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Post by Action Ace on Mar 10, 2015 20:57:29 GMT -5
Basically, it's Moore and company trying to make comics that look and feel like silver age Marvel--and doing a pretty good job of it. Especially the "Bullpen Bulletins". Those were spot-on and hilarious. Excalibur! |
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 15, 2015 22:36:26 GMT -5
 AVENGERS #131 On Sale October 17, 1974 Written by Steve Englehart Penciled by Sal Buscema Inked by Joe Staton Edited by Roy Thomas Cover by Gil Kane ROLL CALL: Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Hawkeye and Mantis SPECIAL GUEST STAR: Steve Rogers and now..." A Quiet Half Hour in Saigon!" The scene opens in Saigon as Mantis takes down a mugger. As she does so, she conveniently introduces herself and gives some background. The team gathers together and are hailed from a nearby rooftop by Nomad. This is the former Captain America who gave up the role earlier that year. He's finishing up his first case in the Pacific and is awaiting word on a couple of members of the Serpent Squad. Until then, he'll hang out with his old friends. Hawkeye then thinks about how much the Avengers have changed since he was last on the team and wonders what the future holds for a "behind the times bowslinger." We pause for a moment while I get some white out to get rid of that stupid nose thing on Iron Man's mask. Meanwhile, in some sort of time vortex, Kang is continuing the neverending battle against Rama-Tut. Suddenly, they are pulled from the vortex into the palace of Immortus. In the process, Rama Tut is rendered unconscious. Kang isn't impressed and demands to know who he is. Immortus claims to be the master of time and the realm of limbo. Immortus is surprised that Kang doesn't seem very grateful for his rescue, but Kang is sure he could have gotten out of trouble by himself. Immortus thinks Kang is a kindred spirit (to say the least) and imprisons Rama-Tut. Kang goes on a rant against his fallen foe and shouts he has only one goal, CONQUEST! The Avengers are still chatting with the former Captain America in Saigon. They tell him of recent events in North Vietnam where the Swordsman was killed. Hawkeye checks in with Jarvis on his iPhone to see if Captain Marvel has responded with some information on the Kree. He hasn't replied, probably because he's busy with his radio shoe on WHIZ. Hawkeye asks Jarvis to bother Scarlet Witch, but Agatha Harkness is in town for a visit and has left orders they aren't to be disturbed during their binge watching of Absolutely Fabulous. Across the street, Mantis has a brief conversation with the Vision about their attempt at romance a few days ago. Nomad tells Iron Man and Thor that he'll be ready to return to the Avengers just as soon as he finishes off the Serpent Squad. As Mantis looks on at the group, she gets the feeling they're being watched. It turns out a mysterious hooded figure is watching them from a nearby rooftop. It might be Ragman. Back in Limbo, Immortus reveals that he wants to attack the Avengers. Kang sarcastically repeats the idea twice, but goes for the idea. Rama Tut has woken up to tell Kang he will fail again. Kang tells his future self to shut up or he'll kill him. Kang knows Immortus' abilities and formulates a plan. Immortus has the ability to pluck any man from any era and force him to do his bidding. Kang is aware of Immortus' first attack on the Avengers when he used ordinary men like Paul Bunyan and Attila the Hun. Kang will use his machine to summon the unliving! From 1898 he summons the Frankenstein Monster! From 1964 he summons Wonder Man! From 1954 he summons the Original Human Torch! From 1973 he summons the recently killed Midnight! From 1969 he summons the Ghost! and then Baron Zemo to fill out the Legion of the Unliving! Using normal men, he would have summoned the starting lineup of the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers. Back in Saigon, The Vision tries to start an awkward conversation with Iron Man about his feelings for Mantis. He thinks Iron Man may have picked up a few pointers from his playboy employer, Tony Stark. Uhhhh. Iron Man doesn't want to get involved and is grateful when the Vision