DC Special #7

DC Special #7 (On Sale: February 19, 1970) has a cover by Murphy Anderson on the theme Strangest Sports Stories, something Julius Schwartz seemed to like but which never interested me much.

This issue begins with "Gorilla Wonders of the Diamond" from Brave and the Bold #49 by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. Next is "The Hot-Shot Hoopsters" from Brave and the Bold #46 also by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. That is followed by "The Man Who Drove Through Time" Brave and the Bold #48 by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene. Next we have "Goliath of the Gridiron" from Brave and the Bold #45 by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. We end with "Solar Olympics of 3000 A.D" from Mystery in Space #39 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.  

I think I bought every one of the the Strange Sports books DC put out in the '70s, I'm just not sure why I bought them.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Witching Hour #8

Witching Hour #8 (On Sale: February 17, 1970) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

This month DC put out two excellent horror/mystery comics, House of Secrets #85 and this book. Not surprisingly, they are both the work of editor Dick Giordano. This issue's framing sequence, "The True Picture of the Servant Problem at the Witching Hour" is drawn by Neal Adams. It is a beauty. It seems the girls have hired photographer Renay Phydeaux to create a family portrait. In order to set the mood for Renay, the girls each tell a tale...

The first real story is "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty" written and drawn by Sergio Aragones and Neal Adams. Neal once remarked about this story, "Sergio wrote and penciled this story. (He usually gets a little help on the dialogue near the end.) I asked if I could draw the story but I am so in love with Sergio's straight forward storytelling and direct messaging I asked him if I could ink his pencils and only tighten them up a little bit so that both of our natures could be seen. I love this job for all the above reasons and had a wonderful time doing it. A classic."

Regardless, old, rich Jonas Sentry spends his days contemplating the glories of his past. He wishes he had a young body again, like that of his butler, so that he could chase after beautiful young women, like his chambermaid Maria. His butler overhears him one day and says that for his soul, a deal can be struck, where Jonas could have the butler's young body. Over the next few days, Maria seems more attentive to Jonas than ever and finally he confronts her, will she be his?

She says that it is not possible due to the difference in their ages, but if he were young like her, she would marry him in an instant. And with that incentive the deal with the butler is done. As Jonas moves from his old body to that of the butler, the devil emerges from the butler's body. Jonas kicks his old useless body down the stairs and grabs Maria as the devil phones the police to report that Jonas Sentry has been murdered by his butler. Jonas tries to explain, but in the end he is sentenced to life in prison. This story has been reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #17 and Deadman #4.

Next is our cover-story, "Three Day Free Home Trial" drawn by Nick Cardy. A housekeeper named Winifred offers Emily Carson three days free of charge to test out her abilities. On Wednesday Emily finds her house to be the cleanest she has ever seen it, but she feels a bit faint and Winifred offers her some more of her wonderful tea, an old family recipe don't you know? For some reason Winifred shoos away Emily's cousin Elmer. By Thursday Emily's head feels like it is going to explode. but the doctor she has summoned is sent away by Winifred, who offers up more tea as her cure-all.

Later that evening Emily awakens to some horrible noises in her house but finds the door to her bedroom locked. Looking through the keyhole she sees Winifred dancing and cavorting with all manor of demon and creature. Winifred comes in to calm her, but so do her fiends. they leave poor Emily in her room going mad while outside the loud noises continue. Then, abruptly, they end. The silence is deafening, but it to eventually ends, replaced by the thumping of footsteps, getting closer and closer. The door slowly opens and in walks Cousin Elmer.

He finds his cousin in a state of shock and summons a doctor. They find a note to Emily from Winifred reading, "Dear Miss Emily, I thank you for the use of your lovely home!! It made our annual meeting a great success! You really must learn to relax more! Get Well! Love Winnie! P.S., Hope to see you again next year...that is if we don't find a better place!" It is the morning of Friday, the 13th.

Our last story is "ComputERR" written, drawn and lettered by Alex Toth. It's a cute little piece: Kipp meets Rod through computer dating and they get married. Rob moves Kipp to his house, a huge mansion all alone in the hills. It's a sweet place, just Kipp and Rod and, oh yeah, Ferencz, a trollish little bald fellow who takes care of Rod's every need. Days turn into weeks and Kipp and Rod are in bliss in their new life together, just the, eh, three of them; Ferencz is ever-present.

One day Rod is missing, gone on a business trip and it is just Kipp and Ferencz together for a bit. Rod's trips become more frequent, more lengthy. Ferencz tries to entertain Kipp, but she begins to resent the ugly little fellow. They have no phone, no car except the one Rod takes on trips, they get no mail, Kipp has no contact with the outside world; her house has become a prison and Ferencz is her jailer. Finally she can stand it no more and confronts Rod, either Ferencz goes or she goes.

Hearing this sentence of confinement Kipp hops into Rod's beautiful 1937 yellow Cord and attempts to drive off. Rod tries to stop her and she backs into him as she leaves. Ferencz runs to Rod's side. Later we see Ferencz working on Rod's insides, he is a robot. and Ferencz promises that he will make him better than before and they will once again use their computer-match service to find a more quiet, stay-at-home type of girl. Just then there is a knock at the door. The police want to know if Ferencz owns a yellow Cord and when he replies in the affirmative they want him to come with them to the site of the wreck. "Wreck?" he asks?

There is something they want him to explain to them. When they get there, he sees the body of Kipp, thrown from the car and lying on the road. She has been ripped apart and her mechanical insides are showing.

This brings us back to the wrapper story by Neal Adams. The girls' stories have petrified Phydeaux, so Igor shows him out, dragging his chair behind him as he goes and then trudging off into the swamp. The girls are sure the readers will be upset with them as they promised the readers a picture of Igor. There is a pounding at the door and the girls worry that the readers are in revolt, but at the door they find waiting for them a cute little girl, holding a big envelope. She gives the witches the envelope then runs off. Inside they find a picture of the girl and Igor. Of course, you can't see much of Igor, but what did you expect?

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Superboy #164

Superboy #164 (On Sale: February 17, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams. Given the subject matter, this one should have been much more effective and emotional.

This issue begins with "Your Death Will Destroy Me" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito. The back-up story is "Revolt of Ma Kent" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Secret Hearts #143

Secret Hearts #143 (On Sale: February 17, 1970) has a cover that some think is penciled by Bill Draut (I think based on the guy in the background), though it looks more like Ric Estrada in the redhead's face and, no doubt, inked by Dick Giordano.

This issue begins with the eight-pager, "I Never Thought It'd End Like This"  written by Gerry Conway and drawn by John Celardo and Vinny Colletta. Marie is having a hard time adjusting to married life with new low-achiever husband John. She begins to manipulate things behind the scenes to insure his success, but one day goes too far.

