Lantern and Superman find a desolate destroyed ash-can of a planet where once a vibrant civilization existed.

At the factory the JLA and the Vigilante are confronted and eventually overwhelmed by the alien automatons. As we leave for the month they are being lowered into vats of bubbling, noxious death! This tale has been reprinted in Justice League of America Archives Vol. 9 HC and Showcase Presents:Justice League of America Vol. 4 TPB.

The back-up story is "The Man Who Hated Science!" by Jack Miller and John Giunta and reprinted from Mystery In Space #6.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Young Romance #164

Young Romance #164 (On Sale: December 9, 1969) has a cover inked by Vinny Colletta. Some say this is penciled by Bill Draut and some say it is Werner Roth. This is the problem with Colletta; he just destroyed people's pencils.

We begin with "The Searing Conclusion to Next Door to Love" drawn by Alex Toth and Ric Dano (Dick Giordano). Amy hears nothing but bad things about men from her mother, which makes her afraid to trust that Larry, who lives next door and is really interested in her. This was reprinted in Young Love #114.

Next is "Please... Don't Step on My Heart" by Robert Kanigher, John Celardo and Vinnie Colletta.

Next is a lovelorn letters section, Laura Penn...Your Romance Reporter with an illustration by John Romita.

That is followed by a fashion page, Dates 'n Mates drawn by Liz Berube.

We end with "I Laughed at Love" by Tony Abruzzo and Vinny Colletta. This was reprinted under a different title in Young Romance #203.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Sugar and Spike #88

Sugar and Spike #88 (On Sale: December 9, 1969) has a cover by Sheldon Mayer.

We have three Sugar and Spike stories this issue: "Little Arthur Strikes Again," "Eggs, Sunny-Side Down" and "Why Babies Do What They Do," all writen and drawn by Sheldon Mayer.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Leave It To Binky #71

Leave It To Binky #71 (On Sale: December 9, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We begin with Binky in "The T.V. Man" by John Albano, Winslow Mortimer and Bill Draut which was reprinted in Best of DC #29. Next is Binky in "Supporting Your Local Policeman." That is followed by Binky's Buddies in "Easy Bread" by Barbara Friedlander, Winslow Mortimer and Henry Scarpelli. This was reprinted in Best of DC #70. We end with Binky in "(Where are you going in such a temper, Binky?)."

Edited by Joe Orlando.

G.I. Combat #140

G.I. Combat #140 (On Sale: December 9, 1969) has a cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with "The Last Tank" from All-American Men of War #50 by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. Next is "Time Bomb Tank" from Our Fighting Forces #53 by Bob Haney and Russ Heath. That is followed by "Second-String Soldier" from Our Army at War #71 by Bob Haney and Mort Drucker. We end with "Face of the Enemy" from Our Army at War #56 by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath.

Edited by Joe Kubert..

Unexpected #117

Unexpected #117 (On Sale: December 4, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with Johnny Peril in "Midnight Summons the Executioner" by George Kashdan and Sid Greene. This is the last Johnny Peril story for ten years. Next is "Hands of Death" by Murray Boltinoff and Jerry Grandenetti. That is followed by "The House That Hate Built" by Carl Wessler and George Tuska. This story was reprinted in Unexpected #161. We end with "Death of the Man Who Never Lived" by Carl Wessler and Bruno Premiani.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Flash #194

Flash #194 (On Sale: December 4, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

The Flash stars in "The Bride Cast Two Shadows" by John Broome, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Joan Boardman awakens one night in a trance, walking out of her hotel murmuring something about finding "her love." On the street she sees a poster of the Flash and thinks, "It's him!" The Flash is a few blocks away fighting the Owl Gang and during the fight Joan rushes into the line of fire and is knocked unconscious. When the police and Iris arrive (Iris in her role as a news photographer), Iris suggests that they take the unconscious girl to her house (in real life something this stupid would never happen, but in John Broomeland, this is the norm).

Once there, Joan wakes up and begins referring to the Flash as Daniel. Whenever the woman stares at Barry, he has visions of a past life where he is proposing and planning for his wedding to Elfriede Talman who is the spitting image of Joan Boardman. Eventually Iris uncovers the story of Daniel Porter and Elfriede Talman. Daniel was the mayor of Central City a hundred years ago and is a look-alike for Barry. On the night before his wedding to Elfriede, she disappeared in a freak storm. When Joan awakens again they notice that she casts two shadows, as if two people were in possession of her body.

The next time Joan looks at Barry he does not fight the visions and joins her in marriage. They are then both swept into another realm, where Elfriede says she lives and can visit the Earth once every hundred years for a single day. As she departs, the Flash tries to find his way back to reality but is attacked by a number of demons. Finally, he is able to make his way out of the strange realm, where he finds that Joan Boardman is fine once again and remembers nothing of the past 24 hours.

Confession time. I have never much cared for the art team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito and found it strange that for years Esposito was the only inker of Ross Andru's pencils (the team actually goes all the way back to Andru's first story for DC in 1953). I particularly did not like the team on the Flash, as Andru's characters seem a little clunky and off-balance and this trait was something that I certainly did not think applied to the Flash. That said, I thought much of the art in this issue worked for me, particularly the scenes of the Flash fighting the demons. Odd that Ross Andru should finally get it "right" on this his last story as the Flash artist.

The back-up story is "The Man Who Televised Time" from Strange Adventures #13 and produced by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. This little story is about a professor who offers $1 million for an invention that will change the world. The first man has what he calls a perpetual motion machine, but has forgotten to take into account the wear caused by friction. Next is a man who claims his machine can extract gold from water, but it costs more to run than it can produce in gold. Next is a man who has invented a sonic typewriter, but it has no way of dealing with homophones. The last man says that he has a machine that can retrieve past light waves and display the past on a television screen. The professor has this man arrested for fraud when he shows sound and pictures at the same time, since sound waves travel at a very different speed than light waves.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #219

Batman #219 (On Sale: December 4, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams. This is the last issue to use this long-time logo.