says he won't bring it up again. Nearby, Mantis thinks she sees the Swordsman, but the image disappears. In limbo, Immortus and Kang are getting into a tiff involving strategy. Kang wants to take his crew to 1974, but Immortus wants to bring the Avengers to his time tunnels below his castle. Immortus is fed up with Kang making all the decisions and Kang refuses to be a mere warlord for Immortus. Kang hits a button and imprisons Immortus in the same kind of tube Rama-Tut is in. Rama-Tut asks Immortus why the fool trusted Kang. The psychiatrist bill for all of this is going to be off the charts. Back in Saigon, our quiet half hour is almost up. Jarvis contacts the team to tell Nomad the Serpent Squad has been reported in Los Angeles and he takes off. Nomad won't be back, but Captain America will rejoin the team in ten issues. Hawkeye asks the rest of them what they're going to do now when they are whisked away to Immortus' castle in Limbo. Each of them is alone as they hear Kang's voice boom overhead. He announces they will die at the hands of his relentless terrors and sends them into the castle. To Be Continued! STORY: B- Padded out Bendis filler that's written for the trade collection. All right, that's not true at all. Englehart explains at the beginning and end of the issue about the Avengers even need a moment to relax...and yet...and yet. It's all a purposeful set up for the big action coming up. However, if I was a kid buying this, I would have hated this issue that ends before the action starts. Especially since the Avengers was always sold out and you couldn't get two issues in a row. ART: B- I always thought Sal Buscema was pretty solid. COVER: B Look out Avengers! I always liked the Vision figure up in the corner. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C A transition issue in the Celestial Madonna Saga where Kang gets to know himself even better. up next...back to the Showcases (I bet we get a done in one there!) |
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 21, 2015 0:37:40 GMT -5
 ATOM #31 On Sale April 4, 1967 Written by Gardner Fox Penciled by Gil Kane Inked by Sid Greene Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Gil Kane and now..."Good Man, Bad Man--Turnabout Thief" Ray Palmer is working in a sonic lab. He is trying to come up with a way to lessen the noise made by jet planes. The device he's working on, the baffler, stops any noise in the room. Dr. Palmer sees a light blink on a wall. It's an intruder alert! Three masked men enter the building, probably looking for the gold Dr. Palmer is using in his lab. He quickly changes into the Atom and takes out the first two men as they enter the lab. The third one strikes at him with his gun and hits the baffler. This produces a huge explosion of sound that knocks out the crook and an unfortunate cleaning lady just outside in the hall named Mrs. Burns. Ray Palmer accompanies her to the hospital. The doctor decides to treat her with a photonoscope to repair her nerve damage. After the procedure she calls out for "Johnny." Dr. Palmer explains that in speaking with her the last few weeks he knows that she has a son named Johnny that walked out on her some time ago. She continues to call for him and calls him a good boy. Dr. Palmer finds her photo of her son and the doctor thinks that seeing Johnny again would be good for her recovery. Meanwhile, our guest stars ,Hawkman and Hawkgirl, have tracked down a gang in a barn. They smash into it and start taking down the criminals. One gets the drop on Hawkman and is about to shoot him when the leader of the gang shouts out a warning and hits the gun. Hawkman takes him down and thanks the gang leader. He explains that he suddenly no longer felt like being a crook any more. He vows to turn over a new leaf as he's led away by the police. The Hawks get ready to visit Ivy Town, but fail to see a shadowy figure lurking in the shadows. The next day Ray, Katar, Jean Loring and Shiera are enjoying a day at the beach. Ray shows Katar a picture of Johnny Burns and he immediately recognizes him as the man from the barn, the one that changed his mind about being a criminal! Hawkman retrieves Johnny and flies him to the hospital where Ray and Mrs. Burns are waiting. He