Young Romance #166

Young Romance #166 (On Sale: April 7, 1970) has a cover by Bill Draut.

We begin with "Please, Please, Someone, Love Me!" by Jack Miller and Jay Scott Pike. 

Next is "Beauty on a Budget" a one-pager by Liz Berube.

That is followed by "Uptight" by Henry Boltinoff and Lee Elias.

We next have "A Price on My Love!" by Jack Miller, Werner Roth and Mike Esposito. 

Next is "Just No Good" by Jack Oleck, John Celardo and Jack Abel. 

We follow that with "Think Thin!!" by Elizabeth Berube. 

We end the issue with "Love Pass Me By!" by Robert Kanigher, Win Mortimer and Vince Colletta. 

 Edited by Joe Orlando.

Sugar and Spike #90

Sugar and Spike #90 (On Sale: April 7, 1970) has a cover by Sheldon Mayer.

We begin with"What's a Flumsh?" by Sheldon Mayer and reprinted in Best of DC #47. We end with "Window-Box" also by Sheldon Mayer.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff

G.I. Combat #142

G.I. Combat #142 (On Sale: April 7, 1970) has a Haunted Tank cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with the Haunted Tank in "Checkpoint -- Death" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath and reprinted in Showcase Presents: Haunted Tank Vol. 2 TPB. Next is "The Garbage Hero" by Bob Haney and Sam Glanzman. We end with "The Last Survivors" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Binky #73

Binky #73 (On Sale: April 7, 1970) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

We begin with "Lucky Binky" by John Albano, Winslow Mortimer and Henry Scarpelli and reprinted in Best of DC #39. Next is "The Great Bar-Bell Chase" and that is followed by "A Message to Peggy" by John Albano, Bob Oksner and Henry Scarpelli and also reprinted in Best of DC #39. We end with "Sherwood's Turn-On Gets Turned Off."

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Unexpected #119

Unexpected #119 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Deadliest of All?" drawn by Bernie Wrightson. That is followed by "The Swampchild" by Carl Wessler, Werner Roth and Frank Giacoia. Next is "Rachel Isn't Ready to Die" by George Kashdan, Sid Greene and Vinny Colletta. We next have "Rest in Pieces" drawn by Murphy Anderson and reprinted in Unexpected #160. We end with "A Phantom in the Tree" by Murray Boltinoff and Jerry Grandenetti.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Superboy #166

Superboy #166 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with our cover-story, "Here Lies the Real Superboy" by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito. The back-up is "The Kryptonite Conqueror" also by Frank Robbins, Bob Brown and Mike Esposito.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Secret Hearts #144

Secret Hearts #144 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a cover inked by Dick Giordano.

We begin with "Run -- Heart -- Run" inked by Vinny Colletta. Next is "Meet You in Paris, Love?" pencilled by Murphy Anderson. We end with our cover-story, "Second Hand Love" drawn by Ric Estrada and Vince Colletta.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

House of Secrets #86

House of Secrets #86 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

This one has a framing sequence drawn by Bill Draut featuring Abel and of course, Goldie. After a page we are led into "Strain" drawn by George Tuska, the story of man tearing through the night, trying to put some distance between him and the life he has just destroyed. As he is car careens through the night he suddenly hears a strange musical strain, of such beauty that he stops his car to find its source. He is drawn to the house it emanates from and entering he is further drawn down dark corridors till he finally finds the source. His wife, Martha is at a piano playing. Seeing her he knows he has been saved, but the music is so compelling he can't concentrate so finally he he grabs her hands to make her stop.

Only it is no longer his wife, the one her murdered earlier tonight, it is instead an old hag, who says she is there to avenge his wife. She quickly slams the keyboard cover on his fingers and he finds himself back in his car, slamming into a tree. When the police find him the next day they note that his fingers are oddly bruised.

