Perfect for Halloween,

Issue 7, The Creeper!



On thing is for certain, that is one bright, colorful cover!

Our story is from writer Michael Fleischer, who scripted brilliant and demented tales, in the Wrath of the Spectre stories, in Adventure Comics. Here's a guy who can do something with the Creeper, right? Well.................

Ditko is here and Mike Royer is inking him. It's Ditko; but there is just something not quite right with the art. Its got more of a polish than Ditko usually had, which takes some of the edge off of his linework. Mike Royer was great on Kirby; but, I don't think he melds as well, with Ditko. It serves to take the creepiness, for want of a better word, from the Creeper. Of course, with a villain in what looks like a lucha libre rejected costume, you are hard put to make anything moody, in this story.

Jack Ryder, the biggest as@#(Ahem!), jerk on tv is at a Gotham prison, filming a documentary. We see Scarecrow and Two-Face (on loan from Arkham, awaiting a sanity hearing) and then some schlub with a hook nose. We are told that it is the Firefly, a minor villain taken down by Batman. Everyone assumes he was a firebug; but, it turns out he was stealing a page from both Dr Light and the Mirror Master, using light as a weapon and to create illusions. Not exactly the first string of Batman's Rogues' Gallery. It turns out he got himself dumped in solitary to take advantage of the strong moonlight, with which he is able to burn through his bars, using a laser he cobbled together out of lights and lenses, from the prison play materials. What were they performing, Pink Floyd's "The Wall?" he gets out of the prison, but is still stuck on the island (this is Gotham's Alcatraz) and Jack Ryder, hearing the alarms, finds some privacy and activates his, um, activator. He turns into Ditko's nuttiest costume creation, the Creeper (the guy's wearing a shag rug, for Kirby's sake!).

The Creeper falls to Firefly's laser and is found by guards, who assume he was an accomplice. Creeper is forced to fight his way out and turn back into Jack Ryder. Firefly gets off the island and returns to a derelict lighthouse, where his gear is stored; because, why not? he puts on hi costume and heads off to recruit some henchmen.

Now, let's look at the costume. here's the Firefly trying to recruit some muscle:



Even in the world of supervillain henchery (henchmenry?), this guy is a laughingstock. Like I said, it looks like something rejected by a third rate, boondock lucha libre promotion. Actually, you know who it really reminds me of?



That's tight, Marvin, of the Junior Super Friends! I'l bett Firefly has the same whiney Frank Welker voice, too! It's a rule that henchmen get even dumber costumes than the villains, so imagine what his gang will be wearing.

So, the thugs take some convincing and a few light tricks do the, er....trick. Meanwhile, Jack Ryder's boss wants him to do a piece calling the Creeper the accomplice of Firefly and offer a reward. Gee, that sounds familiar; a media baron tarring and feathering a hero via his media outlet.......hmmmmm.....for some reason, I have an image of a flat top and a hitler mustache. Anyway, Ryder has no spine (so Ditko didn't write this) and does as told. We next get a report of a high rise fire, and when Jack and his tv crew get there, something seems odd. he switches into the Creeper gear and climbs the building, moving closer to flame and smoke; but, never feeling heat. Shades of Mysterio; it's an illusion! The Creeper battles the crooks (and the henchmen apparently refused costumes); but, gets knocked over the side of the building and crashes to the ground. Miraculously, he isn't a Creeper-pancake and awakes in a detention ward at the hospital. he escapes, thanks to his restorative powers and hunts for the crooks. he tracks them to the lighthouse and more fisticuffs ensue.



Firefly attempts to escape; but, the creeper blocks his way. he tries the laser trick; but, the Creeper blocks it with thick glass, reflecting back the beam. That's right, glass, not a mirror; but, transparent glass! Firefly is knocked off the lighthouse, to the water below. the Creeper laughs and we are told to write if we want more.