vows to be a good person from now on, but Hawkman wonders what made him change his mind so suddenly. Hawkman gets an alert from Hawkgirl. She and Jean are out shopping and have run into trouble. Hawkman returns Johnny to police custody and the heroes make their way to the department store. Inside, Shiera can't change into her Hawkgirl outfit, but is protecting Jean and other customers from a pack of attacking toys. They are under the command of Toyboy and he tries to make off with the jewelry department. Atom and Hawkman arrive and fight off various toys. Toyboy is surrounded by some strange shield that blocks our heroes from apprehending him. The Atom hops aboard a toy jet and aims it at Toyboy. The plane gets through the barrier and knocks out Toyboy and the Atom. Jean smooches the Atom awake and the heroes discover that Toyboy is Johnny Burns! Hawkman flies with Johnny in his arms and Atom on his shoulder to the jail. There must be two of them, because one was with them when they got the alert from Shiera. Hawkman comes up with the theory that somehow the evil was driven out of Johnny Burns' body and that evil energy took human form as Toyboy. Hawkman intends to have the two Johnnys meet, but Toyboy wakes up and in a rage bursts free. He is afraid to meet the other Johnny because it could cost him his life. Toyboy has now absorbed the energy barrier and he grows in size and develops superhuman strength. He tosses a car at our heroes and laughs when they strike back at him. Our heroes come up with an idea and Hawkman puts the Atom in a slingshot and fires him at Toyboy. Atom strikes him in the center of the forehead, where there is a bruise from his earlier defeat, and knocks him out. Later, the two Johnnys meet and the good one fades away. However, the other one has an internal struggle and the good nature wins out. He tells the heroes that he felt a strange force enter his body and drained the goodness out of it. Somehow his mother had created a good energy version of her son. Atom takes Hawkman to the photonoscope and explains that it must have given Mrs. Burns the power to make a good son. Atom also believes that the energy transfer gave Toyboy his power. After he serves his time, Johnny is reunited with his mom and thanks Dr. Palmer for his help. The End! STORY: B- A very Silver Age DC story, it's got all sorts of questionable science. I did like the split Johnny Burns and the Hawks dropping by. ART: B I like Gil Kane's pencils, but I've never warmed to Sid Greene's inking of him. COVER: A- Murphy Anderson with the inking, now THAT'S more like it. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C Hawkman would join the Atom in his title eight issues later. A sidekick of Toyman named Toyboy would show up in the first issue of Super Friends. The Photonscope would return two years later in the last episode of Star Trek. up next...a DC Archive selection...let's hope for a Golden Age story |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 21, 2015 8:42:02 GMT -5
Hawkman and the Atom are my favorites of siver age DC so far in my reading of them... and that's a great teamup cover! So much to read...
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Post by MDG on Mar 21, 2015 10:05:17 GMT -5
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who likes Sid Greene's inks. I actually prefer him to Anderson on Kane, Infantino, Sekowsky.
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 21, 2015 13:27:33 GMT -5
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who likes Sid Greene's inks. I actually prefer him to Anderson on Kane, Infantino, Sekowsky. I prefer no one to Murphy Anderson when it comes to inking. I do like Greene on Sekowsky. |
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dale
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Post by dale on Mar 21, 2015 18:17:12 GMT -5
I don't DISlike Sid Greene's inking of Kane, Infantino or Sekosky, but he would always be my last choice of inker. I can remember buying the latest Flash or Green lantern and feeling disappointed upon discovering that Greene was the inker. I think his style best suited Gil Kane, of these three pencillers, but I'd still rather have Kane/Anderson or Kane/Giella or Kane/Kane.