Next is "Masquerade" written by Barbara Friedlander, drawn and lettered  by Alex Toth and colored by Neal Adams. Lynn blows all of her savings on four days at an exclusive resort, where she hopes to find a rich husband. Oh, I would love to see this one.

We end with "For Singles Only" also inked by Vinny Colletta. Dean comes to stay at a beachside motel where he meets Neva, the owner's daughter, but she is haunted by memories of her first love, an actor who died in a car accident. This story continues next issue.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Debbi's Dates #7

Debbi's Dates #7 (On Sale: February 17, 1970) has a cover by,well, I don't know.

This issue begins with Benedict in "The Fall Guy" and "The Big Spender." Next is Buddy in "The Kissin' Kid," followed by Debbi's Dates in "A Bottle of Love." We end with the Ding-a-Lings in "Country Cousins." I have no writer or artist information on this book.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #100

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #100 (On Sale: February 12, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with our cover-story, "Lois Lane's Last Mile" by Robert Kanigher and Irv Novick. The back-up is from Showcase #9, "The Un-Curious Lois Lane" is by Otto Binder, Ruben Morira and Al Plastino. Superman has created a new identity for himself, salesman Allen Todd. He does this because two nosy crooks have been trailing Clark Kent in an effort to expose him as Superman’s other identity. The Man of Steel plants clues for Lois to lead her to Todd, but Lois has taken a new approach and is now trying to cover for Superman.

After she successfully protects his new identity several times, he sends a letter with the address of Todd to Lois and leads the crooks to believe Lois knows his secret. The crooks expose Todd in front of Lois, but Superman then takes them to jail because they tried to shoot him. He then vows to adopt a new identity, which is really his old one, Clark Kent. Lois is intrigued and returns to her old ways of trying to learn the big secret again.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Girls' Love Stories #150

Girls' Love Stories #150 (On Sale: February 12, 1970) has a cover by. well, I don't know, but I know it is not by Nick Cardy as the GCD says.

This issue begins with "Confessions, Episode #4" drawn by John Rosenberger. Next is our cover-story, "Her Secret Shame" penciled by Tony Abruzzo. We end with "Wallflower" with the unusual art team of Wally Wood and Murphy Anderson. I don't know if I believe this credit, as I never heard of these two working together and Wood inked most of his own work. If anyone has this book, I would sure like to see some of these pages.

Nick Katradis actually owns most of the "Wallflower" pages, and has them online for those interested in viewing. Nick has identified the artists as Werner Roth with Wally Wood providing the inks.  this makes so much more sense than the Wood/Anderson team. Thanks Nick!

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Flash #196

Flash #196 (On Sale: February 12, 1970) has a cover by Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins "The Mightiest Punch of All Time" reprinted from Flash #153 and created by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. Professor Zoom is released from prison in the 25th century when he fools the officials and passes an electronic psychological examination. Zoom returns to his lab where he perfects a machine that will enhance a person's tendency towards evil. Zoom tries to use the machine across the centuries to affect Al Desmond and force him to become Mr. Element again. Al contacts the Flash for help.

Zoom's machine fails to function properly when used from the 25th century, so he constructs his own cosmic treadmill and returns to the 20th century. A side-effect of the machine gives Professor Zoom temporary control over the residents of Central City. He forces the Municipal Council to pass a law which forbids the use of super speed within Central City. Flash is unable to use his own powers legally to battle Zoom. He tries to leave town, but Zoom captures him.

Zoom then brings Mr. Element to his hide-out to kill the Flash. Before returning to his criminal ways, Desmond has hypnotized himself. When he sees the Flash, the he succumbs to the hypnotic suggestion to release his foe. Once free of Zoom's trap, Flash punches Zoom. The punch counteracts the effects of Zoom's cosmic treadmill sending the villain back to the 25th century where he is again incarcerated. Desmond however has returned to his criminal ways, so Flash takes him to the future where scientists are able to rehabilitate him.

Next we have "The Speed of Doom" from Flash #108 by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Frank Giacoia. Responding to Dr. Hirach’s offer to time his speed, Flash takes part in an experiment. However the experiment is actually a trap designed by an alien criminal. Flash is trapped on a treadmill and forced to run himself to death. He manages to escape by speeding up and surpassing light speed.

The alien criminal is a Mohru named Kee Feleg. The gang of criminals have been taking fulgramites from Earth which give them amazing speed. Flash follows the trail of one of his foes, when the Mohru disappears into the side of a hill. Another Mohru vanishes at the same spot. Flash runs into that spot and discovers it is a dimensional gateway to the Mohru’s world. Flash captures the gang and turns them over to the Mohru authorities.

That is followed by "The Origin of Flash's Masked Identity" from Flash #128 and created by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. In the early days of the Flash’s career, Barry Allen wore a mask-less uniform. He did so on his first couple of cases and was not seen. While deciding whether or not to include a mask with his costume, he has a dream.

In the dream, Barry announces his identity publicly. People are skeptical at first, but when he stops a tornado the people believe him. Crowds flock to police headquarters to see him and get autographs. When a burglary occurs across town, Barry has a difficult time making his way through the crowds to get to the scene. When Flash arrives, the thieves have left. Flash is able to catch the getaway car and catch them.

Waking from his dream, Barry realizes that the delay from the crowd almost prevented him from catching the crooks. He decides it would be better to wear a mask and keep his identity secret.

We end with "The Mirror Master's Invincible Bodyguards" from Flash #136 and also the work of John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella. Mirror Master, upset with being slighted by the criminal fraternity in a recent poll, breaks jail and begins a new robbery spree. To avoid capture by his nemesis the Flash, Mirror Master designs two mirror bodyguards which protect him from the Flash.

At the scene of his first crime the bodyguards stop Flash in his tracks, and the villain escapes with the loot. Mirror Master’s scheme has landed him as the top criminal in a new poll.

Flash tracks down his foe by tracing the radiation given off by the bodyguards. He locates Mirror Master’s hideout. Using his amazing speed abilities, Flash is able to create two-dimensional duplicates of himself that defeat the bodyguards. With the bodyguards pacified, Flash easily captures their master. The quick defeat lands a dejected Mirror Master at the bottom of yet another criminal poll.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Young Romance #165

Young Romance #165 (On Sale: February 10, 1970) has a cover by Ric Estrada and Vince Colletta.

This issue begins with the cover story,"Second Choice - First Love" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vince Colletta. Based supposedly on 16-year-old fan Toni Anderson's letter to DC, young Toni finds herself in love with her best friend Val's boyfriend, Bill. When Val becomes ill during a party, Val asks Toni to watch out over Bill and they become a couple, but her guilt about doing her best friend wrong drives her to split with Bill so that Val can have him. Still she is unable to forget Bill and wonders if she did the right thing. The story ends with Romance Reporter Laura Penn asking readers if they think Toni did the right thing.