I will preface this with the fact that I have never been much of a Creeper fan. I've read odds and ends and Ditko never made the character or Jack Ryder particularly likable; and, he seemed a poor man's Joker, on the side of angels. Which brings up an ironic point: just a month before, the Creeper appeared in an awesome 3rd issue of The Joker (yes, the Clown Prince of Crime had his own book, for 9 issues).



That issue featured story from Denny O'Neil and art from Ernie Chan and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (PBHN). It is fantastic and was reprinted in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told. That makes me want to read a Creeper story. This? Well, it's okay; but nothing spectacular. The cover and the villain don't help the case for the character. Especially when you see what it had to compete with, in October of 1975:

www.dcindexes.com/features/newsstand.php?type=cover&month=10&year=1975&publisher=null&sort=null&checklist=null

This just didn't have a chance. Also, this is pretty tame stuff, from Fleischer. Perhaps Ditko refused to let him do the kind of thing he did with the Spectre. Ditko hated shades of grey, though he was down for some poetic retribution. Maybe DC didn't want to go there. Whatever the reason, this is really tame stuff, for a character called The Creeper. Around this time, Ditko had done The Destructor, for Atlas, ad it was a much better read. This isn't as nasty as Mr A, or as fun and lively as the Blue Beetle, or a classic, like Dr Strange or Spider-Man. It's more like a lot of Ditko's work in the 80s; okay. Just, okay. Like Kirby, you expect more "oomph." It's not so-bad-its-good, like Green Team or Dingbats, or just plain packed to the gills with plot and PSAs, like Lady Cop, or filled with great concepts, like Atlas or Manhunter. It's just an average superhero story.

Ditko would follow on with some Creeper back-ups, in Adventure Comics and those were a bit better. The Creeper would bounce in and out; but, he was never more than a minor cult character. The gang on BTAS (or New Adventures of Batman & Robin, if you prefer) used him well, for one story. He turns up on Batman The Brave and the Bold, as well.

Ditko plotted this story and drew the pages before Fleisher was brought in to add dialogue. Any issues you have with it can be laid at Steverino's feet.

This issue is also famous for a particular detail on the cover: there's a dog pissing on a fire hydrant just to the left of Creeper's right foot! A few years ago, Rob Allen and I asked Mike Royer about this. He insisted that dog was not in Ditko's pencils and he didn't add it. It was apparently done by someone in the DC art department as a prank. Management was, one presumes, not happy.

Cei-U!
I summon the real "Whiz Comics!"

I reviewed the Joker series recently:

link

Here we go gang, time for epic!



Issue 8, Warlord!

Hoooooyeah!

I am an unabashed fan of Warlord and Mike Grell. My first memories of Mike Grell's work are back-up stories in Action Comics and Green Lantern stories in Flash. Then, it was Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. I came a little late to Warlord, around issue 10; but, what an awesome issue it was and what a great series. I was already primed for it, after reading a couple of Turok stories, at Gold Key. Who doesn't like dinosaurs and adventure heroes? It was a long time before I found this issue. The first comic shop I entered, in college (1984), had almost the entire run of 1st Issue Special; except, of course, for Warlord. It took a year to track that one down (decent price, too!). Warlord reprinted the story from issue one, which recapped this; but, not the issue itself (until the trade collection and the Showcase Presents). Finally, I got to see it, in all of it's SR-71 flying, dinosaur fighting, Deimos scheming, goatee growing glory!

First, a bit of history. Warlord actually started life as a proposal for a newspaper adventure strip, called the Savage Empire. The premise was an archeologist who encounters a hidden world, inside the Earth. Obviously, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Pellucidar factor heavily in this. The strip was rejected and Grell put it in a drawer. then, along came Martin Goodman and Atlas/Seaboard. Atlas was offering higher page rates and creative ownership and creators were flocking to it; until the promises of ownership weren't honored and everyone saw what a mess the company was and bailed; usually within two issues. Grell made a deal with editor Jeff Rovin to bring Savage Empire there, provided it be kept quiet, until he had fulfilled assignments at DC. Rovin immediately crowed to DC, and either Julie Schwartz or Carmine Infantino came to him (can't recall which) and called him on the carpet about it. The conversation ended with DC greenlighting Warlord, as the retooled series became known. It is the first series launched by 1st Issue Special and the only one that had legs, lasting 133 issues and 6 annuals, plus a few mini-series and attempts at a revival.