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 22, 2015 0:56:33 GMT -5
Since this thread was promoted on the home page with a dancing Iron Man image, I decided to do an Iron Man review instead. I bought exactly four Iron Man comics as a kid #92, 96, 98 and Annual #4 with the Champions and MODOK. The next time I bought an Iron Man comic, Kurt Busiek was writing it.  So, from Essential Iron Man Volume #4 ....  IRON MAN #48 On Sale April 4, 1972 Written by Mike Friedrich Penciled by George Tuska Inked by Vince Colletta Edited by Stan Lee Cover by Gil Kane and now..."THE FURY AND THE INFERNO!" Iron Man arrives at the World Headquarters of Stark Industries in a bad mood. He flies into Tony Stark's office and changes back into his secret identity. He's called a meeting of the Board of Directors for midnight. He barges past his fiancee, Marianne, who doesn't need to use her ESP powers to know he's angry. He bursts into the board room and demands that the Chairman, Simon Gilbert, be fired. Gilbert makes a motion that Stark turn over control to the Board of Trustees due to the recent events at a Long Island facility. The plant was under siege by protesters and the plant was being defended by the Guardsman. Iron Man got caught in the crossfire and the Guardsman perished. This will make things look bad for Stark Industries. Tony's had enough and calls on a motion to make him Chairman of the Board again. Since he owns the majority of stock, the motion carries and he's running the company again. The rest of the board will have a meeting in the morning where they will all be fired by a young executive named Donald Trump. A couple of days later, Simon Gilbert is trying to contact a super criminal to destroy a Stark plant. He meets up with Firebrand. He scoffs at the weak money monger and recounts his origin of being an abused child. He later developed into a scientific genius and, when he found he could not change the world by peaceful protest, he decided to give himself super powers and bring about change by force. He also recounts his earlier defeat to that "Uncle Tom superhero Iron Man." Then he goes off in a rant about hating America and money and that he's the revolution..destroying foundations..blah blah blah. Gilbert offers him cash and a security pass to help him out, but Firebrand slaps them away. He's going to take out that Stark munitions plant for the revolution man. The next evening, Tony Stark and Marianne are at a party. Marianne notes that Tony has had two drinks more than he ever has at a party. So that would be what? Twelve? Stark Industries stock is down and some of the other party goers make some rude comments about him. Marianne gets him out before he slugs somebody and they go out for a drive. On the road, Tony is driving much too fast. They pass a cop car and Tony gets pulled over. The officer lets Tony off with a warning since the speed limit wasn't posted. Not seen is Tony handing him a hundred dollar bill to not notice the smell of five Tom Collins on his breath. They drive up to a ridge and Marianne notes that the Guardian's death is still bothering Tony. Suddenly, the Iron Phone in the car goes off and someone tells Tony to send Iron Man or he's going to lose a munitions plant. One quick change later and he's off to Bay City. Firebrand is in the plant destroying guns and using fire to fight fire to tear down the "fortress of repression." "Establishment stooge" arrives to stop him and they blast each other. Firebrand claims he's got "history on his side." Iron Man says there's a better way than war, riot and rebellion. Unfortunately, Iron Man's repulsor rays decide now would be a good time to quit working. Firebrand tells him "Sesame Street" is over and blasts him through the floor. Iron Man fixes the fuses in his repulsor rays while he has a moment and the battle continues. Meanwhile, Simon Gilbert has arrived and sets a bomb to blow up the place and ruin Tony Stark. Unfortunately, he crashes through the floor and lands near the fight. Firebrand decides he needs to save "Pops", but Iron Man sees the bomb about ready to go off. He grabs Firebrand and flies them out of the building just as it explodes. They land nearby and Firebrand decides he's going to avenge "Pops." Iron Man has no idea why he's upset by Gilbert's death. He makes his way over to Firebrand as he's hit with the full force of his heat powers. It's melting his armor like "candle wax" and crisping the man inside like "bacon." He does manage to walk over to him and a few punches ends the fight. As he's being led away, Firebrand tells Iron Man that Gilbert was his father and he'll be back to get his revenge. Oh goody. Iron Man gets all angsty and walks away. The End! STORY: D+ So much mighty Marvel angsty gray area! Firebrand was just awful, but a bonus point for the Sesame Street reference. I never liked Tony Stark until he was portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. This was also the month of Friedrich's last issue of Justice League of America, which is why I started my review thread with issue #100. ART: B- I can handle George Tuska on Iron Man. I have never liked him on anything else. COVER: C+ Kane's art is fine, I just don't like the let's put the cover in this box thing they were doing at the time. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C- Noooooooooooo!!!! Why didn't I get to review #47? I read it anyway, thumbs up. up next... into the DC Archives... or ,more accurately, the FAWCETT ARCHIVES! |
