Countdown to 70

There's a symmetry in my starting this blog seventeen years ago on the first of September, which going forward would prove to be the month that I could expect the least engagement from an audience, despite often putting the most work into the "anniversary." The WebTV site goes back nearly another decade, when I first got passionate about the Manhunter from Mars. With too much time and absolutely no money, why not build a fan page on the digital frontier? And the blog came about because I was copying The Aquaman Shrine, with the intent of repurposing the fan page content that was lost when I stopped my WebTV subscription. But see, The Aquman Shrine began after DC had killed off its featured character, and over the course of the Shrine's run (and its spin-off/legacy podcast,) the King of the Seven Seas reached dizzying new heights from there, starring in a billion dollar motion picture.

They killed my character after I started the blog, and the Alien Atlas has mostly been subjected to a series of disheartening lows and a shrinking cultural footprint since his biggest moments, each coming before I had any skin in this game. The glory days of the JLA comics and launch of his only ongoing solo series inspired and preceded my overt fandom, and then his being featured on the Cartoon Network's Justice League happened between WebTV and Blogspot. If anything, the declining interest in the blog was followed by a successful supporting run on CBS/CW's Supergirl and a sort of appearance in Zack Snyder's Justice League (but not on an actual movie screen.)

All the spotlights and commissions and such that I wrote or crafted or paid for came of nothing in expanding interest in the Sleuth from Outer Space and his sphere. All my time in comics, as a retailer and as a public advocate, have helped forge a few friendships and filled some longboxes, but accomplished little else. If anything, I feel like I've been a bit of an albatross, never embracing the various creative visions for the character over the past thirty years. Bit of a back biter really, and maybe the Martian Marvel would be better off without me.

Anyway, I let other things eat up most of my time in August, but I'll step up a bit this September and next, plus points in between, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear. I have a decade-long backlog of art pieces that I never posted, and most of the last few years' blogging has been driven by keeping the seat slightly warm ahead of getting all that out for the 70th anniversary in 2025. Having accomplished that minor feat, and finally acknowledging those artists' efforts, I can finally take or leave this thing as I please without a guilty conscience.

I put in so much time and effort, seemingly to no benefit to anyone, and I'm just damned tired of trying to prop up a piece of corporate intellectual property that I glommed onto in 1996 after a dozen year flirtation, starting around "War of the Worlds 1984" and The Super Powers Collection. J'Onn J'Onzz will always be my favorite Martian, and I want to wish him a happy birthday, but then it'll probably be time to wander elsewhere in this big ol' galaxy.

Detective Comics #557 (December, 1985)

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a multi-year storyline involving Nocturna drew to a close. She was a homeless orphan teenager, informally adopted by a criminal, until he was killed. Then she took up a romance with his adult son, and the pair turned to burglary to support their lifestyle. Nocturna had the incident that drained her of pigmentation, leading her to entanglements with the Wayne Foundation. For two years across two titles, Nocturna romanced the Batman, and became a surrogate mother to his young ward, Jason Todd. However, Batman was already involved in an ongoing relationship with Catwoman, causing violent conflict. Further, Nocturna had used and discarded her prior lover, the son of her initial benefactor, and left him to rot in prison. When he got loose, he adopted the guise of Night-Thief, and started stabbing all of their mutual associates to death on his way toward slaying Nocturna.

In this specific story, Batman was in the hospital watching over Selina Kyle after she'd been struck by Crisis Red Sky lightning. An exhausted Robin returned alone to the Batcave, where he received a transmission from the Martian Manhunter and the Justice League. "Nothing new to report on the bizarre weather phenomena, Robin-- just checking in to tell Batman to remain on alert-- and ready for action. Until this is cleared up, none of us can afford a moment's rest." This entirely random interaction convinced Robin that he was acting like a wimp, and needed to act in his mentor's absence to protect Nocturna and, if possible, stop Night-Thief. He couldn't, as Night-Thief beat on Robin, and nearly killed Nocturna, before Batman and a revived Catwoman intervened. That was mostly in the next issue of Batman, where Robin put the severely injured Nocturna in a hot air balloon, which seemed to get blown up by Crisis energy. Don't ask me "why?" It's all too messy to get into.

I wasn't reading Batman comics in these years, but some of my friends had copies that I'd toss through on occasion. I was always intrigued by that alabaster goth girl, but nobody in my circles to this day ever brings her up, and I rarely feel the need to cross the Crisis boundary on DC icons. These comics were selling less than 70K a month, an attainable number even today, and this interminable soap opera couldn't have helped. I've read biography pages on Nocturna several times, but my eyes always glaze over at the twists and turns, the finer details soon forgotten. Only the Psycho-Pirate could remember all this junk, which is probably why we don't talk about Nocturna. But boy, somebody really should reprint those Green Arrow & Black Canary back-ups with the Jerome K. Moore art. They're worth recollecting.

"Still Beating" was by Doug Moench, Gene Colan, & Robert Allen Smith.

Action Comics #595 (December, 1987)

Silver Banshee walked the streets of Metropolis, killing men indiscriminately as she searched a series of local bookstores. After one policeman under Maggie Sawyer's command was killed, and another nearly so, Superman finally showed up... only to die himself. Various parties, including members of Justice League International, mourned his loss. Black Canary and the Batman believed that someone should address the situation, while the Manhunter from Mars insisted, "Something must be done!"

Lying in state, Superman's ghost lifted from his glass encased body, stating "I have been cut down before my work was done! I must finish what I set out to do. Only then can I rest. Beware, Silver Banshee! Your time of judgment is at hand!" Jimmy Olsen had trailed the villainess to another bookstore, and nearly doomed himself when Spectral Superman showed. Once her powers failed to effect his immaterial form, she blew herself up trying to destroy him with her Banshee cry. Only after did a living Superman reveal himself, while his "ghost" resumed his nat-- er-- typical Martian form.