That is followed by "Any Man's Equal" drawn by Lee Elias, which asks the question, can a woman compete with a man in business? This is a really bad, sexist story. Just awful. Not gonna repeat it here.

Next is the letters page and the annual notice of circulation. There were 47 paid subscribers and 187,000 copies sold, nearest to filing date.

That is followed by "Love is a 3 Ring Circus" with art that looks like Bill Draut to me. Andy was always the "ugly duckling" of his family, never able to find a girl. Finally he decided to join the circus as a clown, but even then the other carny's made fun of him and he still could not get a date. One day a new singer tries out for the circus and when she goes on stage as a clown she freezes up and cannot sing. Andy goes out and talks to her, gets her to sing only to him, and in that moment he knows that finally he has found someone who wants to be with him for him.

We end with "Dates and Mates" a one-pager by Liz Berube.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Sugar and Spike #89

Sugar and Spike #89 (On Sale: February 10, 1970) has a cover by Sheldon Mayer.

We begin with "Runaway Dump-Truck" reprinted in Best of DC #47. We continue with "Flavor Favor," "Peace on Wheels" and finally, "Bernie the Brain Does It Again." As usual, all stories and art by Sheldon Mayer.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

G.I. Combat #141

G.I. Combat #141 (On Sale: February 10, 1970) has a Haunted Tank cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with the Haunted Tank in "Let Me Live... Let Me Die" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. This story was reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #21 and Showcase Presents: Haunted Tank Vol. 2 TPB.

Our back-up stories are "Sea Devil" from All-American Men of War #65 by Bob Haney and Mort Drucker and "Churchill at Omdurman" by Ric Estrada.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Binky #72

Binky #72 (On Sale: February 10, 1970) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli and a new name. The series was previously known as Leave it to Binky.

We begin with Binky in "It's Unsteady to Go Steady." That is followed by Little Allergy in "The Artist" and in "The Sleep-Walker," which was reprinted in Best of DC #28. Next we have Binky in "Beware -- of Benny's New Wheels" and Little Allergy in "The Wanderer." We end with Binky in "It's an Ice Day" drawn by Artie Saaf and Henry Scarpelli.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Unexpected #118

Unexpected #118 (On Sale: February 5, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with "Play a Tune of Treachery" by George Kashdan, John Calnan and Murphy Anderson. Next is "The Face in the Ball" by Jack Oleck and Jerry Grandenetti. This story was reprinted in Unexpected #161. We end with our cover-story, "Why Was Everyone Afraid of Hester?" by George Kashdan and George Tuska.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Swing With Scooter #26

Swing With Scooter #26 (On Sale: February 5, 1970) has a cover by Henri Scarpelli.

We begin with Scooter in "Cry Baby" and "Where There's Weight There's No Will." Next is Malibu in "It's a Mod World," then Scooter again in "Let's Play Catch the Plane." We then have Malibu in "Jekyll and Hide" and we end with Scooter in "The Mod Clod."

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superman #225

Superman #225 (On Sale: February 5, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This issue has the book-length "The Secret of the Superman Imposter" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Falling In Love #114

Falling In Love #114 (On Sale: February 5, 1970) has a cover inked by Vince Colletta.

We begin with "Passport to Heartbreak" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta. Next we have "Somewhere I'll Find Him" penciled by Jay Scott Pike. We end with our cover-story, "I'll Never Love Again" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vinny Colletta.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Our Army at War #218

Our Army at War #218 (On Sale: February 3, 1970) has a cover by Joe Kubert.

This issue begins with our Sgt. Rock cover-story, "Medic" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath.

Next we have a reprint from Our Fighting Forces #5, "The Tortoise and the Hare Went to War" by John Reed, Sam Burlockoff, and Joe Giella.

Sam Burlockoff started out at DC in 1943 as an inker working on such strips as King, The Justice Society of America, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Around the same time he was working for MLJ on The Shield, The Web and Dusty. He later moved on to Quality where he inked Blackhawk, Captain Triumph and Plastic Man. He returned to DC in the 1950s to work on a number of mainly war stories, this time doing pencils or full art. His last DC story was this one from 1955.

After that final stint at DC he worked for Atlas and Eastman Color and on a number of newspaper strips, such as Flash Gordon, Apartment 3-G and The Saint. He worked on comics for overseas syndication and also drew illustrations for encyclopedias and coloring books. He retired in 1989.

The final story in this issue is "Frightened Boys... or Fighting Men?" written and drawn by Sam Glansman. This is the first of Glanzman's U.S.S. Stevens stories that he would write and draw for DC war comics for the next eight years. These stories were based on Glanzman's own experiences in World War II on the destroyer U.S.S. Stevens.

Sam Glansman broke into comics in 1939 working at Funnies, Inc. a "packager" that supplied comics to publishers. There, for Centaur Publications, he wrote text stories with some art for Amazing-Man Comics. Later for Harvey Comics, he created Fly-Man, writing and drawing the feature for at least two issues. He also contributed to Harvey's All-New Short Story Comics, Champ Comics (doing the Human Meteor) and Green Hornet Comics. His comics career was cut short by World War II, where he did indeed serve in the Navy on the U.S.S. Stevens. When it was over Glansman chose to not return to comics, as the pay was not to his liking and he took to working in cabinet shops, lumber mills and boat yards. In the 1950s he would work at Republic Aviation installing machine guns on military jets.

Glansman toyed with some comic work in 1950, but not until 1958 that he would return to the field in earnest, working at Charlton Comics. There he drew war stories in Attack, Battlefield Action, Fightin' Air Force, Fightin' Marines, Submarine Attack, U.S. Air Force Comics and War at Sea through 1961, when he switched to Dell Comics. At Dell he drew Combat and Kona, as well as movie adaptations such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the very similar book, Voyage to the Deep.

Beginning in 1964, Glansman worked regularly for both Dell and Charlton doing a ton of war books. At Charlton he was also drawing Tarzan and creating, with Joe Gill, Sarge Steel and Hercules, Adventures of the Man-God. With writer Willy Fran,z Glansman also created The Lonely War of Willy Schultz, about a U.S. Army captain conflicted by the war and his German heritage.

Once he made the shift to DC, Glansman never looked back. Besides his years on U.S.S. Stevens, Glansman drew the Haunted Tank feature in G.I. Combat from 1972 through 1986. In '86 he also started drawing Mercenaries in G.I. Combat and in 1988 he drew a few issues of Sgt. Rock. Beginning in 1993 Sam Glansman became the inker for a number of Jonah Hex mini-series drawn by Timothy Truman, his last being Jonah Hex Shadows West in 1999. His last work for DC was in the 9-ll book, DC published in 2002.