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 22, 2015 23:07:27 GMT -5
I read the entire Captain Marvel Family Archive, because I couldn't read just one. The issue picked for review was this one...  MASTER COMICS #26 On Sale April 3, 1942 Written by Unknown, comics.org credits Otto Binder Art by Mac Raboy Cover by Mac Raboy and now... "THE RETURN OF MR. MACABRE!" Freddy Freeman is out selling newspapers when he's called over to the gate of a wealthy estate. A boy on the other side, Johnny Paine, is bored with his life of luxury. After talking with Freddy about each others lives, they agree to switch places. Johnny leaves to sell newspapers while Freddy wanders about the estate. Three sinister figures watch him from the trees, among them the evil Mr. Macabre. They grab the boy they think is Johnny Paine, but he shouts "CAPTAIN MARVEL!" Suddenly, he's not crippled anymore, though he is still in Johnny Paine's clothes. Mr. Macabre still recognizes him as Captain Marvel Jr. Junior wipes out the gang as Mr. Macabre ducks into a nearby basement. Captain Marvel Jr. wanders off to look for the crook as the villain recalls the end of his last encounter with our hero. After a change back into Freddy, he tells a passing cop about the attempted kidnapping and where to get the crooks. Johnny's father happens along at the same time and wonders what happened to his son. Freddy explains the switch and tells him that Captain Marvel saved him from the crooks and they were probably after ransom money from Mr. Paine. Mr. Paine reveals he ransom would be more than money. In the house, he reveals to Freddy that the ransom they wanted was probably the plans for a rocket bomber Mr. Paine has invented. It turns out the basement Mr. Macabre ducked into was the basement of this same house, so he overhears everything. Mr. Paine is on his way to the airport to make his way to England. Mr. Paine tells this boy he's never met (yet still revealed top secret plans) to watch out for his son until he returns. As he sees Mr. Paine drive off Mr. Macabre decides he needs to contact "a certain party" who will stop Mr. Paine and Captain Marvel Jr. He sneaks into the house and uses the phone to call that certain party. A pilot makes his way toward the plane, when he's knocked out by a replacement. Mr. Paine gets in the plane and they fly out to sea. Mr. Macabre comes across Johnny Paine selling papers and takes him hostage just in case Plan A doesn't work. Freddy was also out looking for Johnny and sees these events. He changes into Captain Marvel Jr. and catches Mr. Macabre. He slaps him around a few times and dumps the villain in a garbage can. Mr. Macabre squeals about his ally and the capture of Mr. Paine and Captain Marvel Jr. sets off in hot pursuit. The plane lands in the ocean much to surprise of Mr. Paine. The pilot then reveals himself and it's none other than Captain Nazi! He takes Mr. Paine aboard a nearby German ship and they set off for home base. Captain Marvel Jr., helped by a large and very bright moon and its light, finds the ship and starts taking out members of the crew. A warning shot is fired and a cigarette smoking Captain Nazi (you sir are worse than Hitler!) sends his flunkies after the intruder. Junior gets Mr. Paine out of his cell and tells him to get back to the plane. Junior and Captain Nazi come to blows and Junior gets the best of it. He then flings the plane into the air, but the Nazis start firing shells at it. As the plane flies off, Junior catches one of the shells and tosses hit back at the ship. It hits the boilers and there is a giant explosion as the ship is blasted to bits. Captain Nazi seemingly dies in the heart of the explosion. Johnny Paine and Freddy Freeman change back into their regular identities and Freddy writes in his diary that America is safe for the time being. The End! STORY: B Wow, you just got to love that frenetic Golden Age pace. These 14 pages would get stretched out into at least 3 issues these days. When people are spilling secrets though, time and pages are saved. ART: A The action pages are awesome and Raboy's faces are incredible. It's amazing how well he draws FDR, Churchill and Hitler in other issues of this archive. He's welcome to reuse as many panels as he wants. If only he got to work at the pace for artists in this day and age. COVER: A- The first anti Japanese cover was last issue and they must have been thought to be bigger sellers than the Nazis one month later. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C Mr. Macabre would appear a couple of times later. Captain Nazi returns next issue picking up with the end of events in this very story. up next...more Pre-Crisis Superman |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2015 0:41:04 GMT -5
MASTER COMICS #26, was considered one of my favorite Captain Marvel Jr. Story, the Story was packed, the art was incredible, and the cover was done just short but gloriously captivating. It was Mac Raboy best work ever.