The Sleuth from Outer Space had deduced that there was a visual component to the Silver Banshee's powers that prevented her from killing someone that she couldn't accurately identify. The Kryptonian form held up better than human victims, but Superman was still placed in a deathlike coma state until the Aien Atlas jumpstarted his brain with undefined "mental powers." It's a huge stretch that doesn't stand up to scrutiny, since she'd killed multiple unidentified dudes, but Perry White lampshades it with "Well, I guess that's a satisfactory explanation... at least it'll have to do if that's all we're going to get." Still, they played fair by announcing J'Onn J'Onzz's presence earlier in the story, and allowing him a showcase for his detective skills.

"The Ghost of Superman" was by John Byrne, with Keith Williams. Crisis on Infinite Earths had ended with 1985, but it took until June of the following year for "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" to wipe the board clean of Pre-Crisis Superman. Then another four months later, John Byrne used the oldest but "spare" of his two Man of Steel titles to continue the team-up format of the recently canceled DC Comics Presents, beginning with #584. I'm fuzzy on when I started picking the title up, but most probably it was with this issue, so it would have been nice to already be familiar with Martian Manhunter for the reveal. It was apparently the first appearance of Silver Banshee as well, though I could have sworn she'd made an earlier one. Obviously she was super cool, and a fairly strong addition to the rogues gallery, so it's disappointing that she's been more or less relegated to a second hand Supergirl foil. Kal-El's so powerful and so visible that he really can't spare someone so formidable, just because neither Banshee or his cousin possess a y-chromosome.

Booster Gold #22 (November, 1987)

Michelle Carter, the sister of Booster Gold, was tooling around in the Goldstar super suit when she was blasted out of the sky by aliens. These were invaders from Dimension X, who had tangled several times with the Teen Titans in their early days. The aliens and would-be heroine had only happened upon one another, but the aliens saw an opportunity to drain her suit as a power source to help them transport their armies to Earth. Booster Gold soon set about tracking her down, but while getting the lowdown from Wonder Girl, refused the help Titans to hog any glory for himself. However, once he encountered the aliens, he was faced with the choice of either saving his sister, or 38,000 spectators at a Minneapolis baseball stadium (Google tells me... Twins?)

Booster Gold sent his flying robot companion Skeets to free Michelle, then called on his new teammates in the Justice League International to stop the giant gray horned monster in Minnesota. Booster griped about how long it took for the JLI to arrive, and they countered with basically "what part of International did you not understand?" Plus, y'know, the Titans could have already gotten there, y'feeb. The giant is an artificial construct made out of a doughy, energy-resistant substance, so direct attacks were fairly useless. At one point, the team is saved by Booster's force field, and another time Mister Miracle helps them escape. It's very weird to see Miracle carrying Martian Manhunter to safety, and in fact this whole debacle relies on tying the JLI's hands behind their backs to make the hoary aliens and Booster look better. Green Lantern Guy Gardner's recent brain trauma is used to keep him out of the action entirely, while Captain Atom's quantum powers are unusually limp against Dimension X, conveniently. The Alien Atlas is reduced to strength, eye beams, and flight (when not being held by Aero-Discs?) and generic teamwork lines. As least as leader, J'Onn J'Onzz comes up with the decisive play: Captain Atom burns a small tunnel, Manhunter holds it open with his regular, non-elongated hands, and Booster Gold flies into the cavity. Once inside, Gold expands his force field until the creature bursts into goo sprayed all over town.

It feels like word came down while the issue was being worked on that the title had been cancelled. For reasons, the JLI vacate the story, Booster Gold returns to his sister, and those pesky reasons also meant that Michelle Carter's very life force had also been drained with the independently powered super suit. The siblings have to team-up to stop the alien invaders, but a stray power line hits Goldstar and disintegrates her. Then the JLI attend her cliff side funeral, and Doctor Fate sends her tombstone to a dimension where it will be untouched by time. That was... abrupt. "Tortured Options" was by Dan Jurgens & Ty Templeton. I bought the first issue of this book because an ad promised me a free button with purchase, not realizing that the offer wouldn't be honored at a Circle K. He had an okay costume, and it was nice to get in on the ground floor with a new hero, but I basically hated the guy from jump. Materialistic narcissist showboat is a good mixer for a shared universe or super-team, but I don't want to read a whole book about that guy. I didn't realize it then, because the whole package was so bland an unappealing, but that issue would be the start of my long time disdain for Dan Jurgens. He's done good work, I won't deny, but on average I find reading his stuff to be a tedious chore. This story was a perfect example, strongly recalling his own mostly miserable run on Justice League America, as a bunch of characters he has no feel for make too many utterances in a chaotic fashion that is supposed to have some sense of humor or characterization that is absent. Just overeager placeholder balloons that never got needed revisions. I needed to skim through a few issues around this one to get a better sense of what was going, but planned to read this one cover to cover, and just couldn't. I quit trying partway through page 14, when the JLI exits for some contrived reason, and I couldn't tolerate the lame dialogue anymore.

Doctor Fate #1-4 (July-October, 1987)

Doctor Fate is sort of like if you combined Merlin with Lancelot for the super-hero set, as the wizard/knight battles the forces of capitol-c Chaos from the Golden Age to the present. However, the toll has prematurely aged the human host of the Lord of Order, Nabu. Kent Nelson is dying, his wife Inza is already dead, and the other Lords of Order have decided to write-off the current existence to speed up the cycle of waxing darkness eventually turning back to light. Nabu refuses to comply, and has already picked his next host. As with Kent Nelson, Nabu has prepped a preternaturally mature and mystically adept 10-year-old boy for the role. Things debatably go awry for Eric Strauss, who is insta-grown into an adult, but captured and institutionalized by bad guy Typhon and his own human host, Doctor Benjamin Stoner. It does serve his stepmother Linda well though, as she'd felt "demented" over her romantic feelings toward the boy-turned-man, and that had led her to team-up with Kent Nelson to rescue the now strapping young lad. The experience also made Eric finally ready to embrace his new role (though not yet his-- er-- mama? In the '70s jive sense?)