Let's start with the cover. is that a humdinger or what? Grell knew how to capture a moment. Who doesn't want to open this and see inside? You got beefcake with a sword, cheesecake with a sword, and one nasty looking dino; I'm in. The first page gives us a similar picture, with a bit of variation, as we see Col. Travis Morgan, in a shredded flightsuit, fighting off a dinosaur, with Tara at its feet:




Our story opens with Col. Travis Morgan, USAF in the midst of a reconnaissance mission, over the USSR. The time is 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War. Grell gives us some cool shots of the ultimate in supersonic aircraft and even some ideas of aerial navigation. The Soviets detect his plane and launch a barrage of Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs). Shades of Francis Gary Powers!



Travis tries to zip his way out; but, a missile catches him and his plane is leaking fuel. he decides to higtail it over the North Pole to a base in Alaska. Problem is, compasses at the North Pole don't work properly. he tries to ride it out and raise a search and rescue team, on his radio. No good, no one is receiving. he hesitates to ditch in the Arctic, when he spots lands. believeing it to be the Yukon, he punches out and hits the silk. He comes down to find that the Yukon has turned into jungle terrain!



How's that for a set-up? Grell is borrowing a page from the James Bond films, giving is a mini-adventure prologue, before the main story. Pretty exciting stuff!

Grell's sense of humor is quickly displayed as Travis thinks, "If this is Canada, Joe Namath wears pantyhose!"



Travis heads off to explore, with his survival vest, a .38 cal revolver, 12 rounds of ammo, knife, compass, sleeping pills, pep pills, nylons, chocolate bars, $100 in rubals, $100 in cash.......shoot, a fellow could have a pretty good time in Vegas with all of that!

Travis hikes around a bit, thinking the place is like a Garden of Eden, until he hears a loud roar. Ignoring millions of years of survival instincts, he heads in the direction of the roar and finds a Deinonchys squaring off against a woman in a fur bikini and sword, and it ain't Raquel Welch! The woman is hit, losing her sword and her footing. Travis jumps to her aid, with survival knife and pistol. he empties the pistol, to no effect (a .38 is just going to anger a dino, unless you get lucky) and goes for the knife. In spectacular fashion, he sinks it in and tells the girl to run. She, instead, brushes past him and jams her longer sword into the belly of the beast, killing it. This is no damsel in distress!

The pair attempt to communicate, with the woman gesturing for them to leave and quickly, when a horde of armored men attack. Morgan reloads and fires his .38 at the men, taking out several, causing the men to think twice. They call a truce and gesture for the pair to follow and eventually lead them to a fantastic city.



There, they find a petty tyrant, and the true power, the scheming wizard Deimos. Deimos pulls out an orb to test this "god" and it starts to affect Travis' mind, giving him a headache, until he fires his last bullet and smashes the orb. The king is impressed and dispatches his harem to clean and bathe Morgan, while Tara watches, with disapproval. They are treated to a feast, then Morgan falls asleep. He awakes to find he has a long beard and wild hair!



He determines that time works differently here, while he uses a knife to shave and trim his hair and beard, into the familiar goatee we know and love, while also giving himself some nice 70s sideburns. Tara teaches him her language and then Travis gives her his theory about this world existing inside the crust of the Earth. She tells him he's nuts. A serving girl overhears and reports to Deimos, who rewards he by slipping her a mickey, which turns her into a cobra. What a bast@#$%! He sends assassins in the night, who find out that Travis Morgan is no fool and Tara is more than a pretty face. They fight their way out and head off into the jungle, as our story ends.



On the back page, we are told about the origin of the story (minus talk of Atlas/Seaboard) and get a fun self-caricature of Mike Grell. We are told that the first issue of Warlord will follow in two months, showing that this was conceived to go to series before this issue, breaking from the formula previously set.