Sam Glansman did a handful of war stories for Marvel in the late 1980s and in the 1990s worked for Topps Comics inking Turok Dinosaur Hunter and Zorro. In 2003 Glansman began doing web-comics.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

House of Secrets #85

House of Secrets #85 (On Sale: February 3, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.
Able is visited by brother Cain in this issue's wrapper story, which features some rather good Bill Draut artwork. The wrapper leads into our first real story, "People Who Live in Glass Houses..." by Len Wein and Don Heck. Some kids sneak into an abandoned house of mirrors only to find a mirror which casts no reflection. The kids hide when they hear someone coming. That someone turns out to be Mordecai Gaunt and he steps into the mirror and disappears.

The boys come out from hiding and are pulled into the mirror by Mordecai where they learn that through the power of a stone, the Rock of Ages, which Mordecai killed a Tibetan wizard to possess, Mordecai was able to enter the world of the mirror and gain immortality. His image in the mirror grows old, while he remains young. One of the boys snatch the stone away from Mordecia and he chases the kids out of the mirror. Once in the real world, the kid throws the stone at the mirror, shattering it and the fixed image of Mordecai it now reflects.

Now this is Heck's first work at DC in four years and his first on a horror story. Heck had been working at Marvel for a few years now, drawing just about everything. Most notably he is one of the co-creators of Iron Man. Heck also introduced us to Hawkeye and the Black Widow during his run on Iron Man in Tales of Suspense.

 At DC he would mainly do female characters, becoming the main Batgirl artist starting in 1971, but also pulling stints on Wonder Woman, The Rose and the Thorn, Zatana and Supergirl. Heck would also pull a long run on The Flash and Justice League of America. Heck died of lung cancer in 1995. Heck was one of those guys who was not very appreciated by fans, but who turned out competent work year after year. Tony Isabella said of Heck, "If there were a Marvel Universe version of Mount Rushmore, he would be up there with Stan [Lee], Jack [Kirby], Steve [Ditko], and Dick [Ayers]."

 I was personally not much of a Heck fan till I found X-Men #64. Smack dab in the middle of a Neal Adams' run on the book Don Heck has to do a fill-in issue. Sure, Tom Palmer did a lot to make the work look Adams-like, but Don Heck did a heck of a job (pun fully intended) in pinch-hitting for Adams. Not everyone can do that.

The next story is the classic "Reggie Rabbit, Heathcliffe Hog, Archibald Aardvark, J. Benson Babboon and Bertram, the Dancing Frog" by Len Wein and Ralph Reese. This is only two pages, but we get some great funny animal artwork and some great Wally Wood-inspired science-fiction work.

This is Ralph Reese's first work for DC where he would draw almost a dozen stories, all for the mystery/horror books. Ralph Reese began his career at the age of 16 as Wally Wood's assistant. His first solo comic work was for the short-lived but much loved Web of Horror black and white magazine. He also did a number of strips for National Lampoon, including The One Year Affair. He worked at Neal Adams' Continuity Associates between 1972 and 1977 and did a lot of work inking penciler Larry Hama.

In the 1980s Reese worked on the Blade Runner adaptation and an number of the Bantam Books "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. In the 1990s he pulled a stint on the Flash Gordon newspaper strip and did considerable work for Valiant Comics on Magnus Robot Fighter. Reese's last work for DC was in 2009 on The House of Mystery.

The real gem of this issue though is "Second Choice" by Gerry Conway, Gil Kane and Neal Adams. It combines beautiful artwork with a really great story. Abel reads this story from the biographical section of the library in the House of Secrets. It is the tale of Henry Landsbury, born in 989, the son of a scholar, but who for years has lived in a village under the thumb of a dark sorcerer, a masked monster in possession of the Star Ruby, which gives him ultimate power over the people of the land. We meet young Henry the day he tries to stand up to the sorcerer in the streets, only to feel the harsh sting of an enchanted lash. Henry's mother rushes to his side and warns Henry to be less like his father, who died fourteen years ago when he too was fed up living under the sorcerer's rule and tried to do something about it.

As fate would have it that evening Henry overhears a conversation in the local tavern of a white wizard named Glarn who resides at Stonehenge. Henry decides that night to travel to Stonehenge and plead the case of his village to the wizard Glarn. When he gets there Glarn it appears has been waiting for Henry to arrive and asks Henry for a token from his home village that Glarn may use as a focal point for an incantation. He gives Glarn a talisman given to him by his father before he foolishly ventured to the wizard's castle.

With that Glarn opens a gate between Stonehenge and Henry's village and calls forth the black wizard into battle, saying that now that he has a clue to his true nature he will prevail. And battle they do, though finally, in the end, Glarn prevails, the dark wizard is destroyed and Henry returns to his village to live out the rest of his life in peace.

But, Abel finds the ending of the tale unsatisfying, that Henry was more a spectator than a participant in the single most adventurous happening in his life. Abel wonders what would have happened if Henry had not heard of Glarn and had instead yielded to his "second choice," and followed his father's path, sword in hand.

As Henry nears the wizard's castle he is set upon by a flying beast and though shear will alone slays the creature. He is then transported by a dissolution spell to the black wizard's castle, where the wizard taunts him and opens up a pit of hell in front of him. Standing tall with sword in hand, Henry begs the wizard to fight him, but the wizard's spell does away with Henry's sword, leaving him without weapon. Still Henry marches forward saying he will take him on barehanded for killing his father. The wizard laughs at Henry and pulls off his hood just as Henry lands a massive blow to his face, knocking the wizard off balance and back into the hell pit, his face that of Henry's own father.

And now Henry realizes that his father must have defeated the wizard all those years ago. And then he sees the Star Ruby, "The supreme power--the supreme glory...A tempting, near over-powering prize--To be supreme, to own the world...must have been too temping for a man such as my father, a glory seeker... a man like my father... a man like me!"

This story was reprinted in Deadman #2 and Deadman #3. The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Challengers of the Unknown #73

Challengers of the Unknown #73 (On Sale: February 3, 1970) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

This issue begins with our Challengers of the Unknown cover-story, "The Curse of the Killer Time Forgot" by Denny O'Neil and George Tuska. This is Tuska's first action strip for DC. The back-up is "A Flash of Memory" by Murray Boltinoff, Dick Dillin and Vince Colletta.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Detective Comics #397

Detective Comics #397 (On Sale: January 29, 1970) has a beautiful Batman cover by Neal Adams.

There is a real difference between the Batman in "Paint a Picture of Peril" by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, and the Batman DC has been publishing for decades. I think Denny O'Neil understood where to take the character better than any writer at DC and of course, Neal Adams really "got" who Batman was.