The connection to Justice League International is modest, and takes place in the third issue. The Helm of Fate was compromised, and donned by Stoner as he created barely elaborated upon global havoc in service to Chaos. The Phantom Stranger aims to address the matter of this "Anti-Fate," using JLI members Batman, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Mister Miracle, and Martian Manhunter as pawns against the new, evil Dr. Fate. The front half of that line-up appeared to die violently in the attempt, but Martian telepathy knew otherwise, and urged Mr. Miracle to relent in further pursuing the matter. Before being teleported away, the Sleuth from Outer Space assured, "We haven't failed. We're doing what we're supposed to do." Spoken like a career jobber. The Phantom Stranger served similarly, seeming to perish while biding time for Eric, Linda, Kent, and especially Nabu to get their acts together. Eventually, a gestalt entity of the Strausses is required to form a new Doctor Fate, who reclaims their mantle, and exorcises Typhon from Stoner. Kent Nelson moves on to the afterlife, but Nabu retains use of the body, to mentor the Strausses.

Without doing any research, my guess is that Doctor Fate was given a mini-series mostly as a "bold new direction" spin-off from Legends, with a side benefit of supporting and expounding upon the Justice League relaunch (arriving between #'s 3-4.) My first significant exposure to both Fate and Keith Giffen was in a back-up from The Flash #308, the only issue of that volume that I bought new, owing heavily to the novel parallel narrative of the lead feature (with wildly enhancing inks of the little-remembered Dennis Jensen over the usually repellent Carmine Infantino.) My uncle was a big Doctor Strange fan who'd left me dozens of his non-Brunner/BWS issues, so it was kind of neat seeing that type of metaphysical action rendered in a style owing more to Kirby than Ditko. Not enough to get me back for more, but I did buy the Super Powers Collection action figure with its own mini-comic. Doctor Fate is one of those characters that DC sees no inherent appeal in, despite the original version having a lot going for it, so they've spent most of my life selling me lesser variations on the basic premise. I certainly count this incarnation under that heading, despite a very different incarnation of Giffen's involvement-- more or less my favorite version of Keith. David Hunt's inks are fine for the most part, but leave something to be desired at times. J.M. DeMatteis would continue solo into an ongoing series, ditching the more ominous quality here to be a quirky companion title to JLI. I'm glad to have finally knocked this one out after all these years of putting it off, and it was quite easy compared to The Weird, but neither are staying in my collection now. I did like Giffen's visual take on the Alien Atlas, though.

The Weird #4 (July, 1988)

The Weird was aroused by Batman, who was looking for a way to stop Superman; who was laughing off being double-teamed by Martian Manhunter and Doctor Fate; and Nuklon; who was taking on everyone else (including Guy Gardner, whose head will apparently be wrapped in gauze for 75% of this mini-series.) As one would expect in a Starlin book, The Weird recaps the prior issues of the mini-series, which offers the Dark Knight no clues as to how to defeat the Macrolatts that have possessed his super friend, and also Nuklon. So that's 7 pages of 38 down. The duo of possessed metahumans defeated the rest of the present heroes and lay waste to just enough of Metropolis to look like something out of Akira, but somehow not enough to rate any future mention or leave any trace that won't be cleaned up by the next Superman comic. Also, The Weird had a big speech about how the only way to save this reality was to prevent the Macrolatts from ever reaching it, so The Weird won't waste the remainder of his existence (measurable in hours) on a futile gesture. The Caped Crusader chided, "You may look like a man, Weird. But you've got a lot to learn about actually being one."

Page 16. The Weird kneels before the Macrolatts, speaking to the error of his ways and promising to tell his masters of potential threats to them in this realm. If there were any actual threats, they weren't shared with Batman, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he played indignant before being slapped down by the Weird to help sell the lie. The Macrolatts are so arrogant as to be offended by the idea that anything could threaten them, and smack the Weird around before he fully surrenders, ostensibly to allow them to drain him of all his knowledge and power, ending on a twelve panel page of the possessed heroes slowly reaching toward Weird. Pages 22-24: The Weird reaches into Superman and Nuklon's chests with his variable density powers, pulls out a Macrolatt in each hand, and destroys them both. Well... that was a swift and convenient reversal of the story as told.

Oh, there's still 16 pages to fill? Super studies show that nothing can be done to save The Weird. He spends three pages building a small island as a monument to himself. Superman flies Billy Langley to the island across one page, and it's revealed in the opposing splash. Kind of looks like a sailing ship. Walter Langley's son is somehow meant to make it to this small personal island to play on a mostly barren rock whenever he feels lonely. The proposed logistics of that are the weirdest thing in The Weird. They hug, and then Martian Manhunter is stuck with the thankless task of flying this sobbing child back home to the mother that refused to visit, but was totally cool with allowing her son to fly off with Superman to parts unknown. I do wonder if there was some symbolism in the roles, but most probably J'Onn just got the **** detail, so Superman and Guy Gardner could fly off to unpopulated space to watch The Weird explode. I'd like to say Guy was the only Green Lantern dumb enough to risk it, but they're all so "confident" in their power rings, aren't they? The Weird does blow up a significant distance away, so I guess that explains why an energy bubble wouldn't have contained it. Superman, the Kevin Smith of super-heroes, sheds a tear at his passing. Even Guy looks a bit choked up, or maybe it's like how someone puking makes you want to puke, and Guy is just worried for his tear ducts. The final page is a somber distance shot of the island at sunset.

