Young Romance #162

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Orlando.

G.I. Combat #138

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Kubert.

DC Special #5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #96

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Leave It To Binky #69

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Girls' Love Stories #146

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Orlando.

World's Finest Comics #188

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Unexpected #115

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Swing With Scooter #22

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superman #220

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

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

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

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

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Our Army at War #211

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Joe Kubert.

House of Secrets #82

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Falling In Love #110

Falling In Love #110 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a cover inked by Vince Colletta and not a bad job for once.

We begin with "Always a Bridesmaid... ...Never a Bride" drawn by Artie Saaf and Vince Colletta. Next is "Afraid to Fall in Love" inked by Vince Colletta.

We end with our cover story, "They Called Me a Boy Chaser..." drawn by Artie Saaf and Vince Colletta. Penny is so eager to date that she throws herself at boys, which doesn't work out very well until the boy comes along who wants to catch her. This last story was reprinted in Young Romance #197.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Challengers of the Unknown #70

Challengers of the Unknown #70 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams. This is the first cover with their new costumes and with new Challenger, Corinna Stark.

"A Scream of Yesterdays" is by Denny O'Neil and Jack Sparling. Continuing from last issue, after placing Prof in cryogenic storage, the remaining Challengers seek help for their friend. However, the bridge has been washed out by the storm. The Challengers and Corinna Stark return to her home and fall victim to a trap set by her father.

Red is caught. Then a lightning bolt strikes the generator causing an explosion. Red is set free in the blast, but Algernon Stark and Prof's cryogenic chamber have disappeared. The Challengers seek him out near the abandoned Lovecraft house. They see that Algernon has been captured by the Cult of Chu. Their leader then kills him. Corinna plunges into danger after seeing her father die.

Corinna, Rocky, and Ace are captured, but Red manages to escape. The captured Challengers learn that Chu, the cult leader, is an alien plant creature. He plans to drain the life force of humans in order to restore his people to life. Red arrives in time to save his friends. They destroy the alien plant creatures, but Chu escapes.

The Challs also discover Prof's cryogenic chamber, but it is empty. Continued next issue.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Atom & Hawkman #45

Atom & Hawkman #45 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a very nice cover by Joe Kubert, for this, the last issue of the book. I never thought this book was a good idea in the first place as these two characters had little in common. Kubert's Hawkman, is, once again, killer.

The book ends with a feature-length Atom/Hawkman story, "Queen Jean, Why Must We Die?" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Sid Greene. It was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Hawkman Vol. 2 TPB. Jean Loring sees the face of a killer she had unsuccessfully defended on everyone she meets, and goes berserk. Ray Palmer tries to help her, and discovers that his Alpha Energy machine is radiating unusually. He locks Jean in a room, while he investigates the source as the Atom (DC knew how to treat its female characters). He finds a tiny armored warrior, and has his arm coated in silver, as well as being irradiated by another Alpha-Ray machine. The Atom become large again only to discover that Jean is gone.

Ray calls Carter Hall for help, and they find the armor is the same as that found in Death Valley, apparently left by aliens, so they travel there and find identical alpha emissions. Atom figures that Jean is being held in a sub-atomic world there, and, using his lens-sizer (seen in Hawkman #9), shrinks Hawkman to sub-atomic size. They land on the radiation's source planet, where they are immediately attacked by robot birds piloted by a crazed Jean, and both are knocked out.

They discover they are captives of the Jimberen, an ancient alien race which fled to this sub-atomic size to escape a plague on Earth. Recently woken from suspended animation, they now seek a new queen descended from their original Earth-born queen, Jean Loring, and drove her mad to remove woe and care from her mind.