What more is there to say? Grell launched a classic, with style. His art is dynamic and wild, capturing the flair of Burroughs, Hal Foster and other adventure greats. he has a wicked sense of humor which has always permeated his work. he's swiping liberally from Burroughs and would borrow many plot points and scenes for the first year or two of Warlord, until he became more confident in his writing abilities (the second issue swipes from Ben-Hur and Spartacus, while Morgan's iconic helmet was cribbed from The Vikings, with Kirk Douglas). Grell's art, which was good from the start, grew better and better. Each issue of the Warlord usually had a two-page spread that would have made a fantastic poster, if DC had any brains back then. As it was, they cancelled the series before sales figures came in and saw that it sold very well. It ended up being one of their best sellers of the 70s and their only successful attempt at sword & sorcery. Like Marvel, where there were Conan fans who only collected Conan, there were Warlord fans who only read Warlord.

Grell continued Warlord until the early 80s, before handing off first the art, then, eventually, the writing to others (including his then-wife Sharon), when he went off to do Starslayer, at Pacific (after first developing it for DC) and Jon Sable, at First Comics. His loss was keenly felt, though Jon Sable provided equally cool adventure and Starslayer was a visual feast (if a bit light on story). Grell would return to Travis by first bringing him to Seattle, where he meets up with Ollie Queen, in a fun Green Arrow story. he then revisited the character in his own world. Warlord was kept out of the DC Universe until around the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths, which never sat well with me. There was a rarely seen line of Warlord toys, from Remco:





Warlord and Skartaris would also turn up in the Justice League cartoon, with a pretty darn good episode. Why it hasn't been turned into a movie series, I don't know. Wake up Warner Bros.!

If you want more Warlord goodness, check out Warlord Worlds, the podcast from Darrin and Ruth Sutherland

warlordworlds.podbean.com/

It's also available on iTunes and Stitcher.

Darrin and Ruth celebrate the work of Mike Grell, covering issues of Warlord, Green Arrow, and Jon Sable, with great synopses and their thoughts. It's scripted, rather than done off the cuff; but, they put together great pieces and really capture the stories of the comics, while also giving you an idea of the art. They even have an interview with Mike Grell, who has become quite fond of them. If you like that, also try their older Trekker Talk, devoted to Ron Randall's Trekker, from Dark Horse, and Xenozoic Xenophiles, devoted to Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales (aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs). Both are great adventure series and Darrin and Ruth cover them wel. They are also two of the nicest people on the planet and have taken part in the Secret Origins Podcast and Film & Water Podcast, on the Fire & Water Network.

ps Here's a peak at Grell's original Savage Empire version:

twomorrows.com/media/BackIssue46Preview.pdf

and Grell's own website. Check out the video of him standing in front of Notre Dame, singing the song from the Disney Hunchback movie!

mikegrell.com/news/

Issue 9, Dr Fate!



Well, obviously Dr Fate was a cheap rip-off of Dr Strange. Nothing worth looking at here.

(BAM! KAPOW! SMACK! CRASH! BORT!)

Sorry, some snot-nosed punk of a youngster had taken over my review. He currently has his smart phone jammed into his Eye of Agamatto.

As we all know, Dr Fate debuted back in 1940, in the pages of More Fun Comics #55



Now, truth be told, I've never been much of a fan of magic characters. More often than not, their powers are vaguely defined and then tend to pull something out of their hat at the last minute, that hasn't been set up over the course of the story. Most of them got by on visual appeal: Dr Strange with people like Ditko, Colan, Bruning, and Rogers; Spectre with Baily, Aparo and Mandrake; and Zatanna with her legs. Dr Fate is my one real exception. It's the helmet. That thing is danged cool! It gives him an air of mystery that most of the others lack. Also, he was generally treated more as a superhero, which sat well with me. The other reason I like him, apart from the helmet and the snazzy costume, with it's great color scheme, is the Egyptian iconography. Shag, on the Fire and Water Podcast, posted the question as to whether the ankh motif began here, with Walt Simonson. I haven't done a ton of research; but, I don't recall coming across it before this. It certainly became the standard afterward.