"...Armageddon" was by Jim Starlin, Berni Wrightson, & Dan Green. Well... that sucked. I liked Batman: The Cult when I got it a few years later, and almost ordered the new edition that's coming out, but I didn't like the production work on display. I mention that because I'm a lifelong Starlin fan, and I'm glad that he produced a script worthy of collaborating with Wrightson at some point, but this wasn't it. All the stuff with the father and son was unearned, because instead of developing that relationship to have any independent weight, they Zarolatted and punch-faced us. I can't remember if they bothered to name the wife/mother, but obviously the story didn't care any more about her than we did once it was done. This feels more like an outline than a complete narrative, and at least twice as many pages of art were produced than were needed to tell this basic of a story. Frankly, it was too obvious and unadorned to even earn its given name. The Lame would have been more honest. At least I got to see Wrightson draw the Alien Atlas, I guess?

The Weird #2-3 (May-June, 1988)

Smarmy TV news reporter undermines heroes and wonders aloud about The Weird. The remains of Walter Langley show off "his" powers for "his" son, then explains the basic cosmology of the story. Macrolatts are oppressive energy vampires who seek to expand their empire to our reality. Zarolatts are passive beings who are fed upon unto nonexistence by Macrolatts. Going straight from one reality to another means destruction, so the Macrolatts seduced homicidal narcissist loser Jason Morgan into transforming into a being capable of creating a bridge that would allow them safe passage. The Weird's proximity to these events while being fed upon gave it access to these events and a means of escape through the initial bridge, and its growing power is in service to its conviction toward the newly learned concept of freedom. Returned home, Billy Langley keeps all this from his mother.

"The Jason" found his failed businessman father's body hanging when he was four. His mother turned to the bottle and maybe prostitution before Jason found her body in bed after one of her gentleman callers took a razor to her. Despite being an impoverished orphan who was academically lax and had no prospects, Jason's belief that he was better than everyone else held fast despite his poor social skills, being an incel, living on the streets, doing a stint in prison for the violent assault of a woman, and eventually ending up a garbageman. He was primed to turn on humanity, ready to believe anything the Macrolatts told him if it meant power, and using it to take murderous advantage of at least one woman victim. Although held captive for a time, The Weird eventually freed himself, and at great personal distress, determined that the only way to stop The Jason was to snap his neck.

The Weird played hide & seek with Superman for fourteen continuous pages in one issue. The Justice League looked on throughout a couple of issues as The Weird had entanglements with other, more powerful beings. "Unbelievable! Not even J'Onn J'Onzz's incredible strength seems able to put a dent in that barrier." Nor Captain Atom's quantum energies, not Green Lantern Guy Gardner's power ring, nor Doctor Fate's mysticism, et cetera. Even after witnessing The Jason's execution, they mostly offer disapproving glares. Well-- that and an order from the Dark Knight to the green one. "It was just as you predicted, Batman. My powers of invisibility caught him completely by surprise." Unable to adapt in time, The Weird took two blows and a hard tumble. Unfortunately, two Macrolatts had escaped to possess Superman and... Nuklon? I guess for his variable density abilities, but yeah, not the guy you'd expect when you have all these powerhouses in Metropolis and Infinity Incorporated is all the way on the West Coast. Also, there was a whole bit about how The Weird had taken over a corpse rather than displace the life energy of a host, so by the rules laid out in the story, both these guys should have died.

"Questions" & "Confrontation" were by Jim Starlin, Berni Wrightson, & Dan Green. These single word narrative direction story titles speak to the reductive nature of the mini-series. Each issue has a few points to check off on a predictable agenda, and the rest is just vamping to fill out space. The art has its moments, but I think everyone involved would have benefited from the space being cut in half. It reminds me of when George Pérez quit Infinity Gauntlet midway through because he was sick of drawing fight scenes where a bunch of people gang up on Thanos and lose. So much of this series involves powerhouse DC heroes floating impotently outside energy fields or getting slapped around by what ultimately prove to be nothing characters, for clout more than narrative necessity. It's all so cheap, pointless, and passionless-- a purely commercial venture that nonetheless can't conceal its distaste toward its own existence. Anyway, I got through the second issue after coming home from HeroesCon, realized the Alien Atlas wasn't in that one, and decided we'd just double up on issues for the following week. This would keep, especially since I have to do my own scans on this thing.

The Weird #1 (April, 1988)

A fit blond white man with roughly half his physical form replaced by a jagged green crystalline substance sat cross-legged on the bathroom floor in his apartment and conjured an atomic energy form. This was an intended "bridge" for his "friends." A red gem of similar coarseness to his own body began to form in midair, but then an energy escaped it, leaving the gem to crumble away. The man, Jason Morgan, was shocked and dismayed.

The small energy ribbon hovered in the sky above Metropolis, and Superman investigated. The energy had no atomic structure-- no mass-- but when the Man of Steel passed his hand through it, he was knocked back three miles. By the time he flew back, J'Onn J'Onzz and Captain Atom had arrived to observe the energy. An hour later, there was a military cordon and a No Fly Zone, then the new Justice League were on the scene. Examinations through varied disciplines were attempted, including a science team on The Bug aircraft consisting of Blue Beetle, Batman, Black Canary, and more. When Doctor Fate's mystics were stymied, Green Lantern Guy Gardner attempted to probe deeper with his Oan Power Ring. An energy surged knocked out Gardner and blacked out the Bug and city as a whole.

Two probes were fired off by the energy ribbon in opposite directions. One was pursued by Superman, as it passed immaterially through a genetics lab's fluid beakers and into its complex computers. The other was followed by Manhunter to a funeral parlor, where the Martian met repeated resistance in contrast to the immediate aid and trust conferred upon the Kryptonian. The energy went into a service in progress, and caused the body of Walter Langley to vanish as mourners looked on in shock and horror. The probes reunited with the core energy, and the gathered heroes watched as the borrowed elements slowly coalesced into a new physical body of a lanky adult male in a queer red and black garb. Super senses detected that this being was not quite right, a sort of cosmic Frankenstein made up of misfit parts that were not quite human. The being collapsed into unconsciousness from the effort, and was taken to S.T.A.R. Labs for testing. Super senses determined that the Weird being, as dubbed by Blue Beetle, was molecularly unstable to a degree that its energies threatened a detonation that could destroy the Earth.