Atom and Hawkman are strapped in explosive harnesses and made slaves, until they fake a fall in the mountains, and escape. Freeing themselves, they find Jean, and Ray restores them to normal size. However, Jean is still insane.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Detective Comics #391

Detective Comics #391 (On Sale: July 31, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with Batman in "The Gal Most Likely to Be -- Batman's Widow" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. Tim Clark a masseuse and physical therapist at Bruce Wayne's club is having problems with his girlfriend, Ginny Jenkins (from Detective Comics #380). She has started working for Mr. Arnold at Dining Out Magazine. Through an accidentally turned on intercom Tim and Bruce learn that Mr. Arnold is using the magazine to extort advertising money out of restaurants. While Bruce leaves to change into Batman, Tim learns of Ginny's inadvertent involvement in the plan, as she is the magazine's reviewer.

That night at a restaurant being visited by Mr. Arnold and Ginny, two good threaten to ruin the food if the owner does not buy an expensive ad. the plot is broken up by Batman, but the owner refuses to finger Arnold as the instigator. that night Tim tries to warn Ginny that Arnold is a crook, but Ginny just thinks he is jealous and won't listen to him. Tim thinks she would listen if Batman was the one telling her and then hatches a plan.

Arnold meets his henchmen in the sauna at the club once again and gives them the orders for tonight's restaurant attack. When they leave Batman is seen leaving the building and an unseen person removes a bar of soap from the sauna. At tonight's restaurant, the owner is prepared to pay the extortion money when Batman comes to him with a plan. Shortly the waiter brings Arnold and Ginny a souvenir of the restaurant, only Batman shows up and reveals that the small models actually contain the pay-off money. Arnold pulls a gun, but Batman knocks him out and then comforts Ginny.

Arnold comes to and calls for his men who sneak up on Batman and knock him out. Before they throw him off the balcony to his death they unmask Batman and find that he is Tim Clark. Only the real Batman shows up at that time and mops up the gang, reveals that the money they were given was marked by the owner and also reveals a small tape recorder hidden in a bar of soap that Batman used to gather evidence against Arnold and his men.

The back-up Robin story is "Strike" by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson and continues from last issue. Personally, I thought last issue was a pretty much jumbled mess and this issue doesn't really do much to rectify that feeling.I never liked the Friedrich Robin stories, they never rang true for me, though he sure wrote a lot of them in his five years at DC.

The head negotiator for the college has abruptly ended negotiations with the Teachers' Union. Dick Grayson and Gotham Owl editor Rocky follow the negotiator and see him talking to two kids wearing Skyline jackets, one of whom Dick recognizes as the one that got away from the skirmish Friday night.

Rocky leaves and Dick is free to change into Robin and after a relatively quick fight the head negotiator tells how he was blackmailed into ending negotiations and that someone had tried to run over his son. One of the Skyline kids tells Robin who their boss is, where to find him and what type of protection he has.

Robin quickly foots it to the bosses HQ, and knock out the two guards he was warned about outside the building. He then races into the big man's office only to find two more gunsels that he knew nothing about. Robin realizes he has been set up , but as the thugs prepare to blast him, the police call out over a loudspeaker for the thugs to surrender with their hands up. Robin uses the momentary distraction to take out the two thugs and the big boss. When he calls for the police to come in and take them all away he finds that it was only Rocky, who had followed Robin to the thugs hideout.

It ends up the big boss owned land adjacent to the college and wanted to make sure that his land was used for the campus expansion. Later the negotiations are begun again and a new contract is quickly signed. This story was reprinted in Batman in the Sixties TPB and Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.
Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventure Comics #384

Adventure Comics #384 (On Sale: July 31, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Supergirl in "The Heroine Haters" by Cary Bates, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. After watching her roommates at Stanhope College get computer dates, Linda Danvers becomes Supergirl and uses a computer at the Fortress of Solitude to find her "perfect match." The computer picks a super-hero named Volar, who fights crime on the planet Torma.

Superman warns Supergirl that even his computer is not infallible, but she goes to Torma to meet Volar anyway. Supergirl becomes a friend of Volar, but no romantic interest is felt. She learns that, on Volar, women are considered totally inferior thanks to the teachings of The Visitor, a philosopher who preached against women after he was jilted by a girl on his home world.