Next is "The Golden Tower of the Sun" by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow. This one is not really a comic story but an illustrated text story. I have a confession to make here. I never read the text stories and still have some sort of block against doing so, so I don't know what this story is about, save what I can make out from the wonderful Gray Morrow illustrations. It appears to be the story of a rock and roll singer and some sort of spiritual or inter-dimensional travel.

Next is our cover-story, "The Ballad of Little Joe" by Gerry Conway and Bill Draut, or as he is credited here, Big Bad Bill. Jonathan Poe lives alone in his large house, just him and his puppets and his memories. His favorite puppet seems to be the pink-haired Little Joe, who is always breaking and whom Jonathan is constantly repairing. Through it all Little Joe's face is always laughing and Jonathan wonders if it is because he has made him that way or if Little Joe actually has something to laugh about.

Not nearly so funny is Jonathan's daughter, Sheila, who sees her father's obsession with his puppets as unhealthy. He tells her that since he has outlived the rest of the family, what is wrong with "My puppets! A shadow tracing of life--and for this you think me addled." The sky suddenly burst into fire and Jonathan sees it as a sign from heaven while all Sheila sees is heat lightening. She says when she returns tomorrow she will have a lawyer and a sheriff and they will deal with Jonathan.

As this is happening inside the house a portal is opening and a member of the Quaros, an alien race existing beneath the Earth's crust and out to conquer the surface steps into the room and grabs Little Joe. Jonathan returns just as the portal closes, and wonders who could have come in and stolen Little Joe. Far beneath the Earth, the Quaros work on Little Joe and using some miracle machine manage to bring him to life. They tell Little Joe that in return for his life he must betray the people of Earth and they send him back on some mission to do just that.

But when he steps through the portal and into Jonathan's workshop he wakes up the sleeping Jonathan and tells him of the Quaros's plans to conquer the Earth. Seeing this the Quaros decide to kill them both and open the portal once again, aiming a huge ray gun through it. As the gun fires Little Joe leaps in front of Jonathan, taking the full power of the blast. Seeing this Jonathan's heart gives out and he dies.

In the silence of the room, the now restored to a puppet Little Joe weeps for his maker. When Sheila returns the next day and finds her dead father she regrets how she had treated him and sees that she has a lot to make up for. She picks up Little Joe and takes him with her.

We end with a small two-page strip that made the rounds of the DC horror books for a few months. It is entitled "The Day After Doomsday" and they are all illustrated by Jack Sparling. In this one it is a week later and a solitary man pulls himself out of the rubble of the city. He walks around for a bit, the last man on Earth, when suddenly he is shot at. He ducks behind a building and sees his assailant, a beautiful blond woman. He implores her to put down the gun for the sake of humanity, that it is up to them to rebuild the human race and to get it right this time. He tells her his name is Adam. She replies, "Really? My name is Gertrude!"

The entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Challengers of the Unknown #74

Challengers of the Unknown #74 (On Sale: March 31, 1970) has a very nice cover featuring the Challs and mentioning Deadman.

The 23-page "To Call a Deadman" brings together not only the Challengers of the Unknown and Deadman, which seems like a match made in heaven, but als features Johnny Double in his first appearance since his Showcase tryout. The story is by Denny O'Neil and the artwork is by George Tuska, except for the panels featuring Deadman which are drawn by Neal Adams. I thought putting Deadman and the Challs together was a brilliant idea that would save this book, but of course, I was wrong. Starting next issue the Challengers of the Unknown became a reprint book; DC wasn't even waiting to see if Deadman helped out sales. This strange tale was reprinted in World's Finest Comics #230 and Deadman Collection HC.

The one-page filler this issue is "Dark as Death" by Murray Boltinoff and Bernie Wrightson.
Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Our Army at War #220

Our Army at War #220 (On Sale: March 31, 1970) has an awesome Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

Our Sgt. Rock cover-story is "Stone-Age War" written and illustrated by Joe Kubert. This story was reprinted in Sgt. Rock #318. Next is "The Last Soldier" by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. We end with a U.S.S. Stevens story, "The Idiot" by Sam Glanzman.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Dick Giordano, R.I.P.