The Weird awakened and assisted upon attending to tasks that "he" refused to take the time to explain to the super-heroes, who attempted by failed to detain him/it by force. The Weird had its vibratory patterns thrown off by the proximity of the super-beings during its maturation period, which had altered the form in unexpected ways. This allowed The Weird to unintentionally push the Alien Atlas across a room, although the Manhunter fared better in a follow-up physical altercation than most of the rest of the League with their varied abilities. Regardless, the Weird at least briefly laid low everyone but Batman, while Superman had left prior to the fight to correct a compromised passenger jet's flight elsewhere.

The Weird sought out "The Jason," the half-crystal man that had been conjuring earlier, but found only his empty apartment. It/he declared the Jason to have a "dark and twisted nature" that would see him pursue world domination. However, a misalignment of the harmonic vibrations in the apartment would prevent Jason Morgan from attempting another inter-dimensional bridge for 18 hours, so the former Walt Langley had some time to kill, The Weird retained some of Langley's memories and motivations, causing him to visit Walt's former home. His widow, Eva, bemoaned his fatal mugging and the scene at the funeral parlor. "I don't care what the police say, I'm sure it's all the doing of that terrible green man." Meanwhile, in the back yard, young Billy Langley recognized his visiting father, even in this altered form...

"Conception" was by Jim Starlin, Berni Wrightson, & Dan Green. Following by introduction to Justice League International with their eighth issue, my reintroduction to the Man of Tomorrow via John Byrne, and a broader exploration of the Post-Crisis landscape moving out from the Millennium event series, I was a target audience member for The Weird house ads. However, I don't know when I had access to individual issues, and do know that I only read the first issue at some point after the final one. Neither experience was satisfying, and I won't know if I ever bothered with the meat of that story sandwich until I move on to covering the second installment. One quarter of "The Studio" and the crown prince of cosmic comics were long time friends who would prove a formidable pairing... on Batman: The Cult. This excessively long warm-up session noodles for 38 pages of heroes impotently watching stuff, then getting trashed by the second in a series of very powerful but rather boring sci-fi/magical Mister Spocks based on the visual template of Syzygy Darklock. I do like though that both Starlin and Wrightson are clearly a more comfortable fit on the Sleuth from Outer Space over Superman. Wrightson seems to relish his dark, exaggerated features over an off-model Man of Steel, with a broad flat nose and thick lips suggesting a less Caucasoid interpretation of the Manhunter, with the strongly implied prejudice that goes with it. I do wonder if Grant Morrison was influenced in his views of J'Onn J'Onzz here (and I think that's the only name he's been referred to in the issue.) Also, Wrightson's horror background gives the takedown of the heroes a more ominous quality than the story would seem to dictate, a sort of accidental element of interest in what otherwise feels more akin to a Radio Shack rudimentary science edutainment giveaway. The issue is way too long to accomplish so little, and I do wonder if this was initiated as a prestige squarebound mini-series for more niche audiences that was either determined not to rate the expensive ask, or was diverted to take advantage of the JLI's building heat on the newsstand.

Lovens Vogtere Nr. 4 / Med Super-Klubben Nr. 32 (1988)

"But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is? It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same stuff over there they got here, but, it's just, just, there it's a little different. You know what they call a Justice League in Copenhagen? Lovens Vogtere." I may be paraphrasing. Run through Google Translate, that yields "Guardians of the Law," which I guess is in the ballpark? Based on my experience while visiting comic shops, the League didn't quite catch on in Denmark like it did here. As best as I can tell from internet searches and observed back issues, the League only ever received a couple of very brief runs under the publisher Interpresse: five issues in 1968 (sharing space with Supergirl & Grønne Lygte Hal Jordan,) and four issues in 1988 that collected more or less the contents of Justice League: A New Beginning (JL International #1-8.)

Faraos Cigarer was easily the friendliest, most elaborate and well stocked comic shop that I visited in Copenhagen, and they had much of the first run. Had I known that there were only five total, I may have considered springing 1500DKK ($224.27) for Nr. 1 when I saw it locked in a glass case behind the front door. I did get the Ill Mac the Kr. 60.00 Super-Helte Alliancen Klassiker Nr. 4 / Med Marvel-Klubben Nr. 51 (1984) with the black & white reprint of Avengers #100 and Thanos' debut in Iron Man #55 (don't tell Mr. Fixit!) If you can believe it, Avengers comics were even less in demand than Justice League ones, and I only found two total, one existing only because it reprinted a two-part Spider-Man guest appearance.

Both the DC and Marvel comics were published by Interpresse, at least until about 1990. That's where the Super-Klubben / Marvel-Klubben comes in, because most any DC reprint had a Superman shield on it, and the Marvel ones had a Spider-Man web. While the indicia indicates Lovens Vogtere as the title, a second title/number on the cover seems to indicate that a lot of these series were like Dell Four-Color, essentially a revolving reprint anthology with its own overarching numbering system. The four "Lovens Vogtere" issues weren't even consecutive, cover-noted as Med Super-Klubben Nr. 20, 24, 28, & 32. I'm guessing it was a weekly release that made the Lovens Vogtere installments a de facto monthly. Based on my research, these four issues (or 7 U.S. comics) may be the only Danish-language versions of this series.

Clearly, the final cover of the single issue I found was derived from the comedy classic "Moving Day," though the colors are much less vibrant and more peachy. Justice League International #7 was an extra-length 38 page story, involving an 8-page coda to the Gray Man story arc. That part is not included here, picking up with page 9 and titling the rest "Forberedelser" with new Lappan-esque lettering credited to John Lysmand.

There are no ads anywhere inside the comic, but at the center-spread the story pauses briefly for a Captain Atom Who's Who entry, and then a blurry, slightly-overblown reprint of the U.S. cover to that issue. After the final five pages of the first tale, "Flyttedag" begins at the turn of the page. Both of the inside covers offer black & white letters columns punctuated by S-Shields and a tiny Byrne Superman. The only advertisement is on the back cover, a monochromatic orange Modesty Blaise ad with red lettering on the logo.