Looking at that cover, we are left with a possible answer as to why this truly awesome story didn't lead to a series. I love Joe Kubert; he was the finest artist to draw war comics. His Tarzan was the best, in comics, in my opinion (Russ Manning is a very close second). Tor and Abraham Stone are outstanding pieces of work. His war comics covers of the Silver and early Bronze Age are magnificent. His superhero covers, not as much. It's a little bland, especially compared to Walt Simonson going to town inside. Compare to the splash page:



Now that would have been a fantastic cover, that screamed "BUY ME NOW! FALL ON THE FLOOR AND SCREAM UNTIL YOUR MOM GIVES IN! SELL YOUR SOUL FOR THIS COMIC!"

Sorry, Joe. I love you, I applied to your school, I stared in awe at the painting of Tarzan fighting a crocodile, in your school's library, during my interview; but, this cover just doesn't do the story justice.

Our story opens with that image of Dr Fate sliding across the sky in a pose similar to one I would use when I would slide across the wood floors of my childhood house, in socks, as a boy. Walt basically says, if you can fly, why would you just limit yourself to the Superman style? Okay, wind resistance; but, still, add some style to it! Anyway, Fate is in a rush, as the Orb of Nabu is in a tizzy and something big is up. We are reminded that Fate's window and doorless tower sits in Salem, Mass., a place of great infamy in our nation's past. He zips along to the Boston Museum of Egyptology, where an apparently emminent VIP, Dr McGill, is being shown the latest acquisitions. As he is being shown around, a sarcophagus opens, leading mcGill to think it is some kind of childish prank. That is, until a lough scream (in bold typeface) and Dr Fate passes through the wall to find the guide, Anderson, and Dr McGill, broken on the floor. He soon learns who did this, when he comes face to bandaged face with Khalis, a mummy!






Walt throws the ankh right into the fray and we see Khalis shrug off his spell, hit Fate with a big hunk of wood (crate, door or furniture) and take his amulet. Dang, he got owned!

Fate tries to link with Khalis mind, to track him, but even that makes him weak. he heads back home, where Nabu dumps him an tells Inza Nelson that he has returned her husband. Inza picks him up and helps him to the bathroom, where she proceeds to nag at him about how his boss treats him.



Yeesh! Inza is a combination of Jewish mother and shrewish housewife stereotypes there. Nice characterization, Marty! I'm surprised Walt didn't draw a box of Midol somewhere on the page, just to drive home the point! Okay, to be fair, DC was trying to get more soap opera in their comics, in an attempt to compete with Marvel. Gerry Conway is the editor on this and he was big on that kind of stuff. It's supposed to make the characters more relatable. I think they went a little overboard, here.

After Inza douses Kent's boo-boos with mercurochrome and band-aids (The Ouch-less Brand {tm}), Kent falls asleep, Inza says she's leaving him and he awakes to hit the books, looking for ancient answers to the question of stopping Khalis.

We find out Khalis was a "mad" priest of Anubis, who brought destruction down on the city of Bubastis, for worshipping Bast, instead of Anubis. He gathered slaves to build a glorious temple to Anubis, when Nabu came along to spoil his fun and have him mummified alive.



All of that may sound a bit familiar.



We next get a summary of Dr Fate's origin, where 12 year old Kent Nelson and father Sven stumble onto the tomb of the sleeping Nabu. The gas kills Sven and Kent reacts in anger and grief, then is subdued by Nabu's magic and brainwashed into becoming Dr Fat. Seriously, Nabu is a total Richard! We shift to a hotel room, where Inza, the only one with guts to stand up to Nabu, is knocked back down with self-doubts and she goes out to see if she can dig up something to help her husband. meanwhile, Khalis is doing his old shouty schtick, calling for Anubis, when.........