The opening sequence of this story could be used as a crib sheet for writers and artists for years to come on how to portray "the Batman." Sure, he has his "toys," his batarang and in this story a pretty cool undersea sled, but for the most part, his major tools of the trade are that he is a fairly good fighter and he scares the hell out of people.

Great stuff by both Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. As you can see the story opens with Batman attempting to foil a nighttime robbery of an art exhibit. By the way, there was nothing special going on during Batman's eerie stand against the robbers; he simply tried to dodge the spears by moving his body under his cape. Yeah, tried to dodge; he almost pulled it off, but got hit in the nerve of his right arm, making it all but useless and him unable to follow the underwater robbers. Up top he finds that they took a painting called "The Startled Mermaid," the least valuable item in the exhibit.

Changing back to Bruce Wayne he heads to his mid-town penthouse where he finds his cleaning lady has left the TV on. There is a special documentary on the life of wealthy Orson Payne, a Charles Foster Kane type, who bears a striking resemblance to Orson Welles. He was engaged to opera star Caterina Valance 25 years earlier when she mysteriously vanished and Payne became a recluse in his huge castle home. This is playing in the background while Bruce tends to his wounds and does yoga to "restore circulation."

As he finishes up, his cleaning woman, Cathy, comes back for her forgotten handbag and turns off the TV calling it a "vile thing." As she leaves Bruce remembers that while under water he noticed that the algae was glowing and surmises that the glow came from a submarine with low-yield nuclear engines. So come midnight we find Batman at a deserted pier launching a new underwater bat-sled and following the lingering radiation trail. The trail leads to a small nuclear sub at one of the island estates. Batman recognizes the place, it is Orson Payne's.

Sneaking past Payne's personal guards, Batman finds the man talking to an empty room of statues and paintings. Batman confronts Payne and points out the stolen painting. Payne says that he must have every likeness of Caterina, the woman who spurned him and when owners will not sell, he still acquires the piece. Since he cannot have Caterina, he now consoles himself with images of her.

Batman chases the crazed Payne through his estate, where he is lured into a trap, falling through a trap door into a small cell. Payne pulls a lever that slowly lowers a two-ton deathfall into the cell. Using a batarang on a rope Batman pulls down a chandelier, wedging it between the top of the cell and the lowering deathfall. As he comes for Payne, Payne's grip on sanity finally snaps and he sees his beloved Caterina floating in the air outside his balcony. He reaches for her, stumbling through the crumbling railing and over the edge of the balcony. Swinging out an a bat-rope Batman catches Payne who thinks he is in the arms of his beloved.

The following morning a healing Bruce is watching the coverage of the story on the news when his cleaning woman Cathy comes in and turnes off the TV saying, "You shouldn't be watching such trash." Bruce realizes it is not the TV she hates, but rather Orson Payne, and asks her if she was ever an opera singer. She says that, yes, she was, but she gave it all up to gain her freedom. Bruce says her secret is safe with him, that he sympathizes with people who want to keep secrets. Reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-44 and Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 HC.

The back-up story is "The Hollow Man," the conclusion of last issue's Batgirl story, by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Remember, Batgirl is trying to catch the Orchid Killer, who has been preying on redheads, and is using Barbara Gordon as bait, joining the same computer-dating service as the victims. Mousy Max Tournov brought her an orchid and she tossed him over her shoulder. He crushed the orchid and ran off and she gave chase as Batgirl, only to lose him and be pulled into a dark alley by someone who says, "A red-headed Batgirl will do for now!" So much for the recap!

She tosses this guy and is surprised that he is not Max, but instead is a rather handsome guy. Startled she lets the mystery man get the best of her, knocking her out cold. When she wakes up she is being comforted by Max Tournov, who she thanks before leaving.

Two nights later as Barbara she is back in the computer-dating scene, saddled with a really homely guy named John Milman who meets her at the door with an orchid. When the uneventful date is over, Barbara says she hopes they can see each other again and when Milman presses her on it, he becomes angry. John says he knows she doesn't mean it, that he is ugly and repulsive, "Liars! All of you! You're all fragile blossoms--too precious to touch! Well--I dare to touch! And crush you all!" As Barbara gets ready to attack back, John is accosted by Jason Bard, who with his "darned trick knee" fouls everything up and lets John escape. Jason says he saw them coming out a movie and followed them out of jealousy.

Ditching Jason, Batgirl crashes John Milman's apartment, only to find him packing for a quick exit from town. Only, he isn't John Milman, he is the handsome mugger from the alley and in his possession Batgirl finds rubber masks of John Milman and Max Tournov. When he comes to the man explains that women have always fawned over him for being so handsome, but that he felt his beauty was a barrier to finding the inner beauty of women. So he used a mask to hide his own beauty and dated homely women in order to release their inner beauty. But he found them all hollow and so he needed to crush them. Batgirl says that the hollowness was not within the women but within him, that he is "the hollow man--finding ugliness in everything!"

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventure Comics #391

Adventure Comics #391 (On Sale: January 29, 1970) has a Supergirl cover by Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with our cover-story, Supergirl in "Linda Danvers, Super-Star" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger. The back-up is Supergirl in "The Super-Exchange Student" by Cary Bates, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Action Comics #386

Action Comics #386 (On Sale: January 29, 1970) has a Superman cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with our cover-story, Superman in "The Home for Old Super-Heroes" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Roussos. The back-up is Legion of Super-Heroes in "Zap Goes the Legion" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. This story was reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9 HC.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

World's Finest Comics #192

World's Finest Comics #192 (On Sale: January 27, 1970) has a Superman/Batman cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

This issue begins with our cover-story, Superman/Batman in "The Prison of No Escape" by Bob Haney, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. The back-up is Robin in "Danger in the Hall of Trophies" reprinted from Star Spangled Comics #126 and drawn by Jim Mooney.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Showcase #89

Showcase #89 (On Sale: January 27, 1970) has a nice Jason's Quest cover by Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano.

Jason's Quest continues this issue with "The Deadly Chase" written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by, well, I'm not sure. The GCD says this is Jack Abel, but I don't really see it. Abel has a certain smoothness to his inking, particularly around the eyes, noses and hands of characters, that I just don't see in this inking. He is also credited with inking the next issue, and I sort of see some Abel-like inking in that book. If anyone can point me to particular panels that display Abel's technique I would feel much better about this attribution.

As we left Jason last issue, he had just saved his sister's life, not knowing it was her and is now ahead of her on the road to Paris thinking she must be just ahead of him. Meanwhile, Tuborg sends two more assassins after Jason and his sister. Jason on the other hand sees a blond woman on the side of the road with a flat tire and thinks it is his sister, but when he hears her deep southern accent he knows he is mistaken.