We begin with our cover-story, "Death Casts the Deciding Vote" by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. Bruce Wayne heads to the state capitol to find public funding for his Victims Inc, Program but when he reaches the governor's office he finds Senator Lincoln Webster already there. Webster is visiting on the sly and informs Bruce that a new anti-crime bill he is sponsoring will put V.I.P. out of business, but that there might be a federal "Health and Welfare" bill that some of Bruce's ideas might be tacked on to.

Webster invites Bruce to fly with him back to Washington, DC where he needs to be tomorrow to vote on his bill and promises to introduce Bruce tot he right people. Little do they know that they are being watched and followed as they leave the state house. They take a commuter flight back to DC but things go bad almost immediately.

Unbeknownst to Bruce and Webster, the plane has been hijacked. Bruce notices that the plane is flying in the wrong direction and breaks into the cockpit to see what is going on. There he is knocked out and hijackers tell the passengers that Bruce was a hijacker and that they are the FBI. Webster knows something is up, but does not want to reveal his identity. They put Bruce in a back room where he escapes and returns to the front of the plane as Batman. They threaten to kill Webster if Batman doesn't stop and he is also captured and thrown in with Bruce Wayne (Bruce used inflated Mae Wests to fill out his clothing when he changed into Batman garb).

The hijackers land the plane at an abandoned airfield. There they reveal that they are simply holding Webster until after the vote of his bill, so that it will fail. When they go to check on Batman, they find an unconscious Bruce Wayne and an open door where they assume Batman has escaped. They move Bruce back up with the passengers and he talks the Senator into faking a heart attack. Bruce convinces the hijackers to fly to a nearby medic. When they take off, batman pops up in the cockpit. The gunmen freak out and run back into the passenger area where Bruce gets the better of them. He then rushes to the cockpit where he deflates the Batman suit he had rigged with the wheels hydraulic mechanism and tells the pilots to head for DC.

As they approach DC for landing the wheels open and suck the Batman suit out of the plane, which is sort of what you see on the slightly misleading cover. Not a great story by any means, but also not what this issue is known for.

The back-up story is "The Silent Night of the Batman" by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. This is a beautifully done Christmas tale of a Christmas Eve which Batman spends singing Christmas carols with Commissioner Gordon and his men, while out across Gotham the spirit of Batman stops one crime after another. Sometimes it is a Batman toy, sometimes a blind man in a Batman costume, sometimes the shadow of a suspension bridge forming a Batman symbol.

This is Neal's first Batman story outside of the Brave and the Bold. During a trip to San Francisco about 10 years ago I visited the Museum of Cartoon Art and they had the original art to "The Silent Night of Batman" on display, a gift from Mike Friedrich. The originals are stunning.

It is a classic tale like no other and has been reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-43, Christmas with the Super-Heroes #1 and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

One more back-up before we go and that is "Time to Kill" by Henry Kuttner and John Giunta and reprinted from Phantom Stranger #5. This is a great little story about a rivalry between two scientists, a time machine and a murder that becomes a suicide. Henry Kuttner was a client of Julius Schwartz's, a science-fiction writer who only wrote 21 stories for DC comics. Twenty of them were written between 1944 and 1946 and all twenty were Green Lantern stories. This, his 21st and last story was written in 1953. Besides his work for DC, Kuttner also wrote for Fawcett, Ace and Avon Comics and worked for a while out of the Chesler Studio.

Kuttner was married to Catherine Louise Moore, also a writer and they co-authored a number of science-fiction novels together. Kuttner is the creator of Elak of Atlantis, an early sword and sorcery character. Ten of Kuttner's novels were published after his death in 1958. The Best of Henry Kuttner was published in 1987 and Catherine Lucille Moore and Henry Kuttner: A Marriage of Souls and Talent: A Working Bibliography was published in 1986.

Kuttner wrote under a number of pseudonyms including Lewis Padgett. One of his stories (co-written with his wife) was Mimsy Were the Borogoves which was adapted into the feature-length film The Last Mimzy.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Our Army at War #215

Our Army at War #215 (On Sale: December 2, 1969) has a Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "The Pied Piper of Peril" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. In a small French town Rock and Easy Co. are ambushed by a squad of SS Troopers. Through the use of slang terms Rock is able to communicate to his men without the Nazis understanding and is able to kill the entire squad, save their commander. The fighting over the women, children and old people of the town come out of hiding and thank Rock and his men for saving them.

Almost immediately the prisoner seems to have some strange power over the youngsters of the town. They sit and watch him while he whittles a flute and seem to spend all of there time around him. Bulldozer remarks how it reminds him of the Pied Piper story. The kids will have nothing to do with Rock or his men and actually seem to protect the Nazi from his captors.

Then next night the kids steal Easy's guns while they sleep and Rock and the SS Officer square off, where Rock finally takes him out. The kids then confess that the Nazi had told them they would never see their fathers alive and that their mothers would also be killed if they did not cooperate with him. A pretty silly story of not much consequence if you ask me.

Next is "The Face of Death" drawn by Fred Ray regarding Joel Kurt, an artist sent by newspapers to try and capture the feel of battle during the Civil War. Kurt keep getting closer and closer to the action, saying he wants to capture the "face of death" for his readers, but he always feels he is failing. Finally he disobeys orders and follows the men during a charge against the Confederates, where he is shot. After the battle they find him leaning up against a tree, where he asks for his paper and pencils. He says, "I've got it... got it at last! Now..eveyonel...will see...the real face of death!" He then dies and when they look at the paper there is nothing but a scribble on it. The only way to see the real face of death, is to die. This story I liked.

We end with a Great Battles of History story, "Liegnitz and the Mongol Tide" written and drawn by Ric Estrada. It is more of a history lesson than a story of the battle where Duke Henry of Sliesia was defeated by the Mongol hoard.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

House of Secrets #84

House of Secrets #84 (On Sale: December 2, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

The book begins and ends with a nice framing sequence drawn by Bill Draut. The first tale is "If I Had But World Enough and Time" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Mike Peppe, a tale of suburbia and the perils and ultimate escape that can be found in watching a lot of television.