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Post by Farrar on Mar 24, 2015 15:31:30 GMT -5
Don't know why it took me so long to discover this thread but thanks to the front page, I am here and am loving this! Great reviews/analyses, Action Ace...plus enriching commentary by everyone.
Just to add my 2 cents to the recent Sid Greene discussion: I was never a fan of his work, largely because of how he handled lights/shadows on black/dark gray portions of costumes. For me he always made it look like Batgirl's or Green Lantern's black tights or sleeves were unravelling. Okay, I'll concede it may have been, er, suitable for the infamous "Batgirl's Costumed Cut-Ups", LOL--but for the most part Greene's work irritated me. I think I always felt itchy just looking at it.
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Post by hondobrode on Mar 24, 2015 16:26:47 GMT -5
I've been a little out of touch lately, but am glad I found this thread.
Good stuff Action Ace !
As for Grant Morrison : loved his JLA, and Howard Porter's art grew on me. I don't think he gets a fair rap.
Morrison & Quitely on X-Men was easily the best that concept had been in 20 years.
Arkham Asylum - Too pretentious. Good idea poorly executed by a team I'd expected much better things from.
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 24, 2015 20:01:24 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone that's reading this thread.
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Post by Action Ace on Apr 4, 2015 23:00:11 GMT -5
and we're back...  ACTION COMICS #354 On sale July 27, 1967 Edited by Mort Weisinger Cover by Curt Swan our first story is "CAPTAIN INCREDIBLE" Writer: Cary Bates (age 19!) Artist: Al Plastino It's a normal morning in Metropolis as Superman encounters a large six tentacled alien attempting to rob a jewelry store for diamonds. Superman tries to stop him, but the alien is even stronger. Suddenly, a scrawny little man by the name of Captain Incredible flies in and knocks the alien over. The alien decides to leave the planet. If a little human has that much power,he doesn't want to stick around to see what a big one would do. Superman treis to find out who Captain Incredible is and how he got his powers but he flies off at a speed even Superman can't match. The next day, at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent gets a tip that the recently escaped Luthor is hiding out in the Southside section of Metropolis. Superman finds the lead lined house and smashes through the ceiling. Luthor hits him with a strange ray that turns Superman into a living kryptonite magnet. Superman is about to die when "Mighty Mouse's kid brother" bursts through the front door. Captain Incredible vaporizes the kryptonite with his atomic breath and nabs Luthor and his gang with his paralysis vision. In the days ahead Captain Incredible stops crime and emergencies and Perry White runs a story by Clark Kent on how Superman may be washed up. Later, Superman encounters Captain Incredible and he reveals his one last mission, killing Superman! Captain Incredible overpowers Superman, who runs flies around a corner to escape. Superman escapes by flying through time. He noticed the material on Captain Incredible's costume was invented in 2600, so he visits the inventor. It turns out the inventor, Dr. Dane Gnorr, invented the material and Captain Incredible. He created a robot and sent it back in time to assist Superman. He couldn't tell it was a robot due to the advanced "skin" of the era. Dr. Gnorr learns that the robot tried to kill Superman and investigates. It turns out there is one flaw, the robot's programming reverses as it time travels. Superman flies back to his own time and challenges Captain Incredible to a fight. After a bit of back and forth Superman flies through time again and Captain Incredible follows. Once they are back in 2600, Captain Incredible returns to being helpful. He can't go back to Superman's time or he'll go evil again, so Captain Incredible figures he's going to be sent to the scrap heap. Dr. Gnorr changes his programming slightly so Captain Incredible can become the hero of the year 2600. Superman flies back to his home era. The End! STORY: B+ I liked this one, especially the ending where Captain Incredible gets to keep fighting