She is "Billie Jo Brock of the Lo'siana Brocks" and is immediately smitten with Jason, but her advances are interrupted by gunshots from the two assassins, who also mistake Billie Jo for Jason's sister. They blow the "petrol tank" of Billie Jo's car and she and Jason high-tail it on his bike, the killers in hot pursuit and Billie Jo firing back at them with her own gun. As they are being chased, Jason sees the car of the woman he saved last issue and seeing her without her wig realizes that she is his sister. He lures the gunmen away from her and loses them in some woods.

There his bike runs out of gas and he and Billie Jo take off on foot finding a large empty house in the woods in which to hide. Later the gunmen find the house as well and while Billie Jo passes the time away in a lip-lock with Jason, he feels a gun against the back of his head. But it is not the gunmen, but rather the owner of the house, who had shut it down but remembered something she left and found the broken window where Jason and Billie Jo had entered and now found them. But it seems she is a widow, from Lo'siana as well and actually loosely related to Billie Jo. She provides them some gas for the bike and some cover fire from the assassins while they make their escape.

They gas up Jason's bike and Billie Jo shoots the tires on the assassin's car. They figure out what the four shots must mean and steal a car from the woman's garage and the chase continues. Jason loses them under a bridge and later in a bike race. Later Jason and Billie Jo barely escape from going off the end of an unfinished bridge, but the assassins are not so lucky. They crash off the bridge and die in a horrible explosion. Jason and Billie Jo make it to Paris where Jason tells Billie Jo the entirety of his story and says he must find his sister before Tuborg's men do. Billie Jo says she understands, "Find her, quick-- then come back 'cause Billie Jo has chosen you for herself!'

We then have one of those great Sekowshy full-page previes of the next issue inked by Dick Giordano.

Edited by Mike Sekowsky.

Justice League of America #79

Justice League of America #79 (On Sale: January 27, 1970) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

This issue has the book-length by "Come Slowly Death, Come Slyly" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. Continuing from last issue, we have Superman and Green Lantern on the desolate planet Monsan seeking a clue to the identity of the Doomsters, while Green Arrow is being forcibly removed from the office of the Star City City manager and Batman, Atom, Black Canary and the Vigilante are being slowly lowered into a vat of something pretty vile. As luck would have it though the two guards escorting Green Arrow are not cops and don't particularly like the City Manager, so they let Green Arrow go.

Racing back to the Doomsters' plant he gets there just in time to jam the machinery lowering his pals into the vat of icky stuff. He revives his teammates just in time to take on a cadre of Doomsters who, when overwhelmed by the JLA, lock themselves into the inner workings of the plant. That ends up being a disguised rocket that the Doomsters use to blast away from the JLA.

Meanwhile on Monsan, Superman and Green Lantern find a survivor who with his dying breath tells the tale of one of their leaders, Chokh, who when the industrial might of the planet so fouled the air came up with a way of altering Monsan physiology so that they could breathe polluted air and thrive of poisoned water. But the alteration not only modified their bodies, it warped their minds, turning them into Doomsters, who want nothing more than to spread the pollution of Monsan to other worlds.

back on earth, Batman radios Hawkman in the JLA satellite and tells him he must stop the alien spaceship above Star City. Using his Thangarian space cruiser, Hawkman is going to use a gravity beam on the flying building when it explodes exposing the sleek battleship hidden inside. The Doomsters jam Hawkman's controls forcing him to abandon his ship which they then blast in half. Realizing the the Earth people are more threatening than they thought the Doomsters drop pollution canisters all around the globe and then send out a warning message to the people of Earth that they have one hour to make peace with themselves, before they are inundated with "total pollution."

The JLA assemble in their satellite just as the returning Superman and Green lantern recover the wounded Hawkman. Once he is safely in the JLA satellite Superman and green Lantern begin a full attack on the Doomsters' spaceship, defeating the aliens. However, Chokh escapes and penetrates the JLA satellite where he captures Black Canary. Batman and Green Arrow try to stall him by telling Black Canary how much they appreciate her and Green Arrow even says that he may be in love with her.

Chokh is finally defeated by the Atom and later Arrow tells Canary that he meant what he said, but she says she is not ready for a new relationship just yet, but is happy that they saved the Earth. Arrow looks at the soot and ash spewing from some plants in the background and says, "Did we? I wonder..." Reprinted in Justice League of America Archives Vol. 9 HC and Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Date With Debbi #8

Date With Debbi #8 (On Sale: January 27, 1970) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

This issue Debbi in "A Froggy Day in Buddsville" by Barbara Friedlander and Henry Scarpelli. Debbi saves a frog from several disasters, causing herself some problems at school but getting noticed by a nature-loving boy, which causes all the girls to bring frogs to school.

Next is Debbi in "Everybody Likes Somebody" also by Barbara Friedlander and Henry Scarpelli.  Debbi and Mona have a plan to get Sally and Harold together, but instead injure Harold and cause Sally's mother to punch out Sally's father.

That brings us to Debbi in "Calling Doctor Debbi," a text article with illustrations of the zodiac signs.

We end with Flowers in "The Valentine Date." Flowers judges a valentine contest and chooses Ken Logan for the king, despite the protests of her friends that he is too straight

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Running Behind Again

I'm running behind schedule again. I am being swamped with projects at work that are sapping my strength, leaving me exhausted. On top of that I have 15 books to read this month, and my detailed recaps always take an hour or so to produce. If there is something special about the book, like John Broome's last story or Al Williamson's, John Severin's and Jerry DeFuccio's first DC stories in this blog, then the items take even longer to write.

Well, things could be even worse. I could still own all my Mort Weisinger books and have to reread them as well. That would have put me at rereading 21 of the 28 books DC published this month.

Well, enough complaining from me. To be honest this month has been a goldmine of good stuff so far, from the above mentioned milestones, to Deadman's return, and there are still a few gems to go. Poor me, I have to read great comics.

Hot Wheels #1

Hot Wheels #1 (On Sale: January 22, 1970) is based on the Saturday-morning TV show based on the die-cast toy cars from Mattel and features a cover by Alex Toth and Dick Giordano. I loved that Giordano put the kids' faces in a line-up down the left side of the cover like the Justice League of America was doing a this time.

"Wipe-Out at Le Mans" is by Joe Gill, Alex Toth and Dick Giordano. With so much work at Hana-Barbera in recent years, Toth was the perfect guy to draw Hot Wheels and man did he shine on this series, a forgotten gem from DC. We begin in 1959 at Le Mans where driver Mike Wheeler is spinning out of control and about to center-punch another disabled car. He instead throws his car into the wall in an horrific explosion .

Mike's young son Jackie rushes to his burning car and is pulled way. Mike is extracted from the wreckage and taken to the hospital where after agonizing hours of surgery they find that he will live, but his leg is so badly damaged that he will never race again. Weeks later a hobbled Mike Wheeler tells his son that he always planned on opening a garage when he retired, it's just happening sooner than he expected. Wow. six beautiful pages from Toth and Giordano of textbook-perfect efficient and evocative story-telling.