I've still got about a foot tall stack of these comics, many bought as gifts that I haven't had the chance to give yet, and a few as "investments" that I couldn't resist (more because it would bug me to leave them behind and less any actual intent to sell.) There will be a few more Martian Manhunter specific ones when we get to the 60th anniversary, but I've been so lousy about posting lately, I wanted to give ya'll something a little special this time. While not the biggest Alien Atlas adventures, this edition does contain "Moving Day," probably the first comic story I read where J'Onn J'Onzz stood out as a character to watch (and laugh with.) An early favorite!

Martian Manhunter Annual #2 (October, 1999)

"In the early years of my residence on Earth, I traveled to Africa, took the form of a gorilla and lived as one of them among a tribe in the wild." Though he was treated as one of the lowest status, J'Onn J'Onzz was at least tolerated, and even embraced as a friend by some. When human researchers came to study the apes, the G'Orilla studied them back. Then the poachers came while the Martian was elsewhere, slaughtering scientist and gorilla alike in pursuit of valuable... novelties. Severed heads. Ashtrays fashioned out of paws. The Sleuth from Outer Space tracked the poachers, and used his telepathy to force them to turn themselves in to authorities. He mused that the savage beast assumptions regarding gorillas was more a projection of human's own aggression and avarice than what he had seen amongst the tribe.

Even the various assaults and forced conversions during JLApe: Gorilla Warfare could all be understood as repercussions of the assassination of King Solovar-- but by whom? Who stood to gain? After purging his recent gorilla hybrid-form from his "shape-memory matrix" and restoring his super-hero default, J'Onn J'Onzz traveled to the JLA Watchtower to collaborate with The Batman on this impenetrable mystery. Following Green Lantern Annual #8, "The Morphic Resonance Array was destroyed, but not before a significant portion of the world's population had been transformed into gorillas. Chaos currently reigns. In response to your earlier comments, I'd like to point out that Green Lantern's condition was the reason for my hasty departure from the U.N." [JLA Annual #3 (September, 1999)]

Despite The Dark Knight Detective's constant condescension and dimminishment of his abilities, The Sleuth from Outer Space had also deduced the identity of the mastermind behind this incident, but felt the need to build a case in order to understand where to locate and how to defeat the culprit. To this end, private investigator John Jones, and other alien alter egos, interviewed known associates like Bobo T. Chimpanzee, Monsieur Mallah, Sam Simeon, and William "Congo Bill" Glenmorgan for insights. Sam fanboyed over the Manhunter from Mars, asking him to pose for a sketch.

While John Jones was playing Simian Team-Up, the JLA were doing real stuff, like averting nuclear catastrophe and joining Grogamesh in evacuating Gorilla City as a precaution. It was here that the Sleuth solved Cluedo, explaining that it was Gorilla Grodd in the coup with the assassination. Envy was the motive, and thanks to having absorbed all the mental energy of the gathered gorillas and neo-simians globally, Grodd had the power of a god to blast Martian Manhunter, who reverted to his natural form. However, fully ascending to a deity seemingly meant Grodd being stripped of his identity, and when the Martian pointed this out while "worshiping" the Super-Gorilla for his sacrifice, Grodd recoiled and collapsed. This was done in a sequence of three double-page spreads, joining the many Image-style visuals for big annual storytelling that did thankfully help the pacing on these thickish books. A babbling, vegetative Grodd was locked away in an asylum, and Ulgo sought to normalize relations between Gorilla City and the human world.

"Fear and Loathing on the Planet of the Apes" was by Len Kaminski, Gus Vasquez, & Mark Propst. As I was suffering discontent about a year into the run of the 1998 ongoing series, I especially enjoyed this, the final ever Martian Manhunter/Magnificent 7 JLA solo annual. Which I largely lay at the feet of Ostrander/Mandrake, but that's an admittedly minority opinion. Kaminski was a writer that I always tended to enjoy, who should have had a better career, and who I thought had a really good handle on the Alien Atlas. He and fill-in writer John Arcudi were the guys I kept hoping would take over the series when Ostrander was done with it, only for the title itself to give out after three years. But it was so good, the DC Message Board lectured me. Here, I loved stuff like J'Onn inserting himself into non-human Earth populations, and I really appreciated the trend of pitting J'Onn against Grodd. He's best known as a Flash villain, but the mental powers and outsider perspective made their pairings natural. Obviously it would have been even better if these Silver Age revivalists had, y'know, revived actual Silver Age Martian Manhunter villains, but that's asking too much. Grodd's one of my favorite DC villains, going all the way back to Challenge of the Super Friends, so bring him on.

Vasquez has a rubbery quality that suits J'Onn in a way it wouldn't any other JLAer, and I felt it was more of a piece with the popular style of Howard Porter on JLA broadly and Don Hillsman III very specifically on the Martian Marvel in this time period. I especially liked his Natural Form Martian, which I digitally "cut out" in one of my first forays into Microsoft Paint, to post on my late '90s Web-TV site, so we go way back. For the artist, it was mostly just back-ups and one-offs going forward, though he was still kicking around as late at the 2010s. Kaminski did some more JLA work here and there, but was mostly out of comics after the turn of the century, and I understand is currently committed to a wheelchair in a nursing home against his will. That certainly puts things in perspective. But hey, sorry for the delay in wrapping up this coverage. It's been a lot of apes for a long time. Despite generally liking this storyline, I had misgivings about taking it on in the blogging medium, especially once I felt compelled to look at each book for my different venues. Well founded misgivings, hence the delay.