Finally, Supergirl learns that Volar is actually a super-heroine masquerading as a male to avoid Torma's sexual discrimination. In anguish, she leaves. But Volar, encouraged by Supergirl's example, begins operating openly as a super-heroine, and vows to shatter Torman prejudices against women. Not a bad little Bates story.

That is followed by another new Supergirl story, "Supergirl's Greatest Failure" by Robert Kanigher and Kurt Schaffenberger. When Linda Danvers takes a summer job as a counselor at Camp Nokomis, she learns that someone has discovered her secret identity, and is trying to expose it. Eventually Supergirl learns that she has been exposed to Red Kryptonite, and it has resulted in Supergirl temporarily having a split personality. While she has been trying to conceal her double identity, her other self has been trying to expose it.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Action Comics #380

Action Comics #380 (On Sale: July 31, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Superman in "The Confessions of Superman" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos. Two members of the Superman Revenge Squad come to Earth and convince Superman that he has been performing crimes as a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. When one of the members, Krit, disguised as Supergirl, convinces him he is not suffering from an exposure to Red Kryptonite (which he actually is), he types out his confessions to the crimes at the Daily Planet and goes to his Fortress to expose himself to Gold Kryptonite. This story continues next issue.

That is followed by the Legion of Super-Heroes in "Half a Legionnaire?" by Jim Shooter, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel, which was reprinted in Legion of Super-Heroes Archives Vol. 9 HC. Duo Damsel is exhausted after her latest assignment, so when Mon-El sends her to deliver important papers to the planet Ikros, one of her twin selves, whom Bouncing Boy dubs Luomu II, undertakes the mission while the other remains on Earth to relax. Days have passed without word from Luomu's other self, when a masked man and woman with super-powers suddenly appear on Earth and begin committing robberies.

Investigating, Mon-El, Bouncing Boy, and Duo Damsel instead find Luormu II has returned to Earth. She introduces them to her fiance, Nam'Lor, who quickly leaves and the two Luomus again become one. Before Mon-El leaves on a space mission, he instructs Bouncing Boy to watch Duo Damsel carefully. A distraught Duo Damsel soon recalls Luomu II's recent experiences in a dream: After completing her mission to Ikros, she had been rescued from a fall by the planet's hero, Nam'Lor, with whom she quickly fell in love. Duo Damsel wakes in terror, and Luormu II suddenly splits off from her and departs. The heroine now realizes that her other self has developed a distinct, separate personality.

After an encounter with the two masked raiders at Metropolis's Amalgonite Refinery, Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel realize that the criminals are actually Nam'Lor and Luomu II, whom Nam'Lor calls Lelith. Confronted by the two, Bouncing Boy attempts to stop Nam'Lor with a super-power neutralizer, but he avoids the blasts and overpowers the Legionnaire. Lelith then orders Nam'Lor to kill Bouncing Boy, but he refuses.

He then explains that the hyper-aura surrounding his body, which gives him his powers, had turned Lelith evil, and that he had committed crimes for her in the hope that she would return to normal, because he loved her. He now leaves her forever, telling the Legionnaires that the aura-radiation will wear off in a few days, and Lelith will become her old self.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

World's Finest Comics #187

World's Finest Comics #187 (On Sale: July 24, 1969) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with Superman and Batman in "The Demon Sin" by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. The back-up strip is Green Arrow in "The Green Arrow's First Case" a reprint from Adventure Comics #256. This telling of Green Arrow's origin is by France Herron, Jack Kirby and Roz Kirby. Green Arrow and his partner Speedy learn of a scientific expedition bound for Starfish Island. G.A. is worried that the expedition will uncover his secret identity because the island was where he became Green Arrow. As the two archers fly to the island to intercept the expedition, G.A. tells Speedy the story of how he became Green Arrow.

One night, Oliver Queen fell overboard on a ship. He was unable to be rescued, so he swam to a nearby island. He made a home in a cavern on the island and fashioned a bow and arrow for hunting. At first his aim was poor, but long hours of practice paid off and he improved.