That is followed by "Double or Nothing" by Marv Wolfman and Sid Greene. This is a tale about Clifford King who runs a crooked gambling room and learns that even crooked games are no match for a man with the right "system."

Next is "The Unbelievable! The Unexplained" by Steve Skeates, Jack Sparling and Jack Abel. Ruth has a plan to steal her uncle's estate by having him committed and placed into a nursing home. Who can blame her, the old guy was catatonic, staring off into space as if he had seen something too horrible to accept. Shortly after moving in to her uncle's home and shortly after he dies in the nursing home, Ruth is busy looking for the deed to the home when she finds a mysterious key. Once in her had the key begins to throb and Ruth is forced to go where the key demands, in this case to an old house in the fog. There she opens a door and sees something, something beyond description that drives her mad. Somehow she makes it back to the estate, but she is in a catatonic state much like her uncle. Well, ,she coveted everything he had, and she got what she coveted. I liked the way that Skeates was able to immerse Abel into the story on this one.

The last story in the book is our cover-story, "If I Should Die Before I Wake..." by Len Wein and Jack Sparling, the story of Alan Fry, a man who dares not sleep for when he does he is attacked by Morlon in the land of Somnia. Fry tries to find refuge at a psychiatrist's office, but Morlon finds him even there. The entire contents were reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Challengers of the Unknown #72

Challengers of the Unknown #72 (On Sale: December 2, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

The Challengers of the Unknown star in "A Plague of Darkness" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Frank Giacoia. While in the hospital waiting for Red to be released, the Challs learn of a deadly plague, which is turning people into zombie-like creatures. We know that he plague is the work of a chemist named Murlin, who was trying to find an elixir of youth. The plague is spread first by a cat, which is what the cover alludes to.

While most of the Challs are tracking down Murlin, Corinna finds a cure in an old alchemy book. Murlin is going to put the elixir i the city water supply and is able to trick the Challs into leaving him alone, but Corinna sees through his illusion and in the end is the one who stops Murlin. They then use the city's waster system to spread the antidote.

The back-up story is "Nobody Lives Forever... or Do They?" by Dave Wood and Lee Elias. This is not a Challengers story, but rather some mystery book filler.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Green Lantern #74

Green Lantern #74 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a great cover by Gil Kane.

Green Lantern stars in "Lost In Space" by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. This is Friedrich's last Green Lantern story and it's a pretty good one, uniting two villains and two secondary characters (OK, one of them is also one of the villains) and has a nice feel to it. On top of that we have some wonderful artwork by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Good issue this one.

Continuing from last issue which ended with Green Lantern turning Star Sapphire back into Carol Ferris and Sapphire giving one last command before being vanquished, a command that banished Green Lantern to space in his civilian identity and with no knowledge that he is Green Lantern. So, we begin with Hal Jordan floating in space and freaking out! He tries to keep his sanity by remembering what he knows to be true: He is Hal Jordan. He used to be a test pilot. He now has something to do with toys. Yes, he sells toys!

In his pocket he finds a toy spaceship and as he begins to lose his grip on sanity he wishes it to be real, and suddenly it is! Hal knows of only one man who can accomplish that, Green Lantern and so he remembers who he is! As Green Lantern he heads back to Earth to finally tell Carol Ferris who she is. He finds her on the beach and as he nears her she turns back into Star Sapphire. It is the work of Sinestro, who returns to Sapphire the royal gem whom which she obtains her powers.

Together Sinestro and Sapphire attack Green Lantern, whose 24 hours of power suddenly run out. He falls to the sand and Sinestro moves in for the kill. But he has not counted on Sapphire's love for Green Lantern, she only wishes to defeat him so that he will relent to be her mate. Sapphire and Sinestro begin to battle one another in a fight most evenly matches.

Meanwhile Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku wakes up to the news that Green Lantern has been severely injured. Seeing video of Lantern on the beach Tom heads out to assist. Green Lantern on the other hand awakes and seeing Sinestro and Star Sapphire engaged in battle slowly begins to crawl back to his hotel, where his power battery is stashed. The effort is grueling and as he closes in on the hotel steps Sinestro puts up a barrier in his path. Green Lantern collapses, but Tom is waiting in the bushes with the power battery and after a quick recharge Lantern heads back into battle.

Sensing that Sinestro is only a match for him with the added power of Star Sapphire, Green Lantern takes her out first and Sinestro gives up. However, as Green Lantern tries to take him in, he disappears. Green Lantern finds Carol Ferris on the beach and finally tells her that her obsession with him is a dangerous thing, for she is Star Sapphire. She refuses to accept the truth and runs off. Back at Tom's house, Tom says that at least Carol never did anything as Sapphire to land her in jail and Hal agrees.

This story has been reprinted in Green Lantern :The Greatest Stories Ever Told TPB and Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Girls' Romances #146

Girls' Romances #146 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a cover by Jay Scott Pike and Vinny Colletta.

We begin with "I'll Never Love Again" penciled by John Rosenberger. That is followed by "Beggar for Love" penciled by Jay Scott Pike. We end with our cover-story, "Girl with a Reputation," which was also penciled by Jay Scott Pike.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #395

Detective Comics #395 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a wonderful cover by Neal Adams. The cover could only have been improved if they had let it go the full height of the book, with the logo on the illustration instead of above it.

We begin with Batman in "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. This classic issue redefined what a Batman story should be. Building on the ideas Neal Adams has told Julius Schwartz months earlier, this is a different Batman than we have seen before. First, without any of the nonsense of his previous few issues, this is Batman alone. No Robin, no Alfred, no Wayne Manor or Wayne Foundation, no V.I.P., no Batmobile or Batarang. Besides his body and his mind, the only tool Batman uses is a rope (not called a Batrope mind you). The entire story takes place at night and one of the tools Batman does use is that his appearance scares people. Nothing campy or hammy in this story.

This is not the guy you have seen before; the character has been remolded to more aptly fit the way Neal Adams draws him. It is not the most complicated of stories, but it is just enough to give you a feel of this new character, the one replacing the Batman you have known in the past.