Now that is a truly magnificent panel!

Khalis fights back and Fate does a bit of rope-a-dope, until the time is rights to unleash a can of ankh-flavored whoop-ass!



Unfortunately, it isn't enough and Khalis slinks off. Just then Inza shows up with a hieroglyph, which bears the true name of Khalis and bears Nabu's seal. It is what bound Khalis to his sarcophagus. Inza tries to apologize; but, Fate is in control, not Kent Nelson and he thanks "Mrs. nelson" and flies off. We then see residents of Boston wondering why their skyline suddenly looks like Giza? Khalis calls out to Anubis, to take a look at his handiwork. Anubis isn't impressed:



Man, that's cold, even for a guardian of the underworld!

Anubis tells him he might give Khalis the thumbs up, if he can defeat Dr Fate, who has just arrived. So, the bell rings and our combatants have at it. Khalis hits him with thousands of Anubis claws (nastier than Baron Von Rashke's Iron Claw!), but Dr Fate has the seal and starts an incantation, using the true name of Khalis, invoking Amon-Ra, the Sun God (and for some reason, the head of Horus, the Hawk God, is seen, too).



Fate hits the mystical piledriver and Khalis goes down for ONE.......TWO....THREE!!!!!!!! Fate is the winner and still mystical champion. He realizes it was a test from Nabu, who apparently is the ancient form of Vince McMahon. Inza turns up, in her sweet roadster and Fate tells her that she provided the key element and that they defeated Khalis together, as he removes his helmet, revealing the face of Kent Nelson. Inza takes him home, saying she can live with this Dr Fate and our story ends. Our last page gives a fun little history of Martin Pasko and then a self-caricature of Walt Simonson, who reveals that his signature is a dinosaur.

This is a truly great story and one of the best Dr Fate tales, bar none. It helped define Fate for years to come, as the threads of this were picked up in the Fate back-up stories, in The Flash, with Kieth Giffen replacing Walt on art. Those stories and this one were later collected in a Baxter format reprint, The Immortal Dr Fate:







Fate would go on to appear with the JSA in the All-Star Comics revival, where the ankh motif was kept up, and in various JLA/JSA crossovers, Crisis, legends and the new Justice League series. He stuck around for a few issues, got his own mini then his own series. He also turned up on Superman The Animated Series, Justice League, and Smallville, with the JSA. Even Hollywood cannot resist the power of one really cool helmet. Justice League had the inspired notion of casting Israeli actor Oded Fehr as the voice of Fate, after his film-stealing performance in Stephen Sommers' version of The Mummy.

This another of my favorites (probably only beaten by Warlord) and is one of the best stand-alone issues of the series, with a complete story and one that has you craving for more. Although it didn't launch a series, it probably launched the back-up stories, which counts as a win. Walt is having pure fun here and Marty Pasko is up to the challenge, even if he keeps mixing Persian deities with his Egyptian, and falls into the trap of believing that since Anubis is a god of the Underworld, he must be evil, just as Thor would do the same with Pluto. Set was the figure of evil, in Egyptian mythology. It's a Western conceit that the Underworld is synonymous with the concept of Hell and Satan. But, then, comics were always a little wonky on their mythology. Pasko does do the unlikely and gets me to like a magical character, by actually using rules. Much like Ursula Le Guin, in the seminal Wizard of Earthsea, true names hold real power over a person. This is established earlier and we see how it turns Fate's formerly ineffective magic into something that works. That is how you write a magic character. Give them a weakness, have them discover the key to defeating their superior opponent, then have them exploit that weakness. It can't just be a spell they forgot to use; it needs to be a macguffin that helps drive the plot.

If I have one criticism, it is the portrayal of Inza. It is hardly enlightened and probably didn't endear her to many people. Kirby knows she was never going to grace the cover of Ms Magazine. Luckily, later writers latched onto the idea that Kent and Inza were the combined power of Fate and made her a stronger character.

Next up, Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti return, though not with the Green Team!