While fishing with his arrows, the fish would swim away after being hit, so Queen attached a vine to the arrow so that he could reel in his catch. This became his first trick arrow; a rope arrow. He soon created net and drill arrows, as well as a green leaf outfit for camouflage while hunting.

One evening Queen spotted a ship offshore. He swam to the ship to discover that the crew was mutinying. Using grease to cover the reflection of light on his white face, The masked Queen defeated the pirates and acted for the first time as Green Arrow.

Green Arrow kept a diary of events on the cavern wall. He is worried the expedition will find it and learn his secret identity. Using a fake-uranium arrow, G.A. scares off the expedition who believes there is radiation on the island. G.A. then destroys the diary so no one will learn his secret.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Showcase #85

Showcase #85 (On Sale: July 24, 1969) has a very nice Firehair cover by Joe Kubert.

We have a feature-length Firehair origin story, "I Don't Belong Here -- I Don't Belong There" which is obviously a labor of love for writer/artist/editor Joe Kubert. the story opens sometime in the early 1800's with our hero riding bareback across the desert being chased by a gaggle of towns-people shooting in his direction. Firehair is a teen-aged boy in Native American garb, with white skin and glowing red hair in two long tails trailing down his back. he has been shot but continues to ride.

When he reaches a rock face he leaps for it and begins to climb its face. The towns-folk dismount and take aim just as a hand reaches out of a cave in the rock and pulls Firehair to relative safety. The enraged towns-people fire off so many shots that they cause a landslide which covers the mouth of the cave, trapping Firehair and his unknown benefactor. Inside we find a Shaman and Evening Star, a young woman of the Blackfoot nation.

Firehair has been shot multiple times and they cannot move him from the cave, As the Shaman dresses his wounds, Firehair is enveloped by delirious dreams of his past. He sees a tribal fire he never witnessed where the Shaman tells the tribal elders of the terrible destruction of the Blackfoot and their brother nations at the hand of the paleface that he has foreseen. He also speaks of a great warrior who will arise, who will not look like any warrior in the Indian Nations, who will be despised by his own people and those he will seek to help. A great warrior who is the Blackfoot's only hope for salvation.

As Firehair's vision continues he sees the same tribe gathered on a mesa and attacking the wagon train below. Attacking relentlessly until all the pale ones are dead, all save one child with flaming red hair, whom Chief Grey Cloud takes to raise as his own. The resentment and hostility towards the white child runs deep in the village, but to some extent hidden. As young Firehair grows he learns that in order to survive and to prove himself worthy of being the Chief's son, he must be better than all the other children in the village, and so he is. But he is also alone and friendless. The years pass and Firehair reaches the age of manhood and goes off on a vision quest; the only one in the village offering him good luck is Evening Star. He fasts for five days seeing visions of his past, present and future and arises a man.

Back at his village he tells his father he dreamed of others with skin like his and wants to find them, to see if he belongs in their world. And so, Firehair heads off for the town, where he is attacked by a bully in the general store and when he fights back the whole town wants his hide. The town Sheriff steps in to break things up, but Firehair has had enough and breaks away, riding out of town, the towns-people shooting at his back.

His feverish vision ends and he finds himself in the cave with Evening Star, who says that now that he is better they can return home. But Firehair says he does not have a home, not with the Blackfoot and not with the palefaces. And so he sets off to travel the Earth looking for a place where he can belong.

I can not say enough about Joe Kubert's artwork on this book. He obviously spent a lot of time doing research on the Blackfoot nation and culture and you see it in every panel. He littered the book with wonderful detail and employed a grease pencil on every page, some times just a little, some times a lot, to give the pages a look different from any of the other books being published at that time.

Firehair would appear in two more issues of Showcase before finding a spot as a back-up strip in Tomahawk for another three issues. He didn't show up again till the character-packed Showcase #100 and then again in Crisis on Infinite Earths. In 1989 he was in one issue of Swamp Thing and then completely forgotten until the publication of War That Time Forgot in 2008 and where he can still be seen today.

Edited by Joe Kubert.