The entire story takes place on a single night in Central Mexico. Bruce Wayne and every other "social butterfly in the Western Hemisphere" have been invited to a huge fiesta on the estate of notorious recluse Juan Muerto. Bruce is out touring the estate when trouble first appears. Some of the guests are engaging in a night-time hot-air balloon race when the balloon of one of the competitors, Pedro Valdes, is attacked by trained falcons, which shred his balloon. As Valdes plummets to the ground he is saved from certain death by Batman, who as Bruce Wayne quickly returns to the party.

There Bruce dances with Juan's wife, Delores, a beautiful young woman who speaks to Bruce in an oddly condescending way, as if she were talking to a child. Bruce senses a strange mustiness about her, that he can't explain. Bruce mentions how odd it is for them to hold their fiesta in a graveyard and Delores responds that she and Juan choose to laugh at death rather than fear it. Just then the returning Valdes is attacked once again, as a brazier near him shatters and Bruce hears the muffled sound of a silenced gun. Slipping away from Delores Muerto, Bruce once again sheds his civilian guise to become the Dark Knight.

He finds a group of killers on top of a nearby ridge and leaps into their midst. His sudden appearance frightens them and his quick fists begin to work them over. But one of the men summons a pair of wolves who attack Batman. He leaps into a tree to escape their jaws and from there leaps off a cliff, plummeting over the edge. The killers hear no splash of batman hitting the water below and assume he has hit the rocks and is no longer a problem.

Back at the fiesta, the Muertos decide that two bungled assassinations are enough for one night and will take matters into their own hands. They find Valdes and say they want to show him something that can be found in the old monastery on the grounds. Valdes wonders if it might be a flower. Hanging from a rope under the cliff, Batman hears the discussion and follows the group to the monastery. The Muertos show Valdes the Sybil flowers, which according to legend bestow immortality at the cost of one's sanity. Valdes reveals that he is a government agent, here to arrest the Muertos who accidentally left one of the Sybil blossoms in their hotel room during a recent stay in Mexico City. The Muertos attack Valdes and overpower him and when Batman comes to his rescue he is overtaken by the hallucinogenic nature of the scent given off by the Sybils.

Batman is knocked out by Muerto and when he comes to he and Valdes are tied up in the Monastery. The Muertos let loose the trained falcons to tear their captives apart, but Batman has been using Valdes' badge to cut at his ropes and the pain caused by the falcon attack has cleared his brain somewhat. He kicks a few falcons senseless and bags the last one with his cape before dragging Valdes out of the monastery. Once clear of the flowers Batman tosses back a torch setting the Sybils afire.

From afar the Muertos see the flames. Delores laments that this is the last patch of Sybils left and that their immortality is being "burned from the soil" She rushes off to save them and Juan follows, extolling her to calm herself, to remember that extreme excitement cancels the effect of the flowers fumes. As they race through the graveyard toward the monastery, Juan warns her that she will lose her beauty, that age will seize her, that her limbs will stiffen, the skin of her face will crack and crease and her heart will wither. that they are opening the portals of death itself. With each step they grow older and more enfeebled till finally they fall together into a set of waiting graves. Batman arrives and adds in their date of death. Juan was 129, his wife 126.

This classic tale, the first real modern Batman story has been reprinted in Batman from the 30s to the 70s HC, Dynamic Classics #1, Saga of Ra's Al Ghul #2, Millennium Edition: Detective Comics 395 (#27) and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

The back-up is Robin in "Drop Out...or Drop Dead!" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Continuing from last issue the phony cops are happy when Robin shows up and starts pounding Jonah the CTT leader. They are more than happy to have Robin provide the physical proof of their police brutality. Robin is knocked unconscious. While out the other CTT members are stirring up the campus, but the students are still not ready to strike. From the campus the CTT members call the "cops" to bring in the "clincher."

Jonah tells them not to harm Robin and Dick (who they think is locked in the silo) and the "cops" agree, but after Jonah has left they attempt to kill Robin. They are some sort of "reds" who want to shut down America's campuses one at a time. Robin takes them out and as Disk, returns them to the campus, where they are in time to stop the strike vote and expose the fraud of the CTT. This story has been reprinted in Millennium Edition: Detective Comics 395 (#27) and Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventure Comics #388

Adventure Comics #388 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Supergirl in "The Kindergarten Criminal" by Leo Dorfman, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. Continuing this atrocity from last issue, Supergirl heads out to Luthor's private island in search of his nephew Val, who has psycho-kinetic powers. However, Val has found Luther's stash of Kryptonite blocks and is playing with them as Supergirl nears the island. Weakened, she reverts to her Linda Danvers identity and pretends to be a castaway trapped on the island.

Slowly she becomes friends with Val. Eventually, with Supergirl's help, Val creates a number of beasts from around the cosmos and Supergirl only saves Luthor from them after he promises to give himself up. However, once saved he says that Supergirl has no authority over him since it is a private island and outside the 12 mile limit. In response, Supergirl picks up the island and moves it closer to shore so Luthor can be arrested. Val seems to have temporarily lost his powers and cannot help his uncle.

That is followed by the cover story, Supergirl in "The Romance Machine" by Cary Bates and Kurt Schaffenberger. Brainiac, just for the heck of it, decides to kill Supergirl and breaks notorious gigolo Kimor Dinn out of prison. After Brainiac uses a machine to extract Kimor's personality and infuse it into a Kimor robot he has created, he drugs Kimor and abandons him in space, then sends the Kimor robot to earth to work on Supergirl

Robot Kim enrolls in Stanhope College and heads for the Supergirl Fan Club, currently being run by Linda Danvers. Kim quickly asks her out on a date. At dinner Kim makes Linda pay for the check and when she complains he tells her to shut up and appreciate him more. When on their next date (why is there a next date with this POS?), Kim gets Linda drenched when he uses her body to shield himself from getting splashed by a passing car. She tells him to drop dead and then later as Supergirl when she ses him he says he is not interested in her and it drive Supergirl mad. Why? Don't know; we will unfortunately find out next issue.