So on to California and Wheeler Motors and Jack growing into a teenager at Metro High and hanging out with Janet Martin and being harassed by rich punk Dexter Carter, the plague of Metro City. Dexter and his gang make it so bad on the street of Metro City that a special town hall meeting is called to revoking all drivers licenses held by those under the age of 21 (which would have been highly illegal in California I would think).



The pencils to a rejected Alex Toth cover
for Hot Wheels #1.

Anyway Mike talks Jack into going to the meeting and defending the teenagers, which he does by pointing out that most teenagers are responsible drivers. like he and his friends, who have formed a club called Hot Wheels to sponsor closed-course races so kids can have there fun, but responsibly.

The club goes on a PR offensive but Dexter and his goons are not to pleased. While out testing a new car at the track, Hot Wheeler Mickey Barnes is run off the track and crashes due to Dexter and his friends. Dexter challenges Jack to a grudge race and Jack accepts, only Mike will only let him use parts from junkers for a grudge race. They build a car as best they can. On race day they find that Dexter has bought two new v-12 Ferrari's to race against Jack and that he and one of his goons will both be racing against Jack.

Same rejected cover inked by Dick Giordano.

Once the race begins Dexter and his goon tray to double-team jack, boxing him in and roughing up his car, but Jack avoids the worst of it. However dexter inadvertently gets caught in the oil slick laid down by his goon and is about to center-punch a pole when Jack floors it and knocks Dexter out of harms way, but knocks himself right into the pole destroying his car. Dexter wins the race but Mike liked what he saw his son do, both in building a competitive car and in saving Dexter's neck and promises that next time he will have his father's full support in building a car.

Next issue promises to be a rematch. Not a bad start for the book. For copyright reasons, this fine series has never been reprinted.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Flash #195

Flash #195 (On Sale: January 22, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

This issue begins with "Fugitive from Blind Justice" by Robert Kanigher, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. I think I have said enough times in this blog how much I loved this art team. It's one that you never hear mentioned, but one that clicked on so many levels. This story has an interesting beginning, the Flash is at the Jerry Lewis Telethon and is signing autographs at super-speed for three of the most prolific letter-writers of the time: Irene Vartanoff, Peter Sanderson and soon to be famous writer Mark Evanier. This was a neat touch with which to open the story.

On the way home from the telethon, Flash meets a couple in Central Park and the woman wants a picture taken with the Flash. He complies, but the flash of the camera is blindingly bright and Flash is set upon by a gang of killers out to get him. He tries to fight them, but keeps stumbling over things (why he didn't just vibrate in place until he could see again is beyond me), and if finally saved by a dog who shows up and attacks the gunmen, then scampers off, though not before Flash sees the dog in his returning eyesight.

The next day the headlines in the paper are of millionaire Philip Bentley being killed by his dog Lightning. Barry recognizes the dog as the one who saved his life and doesn't believe that he could have turned killer. At the animal detention center, Bentley's brother is relating the story of how he saw the dog attack his brother. Flash says how he doesn't believe it and arranges for a 24-hour stay of Lightning's execution. However, he searched in vain for any of the killers or the couple who set him up. The next morning the Flash dog-naps Lighting before he can be executed and uses Lightning's nose to try and locate the gang, to no avail, but they do rescue a blind man who had fallen into the water.

Flash leaves Lightning with the blind man and heads to the Bentley estate to see if he can pick up any clues there. There in the greenhouse Flash encounters Bentley's brother and mobster Vic Torrence in an argument. Flash also recognizes Vic's voice as being one of the gang that tried to kill him. Flash gets disoriented by the fumes of a noxious plant and is once again saved by Lightning.

Later at the reading of Bentley's will his entire estate is given to Lightning to be administered by someone of Lightning's choosing. He chooses Barry Allen who sets up an annuity to provide for Lightning and gives the rest of the estate to the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

The back-up story is "I Open My Mouth... But I Can't Scream" by Harlan Ellison fan Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Vince Colletta. The less said about the abysmal inks on this one, the better. This is a strange little tale of Barry Allen on a roller coaster and him being paralyzed with fear. Barry relates how his first date in high school had been to a carnival and the girl had talked him into riding the coaster and how frightened of it he was and still was years later when he and wife Iris chaperoned the police athletic league champs to a carnival and the kids wanted to ride the coaster. Once on the coaster Barry sees that the track is damaged but is frozen with fear, but after a gut-wrenching scream he Flashes down the track and repairs it before any tragedy can occur. Barry believes it was the scream that "set him free" from his fear and now can't wait to go back for another ride.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Batman #220

Batman #220 (On Sale: January 22, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams. Three things about this cover: 1) I don't normally like the multi-panel covers, but this one completely works for me, 2) some attribute the inks on this cover to Dick Giordano, but I just don't see it, particularly in the Batman figure in panel one, and 3) this is the debut of a radically new Batman logo, this after reverting back to pretty much the original logo less than a year ago. Now I liked this new logo, but it would not last very long; within a year they would slip Robin's name into the logo and a year after that they will move to a new logo that is more a throw-back to the logo they are currently replacing.

This issue has the book-length "This Murder Has Been... Pre-Recorded" by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. It opens up with pretty much a rehash of the cover and then shows us how we got there. Bruce is visited by Marla Manning, the woman whose articles on "Victims Anonymous" was the inspiration for Bruce's own Victims Inc. Program. She relates how she has received anonymous threats ever since she hinted in an article that the death of young file clerk in the city contract bids department might be linked to bidder for a certain city contract. Bruce's VIP had provided some financial aid to the victims sister and when he checks his files on the woman, Sandra Sloan, they are missing and in there place is a note to "Lay off...or else!" Bruce says he will call on Batman's help and sends Manning on her way.

Manning floated the name of Nova Demolition Co. and Bruce checks into them and the other companies who bid on the suspected contract. That night Batman visits Sandra Sloan and is given the brush-off at the door. Suspecting foul play Batman crashes in and interrupts an unknown gunman who gets away. Sloan knows who it was, but refuses to tell. Batman heads to Nova Demolition where he breaks in to look at their records. There he fights with owner Zack Nova, ex-military demolition expert. Nova threatens to call the police on Batman if he doesn't leave and tells him to "lay off."

Batman then visits Manning and convinces her to say in her next article that she has evidence of who killed Sloan. When the article hits the paper, Manning gets a call from Nova, saying he knows she is lying about having proof but offers to give her what she needs for $5,000, the money to be left in a phone booth.