Green Lantern Annual #8 (October, 1999)

Like most of his fellow JLAers, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner briefly regressed to being controlled by Gorilla City while in his ape form, but took the problem further than most. Where the other heroes managed to shake both the influence and the form in relatively short order, the neophyte mostly gave in, becoming a proper gorilla soldier against mankind. As noted by the Sleuth from Outer Space in his own forthcoming, conclusive annual, "However, by this time, the orbital morphic resonator array is operational, defended by a force of space marines led by General Zolog-- aided by Green Lantern, who had been subverted to the gorilla cause." Building a close camaraderie with several of his fellow gorilla grunts, the Green Lantern would play an important role in General Zolog's bid to succeed as his contemporaries repeatedly failed. Essentially, as the last ape standing, all the future glory or blame fell on Zolog's fuzzy shoulders.

In a show of (increasingly limited) power, Zolog ordered the ape-ification of Honolulu, but had to deactivate cloaking to do so, allowing their detection by the Sleuth from Outer Space at the JLA Watchtower. I'm not sure who put it together, but the Alien Atlas has an unconventional team ready to go, made up of Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott, Warrior, and the Metal Men. J'Onn once worked with Scott in the 1970s, and of course had associated with him via the JLA/JSA crossovers. Guy Gardner of Justice League International was well familiar, and I was well pleased that he was played as his usual crass self, rather than the Beau Smith glow-up. The Metal Men was the curve ball, though they did go back to JLA: Year One.

Just as Gorilla Lantern engaged this force, he was teleported to the Watchtower, where he was greeted by a gorilla claiming to be part of a force that now occupied the facility. However, this ape slipped up in calling the Lantern "Kyle," rather than his ape name, and his power ring set tentacles upon the disguised Martian. However, J'Onn continued using Kyle's name, and helping him to remember who he truly was. The ring did the rest. "Thanks to my rather duplicitous efforts, Green Lantern was restored to normal, as have been the rest of the JLA." Kyle had initially been concerned for his ape comrades, and now for all of his friends, and rushed back into combat. Unfortunately, General Zolog was something of a simian Kissinger, willing and able to sacrifice many of his own men in a last bid for overall victory. Green Lantern helped mitigate the fallout, but still lost some of his former men, wounding hearts on both sides of this gorilla warfare.

"Grunts" was by Keith Giffen, Octavio J. Cariello, Jr., John Nadeau, Marcelo Campos, & Jordi Ensign. J'Onn's synopsis was written by Len Kaminski. Obviously, my coverage of "JLApril" is late and entirely prompted by the podcasting event that I linked to last week, but I wish I'd run even later, so that I could take advantage of the sharp digital scans in the newly released collection of these comics. The 1999 version were printed on lousy paper that gave everything a gray tinge and made the colors a drab mess. I don't always love the glossy sheen of modern printing, but trust that it's an improvement. Anyway, this was a nice read, my favorite of the satellite solo annuals (obviously not counting the bookends with our favorite Martian.) Giffen on his own doesn't sing like he did with his better collaborators, but his weary, cranky voice suits this material. Unfortunately, there's several instances of the editor blowing it, allowing dialogue balloons intended for one character to come out of the "mouth" of another. Thankfully, the dialogue is distinct enough for the reader to tell where the fault lies. Despite often being thought of as a funny guy, Giffen plays this one fairly straight, lending an unexpected poignancy. But also, he brings in JLI favorite Guy, who naturally plays well with our boy. Star Wars artist Nadeau leans into the grit, so that it's jarring when the style switches to more clean cut super-heroics mid-sequence. Further, Cariello demonstrated his own moody chops on Deathstroke, so maybe there was a heavy-handed inker? It all looks good, just different. Oddly enough, both pencillers moved out of comics and into painting after this. Man, it was so nice to see J'Onn working with people with whom he had a history, instead of whichever team-up tickled Ostrander's fancy on a given month.

Podcast: Dial F for Flanger episode 26

DIAL F FOR FLANGER is a comic chat show.

Flanger is joined by Martian Manhunter super-fan Diabolu Frank to conclude #JLApril2024

The boys are looking at Martian Manhunter Annual 2 from 1999 which is part 8. the final chapter of JLAPE GORILLA WARFARE. The issue is by Len Kaminski, Gus Vasquez, Claude St Aubin, Mark Probst, Carla Feeny, Kurt Hathaway, edited by Dan Raspler and an epic cover by Arthur Adams.

Follow along with all the podcasts participating in the JLApril crossover by searching #JLApril2024 on social media

JLApril Podcasts

• Dial F for Flanger - Episode 24 - JLA Annual 3
• The Bat-Pod ep #135: Batman Annual #23
• Dial F for Flanger - Episode 25 - Aquaman Annual 5
• Dial F for Flanger - Episode 26 - Martian Manhunter Annual 2
• Once Upon A Geek – The Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp
• Fanholes Comic Books Mutha@#$%! Do You Read 'Em?!? #117: Congorilla!
• Quarter-Bin Podcast #205 - Kong on the Planet of the Apes #1
• The Outcasters: Angel and the Ape (1991)
• Campus Comics Cast - Swamp Thing Vol. 2, Annual 3 (1987)
• Coffee and Comics - Wonder Woman vol 1 # 170  (1967)

JLA Annual #3 (September, 1999)

After finally opening diplomatic relations with the U.N, and revealing the existence of Gorilla City to the world, King Solovar was assassinated. His nephew and successor, Prince Regent Ulgo, then blamed humanity and launched a counter-offensive. But also, Ulgo was secretly a member of the Inner Circle of the Simian Scarlet Cultural Purity Movement, an extremist faction of super intelligent gorillas. Other members included the mobster Grimm, General Zolog, Admiral Trafalgo, and the sorceress Abu-Gita, but they were all dancing on the strings of Gorilla Grodd.