Rereading comics edited by Weisinger is always a chore.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Action Comics #384

Action Comics #384 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a nice cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. I particularly like the cop on this cover.

We begin with Superman in "The Forbidden Costume" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Roussos.  Continuing from last issue, Superman is confronted at the Fortress of Solitude by two mysterious costumes, which he places on two Superman robots to see what will happen. The two robots begin fighting each other and when the dust clears the robots have been destroyed and the costumes are gone. We learn the costumes come from an interstellar prison transport that was caught in the tail of a comet, killing the convict and the enforcer that was transporting them, but not before they both transferred their essence to the suits.

Later, at the Daily Planet, Clark is forced to put on the criminals's costume. The costume knows Clark is Superman and uses his body to crash a luxury liner, but Supergirl shows up to make thing right again. back in Metropolis, Clark helps a convict by hiding him in the Daily Planet globe, but Batman shows up and rearrests him. The next morning the suit is furious, learning that Superman knew Supergirl and Batman would be showing up and only pretended to create havoc. The suit frames itself for multiple crimes and Superman is unable to take it off so he puts his suit on over the top. The suit then forces Superman to attack a few cops and demand that he be x-rayed. Yeah, it makes little sense, but it does lead us to the cover shot.

The enforcer suit shows up and takes Superman away where the two essences to fight each other, ending up with Superman wearing both suits. He flies into space and under the rays of an orange sun the essences leave the suits and Superman returns home.

That is followed by the Legion of Super-Heroes in "Lament for a Legionnaire" by Jim Shooter, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. This is Jim Shooter's last story for DC for about five years. He will work at Marvel for a week or two and then leaves the comic book industry for a while, returning to Pittsburgh. After Dream Girl dreams that Mon-El will die in five days. He tries to find a cure but eventually accepts his fate. Wishing to be helpful to the very end, Mon-El goes on a three-day mission and while gone Dream Girl reveals that Mon-El will battle a band of inter-dimensional invaders on Friday.

When the day comes, Mon-El seems to stop the invasion only to be revealed as Eltro, a relative of Mon's from Daxam, having drugged the real Mon-El and left him on a planetoid. When they go to retrieve him they find his serum has worn off and the lead in the planetoid's rocks has killed him. Eltro scoops up Mon's body and flies to Earth. The LSH follow and find that Eltro has built some sort of exchanger that transfers his life to Mon-El's body, sacrificing himself so that Mon-El may live.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #126

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #126 (On Sale: November 25, 1969) has a nice cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with "Jimmy Olsen -- Traitor" by Leo Dorfman and Pete Costanza.  The first thing we learn in this story is what a complete dick Lucy Lane is to her supposed boyfriend, Jimmy Olsen. She belittles and emasculates him constantly throughout this story. Jimmy is embarrassed by movie producer Von rick when they arrive late to his latest sci-fi film and find their front-row seats have been given away. In retaliation Jimmy writes a scathing review about how the plot of the film is ridiculous as you can't go back in time to change the present and based on Jimmy's single bad review, the movie bombs (sure, it could happen....not).

Weeks later Von Rick invites Jimmy and Lucy to party for his next film and while there Jimmy touches a statue of Egyptian god Anubis to prove that it will not send him back into the past to a previous life. However, it does (yeah, really?) and Jimmy seems to be back in the days of the revolutionary war, where his causes the death of Nathan Hale, Betsy Ross and Alexander Hamilton and causes the American's to lose the war. Sure, continued next issue and if you don't know the entire plot by now, you should never read a comic again.

That is followed by our cover-story, "The Mystery of Kryptonite Plus" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos. After touching a moon rock, Jimmy contracts a rare space disease and Superman is nowhere to be found. Eventually they decide to send Jimmy to the moon in search of a cure (sure, sounds totally logical to me). We then find out that a few days earlier aliens landed on the moon and one of them has been made up to look exactly like Superman. The aliens aim a laser at Clark Kent's brain and he forgets that he is Superman (who knew it would be so easy?).

When Olsen lands on the moon the virus seems to have left his body, so he and his fellow astronaut decide to mine some moon rocks. While doing so they find Superman (the alien) laying in a field of strange rocks they dub Kryptonite Plus (just for the hell of it I guess). In order to get the weakened Superman home, Jimmy gives up his seat on the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) to Superman and watches as they blast off to Earth. Jimmy then starts to snoop around (what else has he got to do while waiting to die) where he finds the alien spaceship, which he is able to fly to Earth.

Once back he finds Clark Kent and asks how Superman is doing. Clark reports that Superman is different, has weakened powers and is recovering very slowly. Jimmy discovers that is was all a plot by the aliens to change our sun to a red sun and take over the Earth. Clark reveals his secret identity to Jimmy and together they are able to thwart the plan. Superman then removes Jimmy's memory of his secret identity and all is as it once was.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Date With Debbi #7

Date With Debbi #7 (On Sale: November 25, 1969) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We begin with Debbi in "The Pinch-Hitter" with pencils by John Rosenberger. Debbi helps out at a gas station.

That is followed by six miniskirt designs for Debbi and Mona sent in by readers.

Next is Debbi in "Double Trouble" in which Benedict asks Debbi to the movies but she ends up going with Buddy.

The third Debbi story, "Dress Dilemma," is by Barbara Friedlander, Doug Crane and Henry Scarpelli.

Our last story is an untitled Flowers story. Christmas story with the Flowers family.

We end with teen fads and tips for groovy teens submitted by readers

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Superboy #162

Superboy #162 (On Sale: November 20, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

The feature-length Superboy tale, "The Super-Phantom of Smallville" is by Frank Robbins and Bob Brown. It was unusual at this time to see Bob Brown ink his own work and certainly Superboy inked by Wally Wood garnered a much better result, still the art this issue is much better than some of the Brown worked inked by Joe Giella in Batman. This is a fairly odd and convoluted story, but Robbins's handling of Krypto is...clever, or at least interesting. Sometimes Krypto thinks and speaks dog talk and sometimes his thoughts and speech is translated.