Dick Giordano died this morning. I was re-reading Hot Wheels #2 (March 17, 1970) for this blog last night, late as usual, and thinking what a stupid and utterly lame idea for a comic book this was. And what a magnificent series this turned out to be and the reason it was not the disaster it should have been was Dick Giordano. As editor he pulled together an amazing team, from the actually exciting scripts of Joe Gill and Alex Toth and Len Wein to the wonderful covers of Neal Adams and Alex to the even better pencils of Alex and Ric Estrada and later Neal and the glue that held the interior artwork together, some amazing, just dazzling, inks by Dick himself.

Dick Giordano had his hands on more of the comic books that I loved in those important early teen years than any other person in comics. The Marvel people had Stan Lee, but I never felt welcomed in by Stan. Dick Giordano on the other hand welcomed me into his books and seemed genuinely interested in what I and other fans had to say and he was nice enough to actually thank us at the end of each letter column for buying the book and joining in on the fun he had a hand in creating. I felt at home at DC because Dick Giordano made me feel that way.

I feel a hole in my heart the size of a child's wide-eyed enthusiasm. Thank you Dick, but this one is not going to be a very good afternoon.

And I sincerely mean that thank you. Thank you Dick, for the best series I ever read, the Skeates/Aparo/Giordano run on Aquaman, a series that was likely to go anywhere at any time and always do it with style and the greatest of artistry, Thank you for the Secret Six, the Mission:Impossible of comics that made me appreciate the non-super-hero books for the first time. Thank you for The Hawk and the Dove and the Creeper and the excitement that Ditko brought to DC if only for a little while. Thank you for the Teen Titans issues with the Wein/Wolfman controversy, Wonder girl's uniform, the sexiness of uniformless heroes, and the great artistry of Neal and Gil and George and of course and always Nick Cardy. Thank you for Hot Wheels, the greatest TV show/Toy/Comic book cross-over ever. Thank you for mixing a little more humor into the horror with The House of Secrets and even more humor in The Witching Hour, those early issues being more fun than chilling.

Thank you for knowing when to stay out of the way and let your writers write and your pencilers pencil and your inkers ink and for letting Nick Cardy create one amazing masterpiece after another. Thank you for bringing us Steve and Jim and Denny. Thank you for proving over and over again the pencils do not have to be weak to be improved by the inker. Thank you for some of the better parts of my childhood.

-Keller

Detective Comics #399

Detective Comics #399 (On Sale: March 26, 1970) has a great cover by Neal Adams.

Our cover-story is "Death Comes to a Small, Locked Room" by Denny O'Neil, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. During a demonstration for cadets at the Gotham City Police Academy, Batman embarrasses Khan, a master of judo, karate and kung fu. When an enraged Khan comes after Batman with a steel identification bracelet across his knuckles, Batman decks him. In steps Arthur Reeves, the mayor's new Public Works Coordinator and soon to be a regular pain in Batman's backside.

Reeves wants to know what Batman is hiding behind that mask, why he isn't up front and out in the open. When Batman asks Reeves if that is what he believes in and Reeves answers in the affirmative, Batman lifts up Reeves toupee and quickly ducks out a window.

A month goes by and the incident quickly slides form Batman's memory till one night, 30 days later Batman is called to the site of Khan's training school which has been destroyed in a furnace explosion with Khan inside. Reeves shows up and accuses Batman of maybe causing the explosion to get back at Khan and Batman suggests that Reeves stick to sharing his fantasies with his barber.

Gordon and Batman have an appointment to get to, a séance of some sort to which they have been invited in an invitation that hinted at "solving a crime if we show." As they pull into the parking lot in Gordon's cruiser the car is strafed with machine gun bullets and crashes into a tree. As the machine gun-toting thug comes out to inspect his handy-work, Batman takes him out. Just then a man appears, "Big Dough" Joe Brunner a man sent to the pen by Gordon who is now out and wants to thank Gordon for setting his life straight. After he leaves Gordon wonders is "Big Dough" might not be behind the attack, but Batman says if he is, they know where to find him.