In preparation for the meeting Batman goes to the airport for something and then meets Manning near the phone booth where he takes her place for the rendezvous. As soon as the booth door closes a tape plays of Zach Nova confessing to the murder and then the booth blows up. Manning comes out of hiding and is confronted by Zach Nova plans on killing her just in case she heard his confession. Just then his confession starts replaying and Nova freaks out a bit. Batman comes out of hiding and takes Nova out explaining that he used a black box recorder from a plane to capture the confession and put an inflated Batman costume into the booth while he then ran for cover, expecting that a demolition expert was planning an explosion.

Afterward we learn from Sloan's sister that Nova had saved Sloan's life in Viet Nam and used that to get secret information from Sloan so that he could win contracts. When Sloan could bear it no longer and threatened to expose Nova he murdered Sloan.

Once again, I am disappointed by the Robbins' story, yet I recall loving this stuff 40 years ago.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Teen Titans #26

Teen Titans #26 (On Sale: January 20, 1970) has another great cover by Nick Cardy. I know that as a young man, I spent many a hour staring at Wonder Girls' butt on this one.

"A Penny for a Black Star" is by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy and continues from the dramatic events of last issue, where the Titans responsible for the death of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Arthur Swenson, gave up their costumes, vowed to not use their powers and joined Mr. Jupiter's top-secret project.

Continuing really from the cover, they enter into Mr. Jupiter's training facility, a kind of Titans version of the X-Men Danger Room, a gauntlet of lasers, fire and wind. When they come out on the other side, Mr. Jupiter gives them each a penny and tells them the next part of their training will be in Hell's Corner, the toughest neighborhood in the city, where they are to find jobs, a place to live and one other thing, something they will have to figure out on their own. Lilith says that the answer to the last enigmatic task will be found in Hell's Corner, but she knows know more than that.

Donna wonders what they can do with a penny each and Lilith says that perhaps they can "find... a black star," but once again, more than that she does not know. In Hell's Corner they find a young black girl selling lemonade for a penny and buy some, one to see the girl attacked by Storm and his gang, the Hell's Hawks. Don (Hawk) wants to jump in and pound the gang, but he is held back by Dove and the reminder of what happened the last time they went off one someone. Seeing that they won't fight back, the gang go after the girls, groping at Lilith and Donna. Suddenly the gang is attacked by Mal Duncan, the little girl's older brother and once the gang starts beating up on him the Titans do come to the rescue, without using their super-powers.

The gang runs off and the Titans thank Mal, who tells them that they don't belong there and should leave. But they don't heed his advice and continue on through the neighborhood. Donna and Lilith get jobs at a clothing store and the guys get work and room and board at the neighborhood boys club. where they help the kids with baseball, boxing and painting. That night they learn of a monthly boxing match where the youth of the neighborhood let off steam. A week or so later at the match, Mal is pitted against Storm and knocks him out in the ring. Later when the Titans go to congratulate him they find him being beaten by the gang. The Titans put a quick end to that. Afterward the celebrate and reluctantly Mal goes along, where mainly through the efforts of Lilith, he becomes part of the gang, the Titans realizing that recruiting Mal must be the unknown task they needed to perform.

They bring Mal to Mr. Jupiter where Mal learns that his new friends are actually the Teen Titans. Mal goes through the same danger room gauntlet as the rest of the team and over the next few weeks (months?) they all train (for some reason) for spaceflight. Eventually they are taken to a secret launch site where automated rockets are being prepped for a one-way unmanned trip to Venus. That night Mal sneaks out of the facility, though he meets Lilith on the way, and when the spaceship launches the next morning they find out Mal is on board. With Jupiter's help the Titans vow to take another ship to the moon to rendezvous with Mal and save him.

This was not the best of follow-ups to last issue's story, but I don't really expect much from Robert Kanigher. I'm not sure where Dick Giordano thought he could take the unpowered Titans, but he needed someone like Mike Sekowsky to pull this off and Kanigher just didn't qualify. This was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Strange Adventures #223

Strange Adventures #223 (On Sale: January 20, 1970) has an Atomic Knights cover by Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Adam Strange in "The Beast with the Sizzling Blue Eyes" from Mystery In Space #62 by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Bernard Sachs. While waiting for Adam Strange to return to Rann, Alanna is apparently caught in a time-warp, taking her back to a prehistoric jungle. She quickly realizes that she is not in the past, but in a forcefield bubble. Adam arrives inside the bubble and saves Alanna from a dinosaur, but suddenly the bubble disappears, taking the jungle and beasts with it.

Later another bubble appears in the ocean, this time containing a sea-beast. Adam and Alanna are able to penetrate the forcefield, but the bubble once again disappears. Unknown to Adam and Alanna, the bubbles are being made by device created by scientist, Zhoran Tew, to study to past. However, Zhoran’s lab assistant, Mortan, has imprisoned the scientist and is using the device for evil.

Mortan demands that the Ranagarans surrender to him or he will unleash the beasts within a forcefield created around the city. Adam traces the transmission and tracks Mortan to his hide-out. Then he destroys the control device, preventing Mortan from unleashing his monsters. After freeing Zhoran, Adam is drawn back to Earth by the Zeta Beam.

Next is "The Genius Epidemic" from Strange Adventures #21 and created by Gardner Fox, Irwin Hasen and Joe Giella. This is a cute story about a bunch of hillbilly boys, the Herbert Brothers. who came into town one day to join the army. Though they looked like something out of Lil' Abner, they soon prove themselves to have amazing genius minds. In looking for the cause of their brilliance the army finds out that a meteorite crashed near their house on the night they were born. The army puts the bothers to work on one project after another which annoys them so much they make a space ship and leave Earth to get some peace.

We end with our cover-story, the Atomic Knights in "War in Washington" from Strange Adventures #135 and the product of John Broome and Murphy Anderson. Wayne and Hollis Hobard are captured by the Atlantides. Gardner and Bryndon mount a rescue mission with the help of Dalas, a reformed Atlantide prisoner. Dalas leads them to Washington where the Khagan and the Atlantides have established a base of operations.

Gardner and Bryndon stop a plot by the Atlantides to let in ultraviolet radiation over Durvale. Dalas located the Hobards and frees them. The remaining Atlantides escape with the Khagan vowing to conquer Earth.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #117

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #117 (On Sale: January 20, 1970) has a cover by Bob Oksner featuring Jerry and the new Wonder Woman.

This issue has the book-length "Jerry Meets the New Wonder Woman" by Alan Riefe and Bob Oksner. When Jerry accidentally hurts Wonder Woman's knee near a theater, he, his nephew Renfrew and Wonder Woman are transported to Paradise Island. The Amazons explain that Zodor has kidnapped Hippolyta and demands the sacred pearl as ramson. SinceWonder Woman's knee is broken, it falls on Jerry to rescue the queen. You have to appreciate the way DC weas pushing the new Wonder Woman, here and in The Brave and the Bold a month or so ago.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.