After a hard night on patrol Superboy is finding it hard to get to sleep as is his dog, Krypto, who eventually wakes Superboy back up to notice that the magnetic poles of the Earth are shifting. They head off into space searching for the cause of the shifting poles. Krypto gets his dog collar caught by a small dwarf neutron star. Unable to detach his collar from the star, Superboy takes it of and hurls the star into another galaxy. This corrects the issue with the Earth's poles but has caused unforeseen damage to Superboy's Phantom Zone projector. While Krypto goes back to sleep, Superboy wonders if the path of the neutron star was somehow affected by the Phantom Zone criminals and uses the projector to make sure the criminals trapped there are still trapped there.

What he finds is the criminals have captured Superboy's soul and are holding it captive in the Phantom Zone, saying they were able to capture it when the neutron star opened a small rift between the dimensions, and that if he wants his soul back he will have to release them all from the zone. We learn that Superboy's souls is actually a criminal called the Chameleon who has made himself look like Superboy. Superboy decides that going into the zone is the only way to retrieve his soul and wakes up the Kents so that they will pres the Recall button on the Zone projector in 15 minutes.

The damage done to the projector traps Superboy, half in the Phantom Zone and have still in on Earth. His half body is unable to reach the projector and the criminals see this. The Chameleon changes into a wolf and lures Krypto down to Superboy's basement where he is trapped and Krypto thinks the projector is a bone and tries to bury it. Luckily, he does so near Superboy who repairs the projector and is sent all the way into the Phantom Zone.

15 minutes later the Kents head to the basement to "Recall' Superboy but get the Chameleon instead. The projector is still broken though and only Superboy knows how to fix it. The Chameleon threatens to kill the Kents of Superboy does not fix the projector. Suddenly, Krypto returns still in a dreamworld and thinks someone has tried to steal his bone (the projector), which he takes into space to hide. The Chameleon wakes Krypto up and tell him to let go of the projector. As Krypto lets go of it, the neutron star passes by and captured the projector in its pull. As the Chameleon tries to pull it from the star, the projector turns back on sending the Chameleon back to the Zone.

Krypto attacks the projector thinking it harmed Superboy and in doing so hits the recall button and Superboy is returned from the Zone. Nothing better than a lucky dog I guess.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Secret Hearts #141

Secret Hearts #141 (On Sale: November 20, 1969) has a cover by Bill Draut and Vinny Colletta. This cover is based on an unused piece drawn by Dick Giordano.

We begin with "20 Miles to Heart Break" by Barbara Friedlander, Alex Toth and Vinny Colletta and reprinted in Young Love #123. A hitchhiking Melanie accepts a ride from Juan Perez. During the drive they discuss how society would never approve of them being together due to their different races. They stop at a restaurant for dinner and decide to join other couples who are dancing. However, a fight breaks out when others object to them being together. Melanie runs out of the restaurant and is hit by a car. She wakes up back at her mother's house where she learns that Juan was arrested. This is the beginning of a multi-part series.

Next is a one-pager, "From Chipmunks to Love" by Barbara Friedlander and John Celardo in which two lonely people meet while they are feeding chipmunks in the park.

That is followed by the six-pager, "Joanna" by Barbara Friedlander, Ric Estrada and Frank Giacoia. Kelly wonders if her boyfriend, Carl, is still in love with his former girlfriend, Joanna.

Next up is "My Brother... My Rival?" a two-pager inked by Bernard Sachs. Bill keeps monopolizing the attention of the guys his sister brings home, and she begins to wonder if he is now her rival. Later tells her that he knows all of them and that none of them is good enough for her.

We end with "The Girl Nobody Loved" drawn by Winslow Mortimer and Vinny Colletta. Jan lives with self doubt, not believing that the handsomest and most interesting guys could possibly want to date her. To stave off the assumed rejection, Jan settles for the more ordinary dates.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #116

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #116 (On Sale: November 20, 1969) has a cover by Bob Oksner.

We have three Jerry stories this issue, beginning with "The Abominable Schmoman," followed by "The Fortune Haunters" and ending with "The Job That Starts at the Top."

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Teen Titans #25 (On Sale: November 18, 1969) has a powerful cover by Nick Cardy.

The Teen Titans take a dramatic turn in "The Titans Kill a Saint" by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy. In an absolute classic art job by Cardy we begin with the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove watching a surgery take place and blaming themselves. Later in the recovery room they attempt to talk to the patient, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Arthur Swenson, but as they do so, he dies. In shock and tears the Titans are called to the morgue for a meeting of some sort. When the dejected Titans leave a short time later they run into Lilith, onto whom they try to foist some of the blame for Swenson's death, but she will have none of their nonsense and splits.

The Titans think back to how it all began a few hours earlier at the Canary Cottage Discotheque, where they met a dancer named Lilith, who knew who the Titans were even in their civilian identities and asked to join the team. She said her power is that she just knows things, like she knows the Titans will open the door to death tonight. They blow Lilith off and leave running into a peace rally, where Dr. Swenson is speaking. As the crowd begins to get heated, the Titans head for a back alley to change only to run into the Hawk and the Dove doing the same thing.

Back inside they all do what they can to control the crowd but when a man pulls a gun, Speedy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and the Hawk and the Dove all jump him and try to wrest the gun from his hands. It goes off and the single bullet strikes Dr. Swenson in the head. Speedy rushes them all to the hospital, where our story began. We also learn that when they went to the morgue, they were confronted by the Justice League who told them that they had violated their most sacred duty and that something must be done about it. Superman tells them that they must act as their own judge and jury and Batman warns that if they do not reach a decision by the day's end that the JLA will execute punishment on their own.

The Titans wander the streets, finding themselves eventually at the docks, where they are met by a small boat containing Lilith and Mr. Jupiter, the richest man in the world. Jupiter says he has an urgent government mission that he wants the Titans to undertake, but that the mission may change them forever and may even cost them their lives. Lilith leaves them, saying she knows she is a reminder to them of what has happened. The Titans go with Jupiter back to his estate to hear more.