Inside the séance they meet the Great Dilbert--Medium Extraordinary who says he will "zummon spirits of dead!" He begins and the "spirit" has a message for Batman. The spirit seems to be speaking in Khan's voice and says that since Batman humiliated him in life he will humiliate Batman in death by killing Commissioner Gordon at midnight tomorrow. The lights go out and zee Great Dilbert has skedaddled. Batman says that Dilbert was a ventriloquist and wore a high collar to hide the movement of his throat muscles.

The next night Reeves tries to lock Gordon into a sealed vault for his protection, but one of the guards is actually Batman, who once again makes Reeves look life a fool. But the embarrassment just keeps on coming as Batman reveals that Gordon is not Gordon but actually the Great Dilbert. Pulling of Dilbert's mask and handing it to him Batman explains that "Gordon" was too clean shaven to have been on the job all day. Dilbert says that he might as well tell them where Gordon is really being held, but as he attempts to do so he dies from a poison on the outside of the Gordon mask Dilbert was holding. As he dies Dilbert says "D...do...j...jo..." and one of the guards says that it is obvious that the filler is "Big Dough" Joe Brunner, AKA Dough Joe.

Reeves sends men out to pick up Joe Brunner, but Batman has other ideas and heads back to Khan's training school, or dojo! There in a fireproof vault under the rubble Batman confronts and takes out Khan before he can harm Commissioner Gordon.

The back-up is Robin in "Panic by Moonglow" by Frank Robbins, Gil Kane and Vinny Colletta. Continuing from last issue where the moon rock turned geeky student Herb Stroud squeaky green and all, raising a panic within NASA, but leaving Robin with that not so subtle taste of hoax in his mouth. So much so that he went and checked out the shower Herb used, finding some funny smelling soap and a massive headache when someone slammed his head into a wall and stole the soap of questionable properties. When Robin comes around it is with the help of Zukov, the Russian exchange professor, whose hands have that tell-tell smell of gimmicked out soap.

The campus is quarantined by NASA so Robin needs a place to crash and Zukov offers his cottage guest-room. using a stolen stethoscope, Robin listens in as Zukov and some cronies hidden under his floor discuss their plan to make NASA look irresponsible for "polluting our glorious planet," losing public support and dropping out of the space race so that the Soviets can get their moon program on track and once again be the leaders in space. But first they want to get Robin out of the way.

However, when they kick down the door to his room, he has of course fled the scene and is heading for the science-hall to retrieve the lunar rock sample. After skirmishing with some of Zukov's men, Robin comes in through the roof, but gets his cape caught on a piece of broken glass, hanging him up in the air. Zukov shows up with a pencil laser gun he used to drill a hole into the glass case containing the moon rock, so that he could inject a secret gas that could be triggered by cosmic rays to turn the rock and Herb a lovely shade of green. Now he plans to use the same pencil to drill a hole into Robin's brain, but Robin slips out of his cape and collar and swings into the darkness on a batrope (or do we call this a robinrope?)

Shooting wildly after Robin's ever-moving voice, Zukov severs one of the legs of a Lunar Module on display and it crashes down on him with a satisfying KRUNCH! With Robin's information the NASA people are able to determine that Herb has been exposed to a Russian nerve-virus and they are able to give him an antidote in time to stave off the bitter green end. This story has been reprinted in Showcase Presents: Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 TPB.


Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Adventure Comics #393

Adventure Comics #393 (On Sale: March 26, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

Our cover-story is "The Unwanted Supergirl" by Robert Kanigher, Winslow Mortimer and Jack Abel. The back-up is "The Girl Who Knew Supergirl's Secrets" by E. Nelson Bridwell and Kurt Schaffenberger.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Action Comics #388

Action Comics #388 (On Sale: March 26, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. I remember falling for this cover gag and trying to count everything that was wrong on it.