Martian Manhunter received a request at the Watchtower from Gorilla City to send a diplomatic envoy of JLA members to help mitigate the damage. Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Dark Flash were openly deployed, while an invisible Alien Atlas followed along in secret. Before reaching Gorilla City, the party was ambushed, and exposed to a gas that turned the lot into gorillas. Worse, some form of mind control was exerted over them, causing them to turn on the "hu-mans." However, the Martian Manhunter retained his wits, if not his form, and used his telepathy to mostly restore the JLA's more human instincts. Back at the Watchtower, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner thought that he was being hazed by the more veteran members of "JLApe." Batman and the Martian Hu-Manhunter worked together on a cure for the "Gorillabomb," but the Simian Sleuth from Outer Space had to pursue help from Animal Man, who was disoriented by troubling memories of a "Coyote Messiah" and the like. Recognizing "I'm important to the plot," Buddy Baker helps J'Onn J'Onzz understand how to use the morphogenetic field to restore the team.

In his absence, the male JLApes began posturing for dominance to court Wonder Woman as a mate, and the Manhunter had to reassert their identity matrices telepathically. Unfortunately, Ulgo then deployed gorillabombs at the United Nations, transforming the entire body while adding Green Lantern to the apes. The intended cure was used to restore the U.N., but the JLA were still trapped in gorilla form. The JLA divided their forces to address various fields in play in the conflict with Gorilla City, while Batman couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that J'Onn was hiding something.

"Gorilla Warfare" was by Len Kaminski, Jason Orfalas, and Jordi Ensign. Aside from poor work-life-podcasting balance this month, my ambivalence toward covering this event (and its scale/page count) contributed to my low productivity this month. I needn't have hesitated, because this was a fun and relatively brisk read with a bunch of puns and two-page spreads (one of which was interrupted by a fold-out ad for a video game about monkeys and bananas, appropriately enough. I'm not wild for the artist's Semeiks-influenced humans, but his apes strongly reflect the Arthur Adams covers, which is surely a welcome sight. If you're interested, the recent podcast Dial F for Flanger - Episode 24 covers the issue in greater detail.

2024 New 52-ish Martian Manhuter art by Dee Kilroy

I have a project in mind for this month that I'm ambivalent towards, and coupled with recent overall delays and a painfully unweildy podcast edit to tame about six hours of recordings into two, at best that's deferred by another week. At least April has three more Mondays, and my lapse gives me another chance to feature a cool Dee Kilroy piece. I couldn't find the exact reference, but the artist had expressed an interest in seeing what the New 52 Martian Manhunter design would look like with the Bronze/Chromium Age high folded collar. This version is really high-- almost the "vampire" collar of Howard Porter JLA. I have a longing for the "detective" collar that is surely at least partially fueled by my introduction to the character in the Super Powers Collection from 1985 (remind me to fix those pics sometime), but I'm not sure if it mixes with the Jim Lee aesthetic. Still, fun to see it manifested, and I dig the extra alienness in the piece.

• YouTube
• Facebook

Nubia: Coronation Special #1 (July, 2022)

Years ago, in Denver, CO, the Amazon Nu'Bia was arrested by local authorities. Nu'Bia was the guard over Doom's Doorway, under the island paradise of Themyscira, through which Tartarus can be reached. I suppose she vacationed on occasion, while fully armored, and might have cause to break the arm of an attempted rapist* if one crossed her path. The cops were, well, cops, so they cuffed her instead of the creep and talked about putting her in her place (for women? Blacks? Resistors? Check all that apply.) It didn't help that the actual perpetrator was the deputy mayor's son.

Nu'Bia was taken to an interrogation room, where she was more cordially greeted by a plainclothes African-American detective. He explained that this was a he said /she said situation, presumably because the woman with her child who the assailed man had attempted to "take" had left the scene before police arrived, so the deputy mayor's son now claimed he'd turned down the woman's solicitation, and was beaten and robbed for his virtue. Nu'Bia was increasingly incensed-- by the assault, the disrespect, the lies. The detective repeatedly told her to calm down, eventually explaining "I know your sister, Diana. We work together sometimes." J'Onn let a bit of his green skin show, but it was the black skin he was otherwise wearing that he referenced when he continued, "... you and I have more in common here in man's world than the two of you. The color of our skin-- yours, my chosen form, and even the woman who was the real victim here? It has us viewed as not just less than others, but actively seen as dangerous. It makes us targets and scapegoats." Despite his own expressed contempt for the badged bigots that had brought Nu'Bia in, J'Onn acknowledged that even outranking them, he was still at least partially beholden to the white supremacist structures they upheld. The Martian observed that while African-Americans are no longer technically property, "they are still seen as objects. And if we are not acting as grateful mules, we are a liability to their way of life.

Nu'Bia rejected any accommodations for white frailty, and wondered if the people in this place were worth saving. J'Onn explained that he believed in being subtle in his aid to the oppressed of this land, but the Amazon questioned if that was just complacency. Essentially, his experiences with the race war on Mars meant that he was unwilling to use his powers to create an autocracy, so gently, quietly nudging humanity toward justice was the best option as he saw it. For instance, using his powers to essentially erase Nu'Bia's involvement in the assault, from both the physical and mental record, then removing the handcuffs she herself didn't break loose out of respect. J'Onn gave Nu'Bia a card that would provide her with help if it was needed again. "Just because they aren't ready yet, it doesn't mean you're not needed. You just need to be more careful, for your own sake.

This story segment was written by Stephanie Williams & Vita Ayala, with art by Darryl Banks. I was reading the event Trial of the Amazons for a podcast, not enjoying it, and this was part of a two book coda. I was kind of checked out, so I thought it was cute that the artist was using David Harewood as reference for this cop, and missed the "Denver" part entirely. D'oh! We're probably past the point of needing coded Blackness from a Martian, but as a fan, I do appreciate noted police officer John Jones expressing views that better align with my own than, say, David Clarke. Sorry for the lapse in posts, but I had a medical thing, then a crush of podcasting and life stuff.

* Apparently, just using this word will put the post in some sort of Google jail. I'm not changing $#!+. Euphemisms protect the guilty, not the innocent. Say it plain to speak the truth.