Jupiter explains that he is in charge of a secret training project to prepare teens for the task of handling the world's problems and asks them if they will join. Robin bows out, saying that he has already committed to college. Though he leaves, the rest of the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove accept and are taken to Jupiter's secret headquarters on the 13th floor of his skyscraper complex, a floor run completely by computers.

There the Titans once again meet Lilith and give up their uniforms and fore go their powers to join Jupiter's secret project. This classic story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Strange Adventures #222

Strange Adventures #222 (On Sale: November 18, 1969) has an Adam Strange cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with "Beyond the Wall of Death" by Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. This was the first new Adam Strange story in a very long time and I guess was a try-out of sorts to see if new material picked up sales. Apparently it did not, as there were no more new Adam Strange stories in Strange Adventures. I used to own this book, but can no longer locate it, so I don't remember anything about the story.

Next is "Treasure Planet" from Mystery In Space #15 by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Bernard Sachs.

We end with the Atomic Knights in "Thanksgiving Day -- 1990" from Strange Adventures #132 and by the standard team of John Broome and Murphy Anderson. Using the seeds obtained from the Atlantean island and new cultivation techniques, the Atomic Knights are able to grow trees in Durvale within a few months. To celebrate the success of the trees, they invite people from several surviving communities to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Elsewhere, Khagan, the leader of the Atlanteans has escaped the peril that befell the island of Atlantis. In the months since he escaped the island, he has been able to learn much of the post-World War III world and the Atomic Knights.

When Khagan learns of the Thanksgiving celebration, he sends his men to attack. Douglas is wounded by the mirror weapons of the Atlanteans. The other Atomic Knight defend themselves and defeat the attackers. Wayne Hobard is appointed to guard the prisoners.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #98

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #98 (On Sale: November 13, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with "I Betrayed Superman" by Robert Kanigher and Irv Novick.  Kanigher's disdain for method acting is on full display in this one.  Perry White assigns Lois Lane the task of exposing the Stanislav Method of acting by enrolling her in Maestro Stanislav's school. Students are standing on their heads and laying on the floor impersonating Persian rugs. Ugh. Anyway, Lois is chosen to play Delilah but none of the men in the class seem to turn her on as Samson. the next day Superman shows up and asks to audition for the part and, of course, Lois is moist in the panties in no time.

The next day they act out a scene together and Lois is given a knife purported to have been used by Delilah to cut Samson's hair and remove his powers. When she uses the knife on Superman it cuts his hair and Superman goes into a rage at losing his powers and notes that Lois seems to no longer be in love with him now that he is mortal. It ends up Superman is actually fellow student Johnny in disguise wanting to prove that he could play her lover. Stanislav asks Lois if she now has enough information for her story and she agrees she does. As she writes it she wonders if she really only loves Superman because of his powers. This inane story was reprinted in Superman Family #176.

The back-up story is "Tomorrow I Die" by Robert Kanigher, Curt Swan and George Roussos. As bad as the first story was, this one is even dumber. Superman takes Lois to an asteroid where she drinks some nectar that  makes her glow with radiation. Superman notes that is is actually harmless and will wear off in a few days. During those days the radiation helps Lois avoid a number of problems (hydra-snake, mad bomber, etc.) that she causes because she thinks the glowing radiation is killing her. It's not and so there really is not much of a story here, no matter how many Phantom Zone encounters and such Kanigher throws in. This is dreadful, pure and simple.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Phantom Stranger #5

Phantom Stranger #5 (On Sale: November 13, 1969) has a nice cover by Neal Adams. This will be the last cover for a while that shows the Stranger as an actual character on the cover.

We begin with "The Devil's Playground" by Robert Kanigher, Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson. I cannot tell you how much I dislike the writing in this issue, mainly as it pertains to the four "hippie" characters returning from last issue. These four: Spartacus, Wild Rose, Attile and Mister Square (you can't make up names that bad! Oh wait, Robert Kanigher actually did!), are at the beach one night when they hear a man calling out. When they get to him they find him dead. When they go to show the body to a security guard, it is missing.

Back in "the city," the four teenagers, Dr. Thirteen and Tala all end up at the same dance club, where a man named Earl Winthrop is breaking up with his girlfriend Vera. Broken-hearted Vera drives off into the night and, after hitting an oil slick on the road, off a bridge and into the ocean. The Phantom Stranger appears and retrieves her dead body from the deep, bringing her to shore where the police are waiting.

Meanwhile, back at the club, Earl is now on to another conquest, this time it is Wild Rose who, along with her friends recognize Earl Winthrop as the man they saw drowned at the beach. Rose dances with Winthrop and Tala decides to set the club on fire. The Phantom Stranger shows up and uses his cape to put out the fire. Tala tries to win him over with a kiss and then leaves, while Dr. Thirteen once again calls the Stranger a phony.

Outside Winthrop invites everyone to party at his beach house while he flies to Florida. The house keeper lets them in but shows them a newspaper with a headline regarding Winthrop being lost at sea. The gang parties anyway (it is the 60's after all) and eventually Winthrop shows up saying the newspaper was mistaken, yet with a bit of seaweed hanging off his hand. The kids notice that Earl dances with every woman in the room and seems to ask each one the same question, which always results in the woman laughing.

They get a warning that a hurricane is coming and everyone leaves the beach house except Earl, the four kids and Dr. Thirteen. Earl takes Wild Rose out to the beach for a walk and confides in her that the newspaper was right and that his plane did crash. While floating in the sea a strange light appeared and told Earl that he was doomed to float in eternal loneliness forever unless he can find someone who will weep tears of pity for him. He told every woman he met tonight his story and they all laughed at him, but Wild Rose does cry for him and he returns to the sea to meet his end.

However Tala shows up to see that Wild Rose joins Winthrop in death and a fight ensues between her and the Phantom Stranger. In the end, the Stranger wins and Dr. Thirteen once again, calls the Stranger a phony. Wow, was this a badly written story.

The back-up story is "The Devil's Footprints" by Robert Kanigher and the unusal, but good-looking art team of Curt Swan and Nick Cardy.

This entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Girls' Love Stories #148

Girls' Love Stories #148 (On Sale: November 13, 1969) has a nice cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "My Double Love" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta. Leah can't make up her mind about what she wants: to settle down with serious, older Mark, or to join protest marches, trying to change the world.

Next is the cover-story, "Doormat for Love"  by Win Mortimer and Nick Cardy. Hal is embarrassed by his girlfriend Trina, whose subservient personality causes her to defer to him in every way.

That is followed by "The Stranger Next Door" drawn by Liz Berube. Suzie grows up loving her childhood friend Nickie, but she fears that he'll never stop seeing her as a little girl.

We end with Confessions "Episode 2" by Barbara Friedlander,  John Rosenberger and Vinny Colletta. As Jewel continues to taunt April about her secret plan, she brings Dr. Montez from Brazil for some devious purpose.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

DC Special #6

DC Special #6 (On Sale: November 11, 1969) has a beautiful cover by Neal Adams with a really big logo for The Wild Frontier issue.

We begin with Daniel Boone in "Son of Chief Black Fish" from Legends of Daniel Boone #1, drawn by Nick Cardy. Next is Tomahawk in "The Junior Ghost Patrol" from World's Finest Comics #69 by Dave Wood and Nick Cardy. That is followed by Davy Crockett in "War Stick of Chief Fighting Elk" from Frontier Fighters #4, drawn by John Prentice. That is followed by Kit Carson in "The Raiders of the Oregon Trail" also from Frontier Fighters #4 and drawn by Howard Sherman. We have Buffalo Bill in "Young Bill -- of the Pony Express" from Frontier Fighters #6 by Dave Wood and Joe Kubert. We end with Pow-Wow Smith in (The Tenderfoot Deputy) from Detective Comics #178 and drawn by Leonard Starr.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Batman #218

Batman #218 (On Sale: November 11, 1969) has a cover by Murphy Anderson. This is the last issue to feature this long-running Batman logo.

We begin with "Batman and Robin's Greatest Mystery" which is reprinted from Detective Comics #234 and created by Ed Hamilton, Sheldon Moldoff and Stan Kaye. Batman and Robin track down a crook, Jay Caird, who has stolen a sonic weapon. When the weapon is turned on the Dynamic Duo, they are knocked out and begin suffering from amnesia. Commissioner Gordon allows them to search the police files for clues to their secret identities in hopes that it will restore their lost memories.

Batman finds several clues while reading the files. He learns that he is wealthy, is a pilot, and a polo player. With the possibilities narrowed, Batman is able to guess that he is Bruce Wayne. He drives to Wayne Manor where his memories begin to return. With his recovery, he remembers where Caird was headed, and together with Robin, Batman captured the crook.

Next is "The Hand from Nowhere" reprinted from Batman #130 and created by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris. A giant hand appears above a factory. The hand is controlled by two alien creatures. Batman confronts the aliens who are making the hand steal metal ore. Batman is unable to capture the aliens because the giant hand protects them.

Batman follows the trail of the aliens as they steal several other metals. The aliens make a raid on some valuable platinum, and Batman is able to uncover their scheme. The whole setup has been a hoax. The aliens are really disguised crooks. Batman locates the hideout and finds that Superman’s frequent foe, Lex Luthor is behind it. Batman takes control of the hand, which Luthor invented, capturing Luthor and his gang.

That is followed by "The Man Who Couldn't Be Tried Twice" reprinted from Batman #118 and created by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Ray Burnley. Batman testifies in a murder case to help free the defendant, James Lee, who is accused of killing his former trapeze artist partner. Lee is acquitted, then brags that he did kill his partner, Wyler. Batman’s name is ruined, but he uncovers evidence proving that the circus owner, David Dial, is the real killer. Dial bribed Lee to brag so that no one would find him. Batman then brings both men to justice.

That brings us to "The Body in the Bat-Cave" reprinted from Batman #121 and created by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff and Charles Paris. Batman and Robin discover the body of electronics genius turned criminal Alec Wyre in the Bat-Cave. They believe wire and an associate discovered the cave, then the associate murdered him. Batman then tracks down three suspects, despite the fact that one must know his secret identity. All three suspects prove to be false leads. Batman then deduces that Wyre found the Bat-Cave on his own and was knocked dead when he hit his head on a stalactite. The location of the Bat-Cave and Batman's secret identity therefore remains a secret.

Next is "Four Hours to Live" which originally appeared in the Sunday Batman newspaper strip from June 11 to July 30th, 1944.

We end with "The League Against Batman" from Detective Comics #197 and created by David V. Reed, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris. A new hooded criminal known as the Wrecker strikes against Batman by destroying objects dedicated to the crime fighter. He destroys Batman toys, signs, and sculptures, claiming to seek revenge for his three brothers who were executed after Batman captured them.

Dwight Forrow, a man who wrote a book about Batman, receives a death threat and is assigned two police bodyguards. The Wrecker still succeeds in carrying out the threat, apparently killing Forrow.

Batman and the police believe that the Wrecker is Skip Denton, who had three criminal brothers. However Batman finds a clue that proves the real identity of the Wrecker. Police apprehend Denton, but Batman clears him by finding Forrow alive. Forrow and his brother were running an insurance scam and set Denton up. A sunburn on Forrow's hand gave the crook away and allowed Batman to apprehend him.

Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Young Love #78

Young Love #78 (On Sale: November 6, 1969) has a cover by Dick Giordano.

We begin with our cover-story, "20 Miles to Heartbreak" by Barbara Freidlander, Alex Toth and Vince Colletta, which was reprinted in Young Love #122. 20 Miles to Heartbreak is a unique, four-part romance serial which crosses over from Young Love to Secret Hearts and then back again. Giordano was sure up for trying out different ideas in these romance books.

Next is "A Kiss to Tame a Tiger," and we end with an untitled Lisa St. Claire story.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Superman #223

Superman #223 (On Sale: November 6, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

Superman stars in the feature-length "Half a Hero" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Roussos.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.