Our cover-story is "Puzzle of the Wild World" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Roussos. I think the answer to the cover question was that nothing was wrong, that on the planet it was depicting, everything was normal, but it has been a while and I might have that wrong. As I have mentioned earlier, I sold most of my Weisinger books in the late 70s.

The back-up Legion of Super-Heroes story is "Sun Boy's Lost Power" reprinted from Adventure Comics #302 and created by Jerry Siegel and John Forte. After attending the dedication of a Sun Boy statue, Sun Boy finds that his powers of heat and light have stopped working. With the help of the Legionnaires, he tries to recharge himself by duplicating the accident that gave him those powers, but to no avail. After his powers briefly return in an entomologist’s office, he invites Ultra Boy and Superboy to concentrate their heat vision powers on him, still with no effect. Heartbroken, he resigns from the Legion, just as Kranyak, his old foe, breaks prison and comes after him.

More worried than before, Sun Boy realizes what it will take to recharge his powers, and deliberately walks into the blast of a Kryptonian flame-beast. With his abilities restored, he defeats Kranyak, and rejoins the Legion. He then explains that he needed the heat-energy of a living being to restore his power, and the Ultra Boy and Superboy present are robots, sent to take those heroes’ places while they celebrate Pete Ross’s birthday in the 20th century.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #101

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #101 (On Sale: March 24, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with our cover-story,"The Super-Reckless Lois Lane" by Leo Dorfman and Irv Novick. The back-up is "The Anti-Superman Lois" from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #13 and drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger. Lois Lane goes undercover as blond-haired Sadie Blodgett to get a story. Two members of the Anti-Superman Gang see her and decide to use her in a plot to kill Superman, by having her impersonate Lois Lane. The crooks train her to be Lois, while she plays dumb. The crooks pull off their scheme, but Lois had tipped off Superman. He foils their plan and captures them.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

Girls' Love Stories #151

Girls' Love Stories #151 (On Sale: March 24, 1970) has a cover attributed by GCD to John Rosenberger, but is obviously the work of the great Nick Cardy.

This issue begins with our cover-story, "The Wrong Kind of Love" drawn by John Rosenberger and Vince Colletta. Next is "Love Thief" drawn by Joe Giella. We end with "Confessions, Episode 5" drawn by John Rosenberger.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Date With Debbi #9

Date With Debbi #9 (On Sale: March 24, 1970) has a cover by I don't know.

We have four Debbi stories this issue, "The Hitchhiker," "Debbi's Secret Weapon," "Not Worth a Scent" and "Where the Action is." No creator information is available on this book.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Three Mouseketeers #1

Three Mouseketeers #1 (On Sale: March 19, 1970) has a cover by Rube Grossman.

Here is a series I don't recall ever even seeing on the stands, reprinting stories from Three Mouseketeers #1 of 1956. The stories featureing the Three Mouseketeers are "Brave Deed," "Temper, Temper," "Air-Minded," "The Explorers" and "The Problem." The final story featues Dizzy Dog and is "Say It with Music." All artwork is by Sheldon Mayer.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Swing With Scooter #27

Swing With Scooter #27 (On Sale: March 19, 1970) has a cover by Henry Scarpelli.

This issue begins with three Scooter stories: "Double Trouble," "Gift Package" and "Sylvester's Meat is Dutch Treat." It ends with two Malibu tales: "Weird Do We Go from Here?" and "It's Only Fate -- Not My Date." I have no creator information.

Edited by Joe Orlando.

Superman #226

Superman #226 (On Sale: March 17, 1970) has a cover by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

We begin with our cover-story, "When Superman Was King Kong" by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and George Roussos. The back-up is "Uncle Sam's Prize Prisoner" by Bob Haney, Curt Swan and Joe Giella.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.