crime in the future. The new powers were also interesting. ART: B- I like Plastino's art on pretty much everything but Superman himself. COVER: A Another Swan/ Klein gem HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C Grant Morrison needs to bring Captain Incredible back somehow. and now... Major Matt Mason: Mattel's Man in Space! never mind... the second story is Supergirl in "THE BRAIN-STEALERS" Writer: Leo Dorfman Artist: Jim Mooney A ship from Zorkia lands on its homeworld from its long "star-trek." The beings are brains in giant mobile rolling jars. They make their way to the palace while androids unload their cargo. They go to the throne room and bring their leader, Cerebron, to their cargo, Supergirl. Like all living brains with no bodies, they are trying to gather all the knowledge in the universe to conquer it. They can control Supergirl with kryptonite and try to stuff all their knowledge into her brain. They figure it will always be safe with her super memory. One last bit of knowledge they tell her is their history. They were once normal looking humanoids that conquered the rest of the species on the planet. The last to fall were the sea people, but they used a bio weapon that created a plague mist that wiped out the conquerors. They used androids to take the brains out of their bodies and place them into giant mobile jars until a cure could be found. They then ask Supergirl to use the stored knowledge to come up with a way to neutralize the plague. Supergirl knows how to do it, but since they would just start conquering again, she refuses to give it to them. Instead of killing Supergirl, the Zorkians try plan B. They introduce her to Cerebron's wife, Queen Neolla, who is still in her original body in suspended animation. He asks Supergirl to immunize just her, but Supergirl says no again. Moving on to Plan C. The Zorkians ask Supergirl to perform some tasks for them before she leaves. Cerebron asks her to create a monument to his queen. Then he asks her to measure the speed and power of the lighting that comes out of the planet's volcanoes. (awesome) Her next task is to reignite the planet's sun back to its full energy. As she is using her heat vision a flock of giant birds gets near the beams. Cerebron tells her to ignore the "inferior creatures," but she is sworn to protect all living things. She uses her super breath to push them out of the way of the beam. The entire time she's been using her powers in these tasks, the Zorkians have been using the energy to power machines to revive Queen Neolla. The powered machines get her out of suspended animation and she breaks free and flies off like Supergirl. Cerebron takes Supergirl back to the palace and traps her with kryptonite again. His plan is for the arriving Queen Noella to transfer all of Supergirl's knowledge to her, since she now has all of Supergirl's powers. Then they will kill the Maid of Might, neutralize the plague mist and conquer the universe! HOWEVER, Queen Neolla now feels it is wrong to kill, conquer and destroy. She smashes the memory transfer machine and the kryptonite trap. Cerebron is horrified and wonders why Queen Neolla is acting like this. Supergirl explains that, when the Queen absorbed her powers, she must of absorbed her moral code as well. Queen Noella vows to protect the weak and tells Supergirl she is free to leave. Supergirl wonders if she should divulge the cure for the plague, but the Queen insists she will figure it out when her people are no longer warlike and deserve the cure. The End! STORY: B+ Another really good story. In our first story it was brains that saved the day and here it is Supergirl's moral code. ART: B+ Jim Mooney is one of my favorite Supergirl artists. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C I wonder if the Zorkians ever did learn their lesson. Are they still trapped in those jars? up next...more Superman Family! |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 5, 2015 0:43:44 GMT -5
I'm guessing that the cover story was a nod to the two "camp" TV shows that premiered in January, 1967: Captain Nice and Mister Terrific. however, but the time this issue of Action hit the stands, both shows were just about done.
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So, from Essential Iron Man Volume #4 ....
