Who's the Best... Musical Trio?

 

One Small Step...

Karen: Today, July 20, 2013, is the 44th anniversary of something that should be a national holiday: the day men first stepped upon the Moon. It was back on this day in 1969 when the Apollo 11 lunar lander, the Eagle, touched down upon the lunar surface, and astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to ever walk upon the surface of another planetary body. His partner, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin joined him shortly after. This tremendous feat was achieved through the genius, hard work, and sheer force of will of thousands of people. Even today, as we have leapt ahead dramatically in our technological know-how, the Apollo program stands as a testament to the incredible greatness we as a species can reach, through our combined efforts. 

Now of course, the impetus for the mission itself was not all sweetness and light. The motivation for the entire space race was primarily due to the Cold War, and the desire to ensure the the 'high ground of space' was not owned by the Soviets. Still, the efforts of the brave astronauts, and the scientists, engineers, technicians, and workers who made science fiction into reality, became the stuff of legend and inspired many.

Unfortunately, after Apollo, it seems our space program never really seemed to find a direction. The shuttle program, while a necessary workhorse, was never inspiring. Once the Soviets began to collapse, there was no 'other' to push us to go further, to risk more. Missions to Mars have been relegated to robots only, and it seems likely that exploration for the foreseeable future will remain with probes and machines only. Right now NASA doesn't even have any rockets of its own with heavy lift capabilities; flights to the International Space Station have relied on the Russians, who have had their own problems with their rockets lately, and commercial efforts

The space program was once inspirational; occasionally, it still is. A few people got excited when the Mars rover Curiosity landed on the red planet last year. But by and large, the program has lost its luster with the public. That's nothing new; people were jaded with the later Apollo missions. 

Most of us BABsters grew up right around the time of the moon landings, Skylab, Viking, and the first Shuttle launches. I'm sure some of you have some feelings about not only the first moon landing, but also what's going on (or not going on) in space. I'd like to hear it.

Except any hoax theories. Sorry, but I really DON'T want to hear that stuff!!

An Obscure Iceman Story: Bizarre Adventures 27

Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981)

"Winter Carnival"

Jo Duffy-George Perez/Alfredo Alcala

Doug:  Welcome to the second installment of our 3-part look at the "secret lives of the X-Men".  If you'll recall in my first review from this magazine (of the Phoenix story), I commented at the end about today's story and remarked that George Perez would be on the pencils.  While the art is not bad at all (in fact, it's lush, gorgeous, and whatever other positive superlative you want to heap on it), I just don't see a typical George Perez job.  It is inker Alfredo Alcala who is the real shining star of the artwork.  Help me out with your own observations once you get to the bottom.  Shall we?

Doug:  The Iceman story is 17 pages long, and that was OK for me.  Really, it could have been shorter and I'd have probably been happier.  I thought the Phoenix story was a bit of a stretch (Attuma?) conceptually, and it was written by her usual scribe, Chris Claremont.  As you see above, today's writer is Jo Duffy.  I honestly can't say I recall anything she wrote in the 1980's, although I'm sure I encountered her work more than a few times.  This story was somewhat burdensome to get through -- it's just pretty straightforward, never really grabs the reader...  It's not horrible, but I don't feel like I got any bang out of the time I've spent reading it twice and writing this up.  It wasn't like "Man, I cannot wait to get to the keyboard and tell everyone about this!"  Some of our readers have left us comments in the past questioning why we review comics we don't like/give glowing reviews to?  As I think Karen and/or I replied, isn't that a reflection of the true comics reading experience?  I wish my cup was always half full; unfortunately, it's often half empty!  I've not read the Nightcrawler tale as of this writing, but it will be coming your way in August.

Doug:  We open at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, where "visiting" sophomore Bobby Drake has rolled onto campus to attend the Winter Carnival.  There was an ice sculpture contest or some such thing prior to his arrival, and the outdoor common areas are filled with beautiful ice sculptures depicting this year's theme -- super-heroes!  Bobby stops to admire a rendition of his pal the Angel and says how much Warren would love it.  Bobby notices that the Angel is the only X-Man in the lot, so rectifies that by whipping up an ice sculpture of himself, complete with the Champions logo on its belt.  As he admires it, a group of students stops by and complains that the new sculpture blocks the view of their fraternity house.  They ask if Bobby knows where it came from; he denies it, but then launches a snowball right at the kid who asked.  A melee ensues with some good fun.  It's broken up suddenly by a scream for help.

Doug:  Some thugs emerge from an academic building, with a professorial-type calling after them that they've stolen parts to the new campus computer system.  Now this having been written in 1981, I'm thinking they've bagged some Apple II-E's or Commodore-64's!  Anyway, they have some sorts of guns that can be set to "stun", and use those in their getaway attempt.  Bobby says to himself "who would rob a school" -- which I thought was an odd comment -- and then ices up and handles the baddies with no trouble at all.  He's thanked by the campus police, and everyone seems to recover quickly enough from their "stunning".  The community mobs him, incredulous that a real super-hero is among them.  They implore him to stay for the Winter Carnival, and he agrees.  The next two pages are pretty fun, as we see Bobby Drake really cut loose in an all-out effort to bring joy to the students.  At the end of the scene he thinks to himself, "I never realized up until now how great it is to solo.  For once, I'm alone... not getting lost in a team.  These people are cheering for ME!"

Doug:  Later that evening, Iceman reclines with some students when in walks Lt. Jimmy D'Angelo, who is an alumnus and has been asked by campus police to lend a hand to the investigation.  It seems that the components the thieves were after were designed by Dr. Henry Pym and had something to do with cybernetics.  They were being tested on campus.  The lieutenant wants to know if anyone saw the guy who pulled the alarm.  This sparks an investigation into an employee who works in the math dept. -- a man who no one can name.  Bobby decides to investigate on his own.  We then cut to a building off campus where the Dartmouth employee in question, a man called Thatcher, supervises the same thugs we witnessed earlier in the story.  It seems the heist was all a fake, designed to actually smuggle a man inside the building so that the real components of their desire could be stolen later -- a feat they seem to have accomplished.

Doug:  As the baddies move across campus in the wee hours of the morning, they pass the row of super-hero sculptures.  The professor gloats to himself about how they will get away with their plot -- no Avengers, no Fantastic Four, no X-Men to stop them.  That is, until he notices that they've passed not one, but two Iceman sculptures.  Guess what? Six pages of pretty intense fighting ensues, with Iceman at one point getting thawed out by a blaster ray.  There are some great visuals in this long scene, as you can see from the sample pages and panels.  In the end, Bobby nabs his guy, saves the day, and finds himself -- even though in an encounter with Lt. D'Angelo the cop asks Iceman if he's so great, then why isn't he well known?  I think this was really sort of a coming of age story for the Iceman; unfortunately (for him), it didn't go anywhere.

Doug:  One could almost see this being a sort of launching pad for a solo series.  However, since this was on the stands several years ahead of a book like Marvel Comics Presents, I don't know what the vehicle would have been.  There was an Iceman mini-series, but that wasn't published until 1984 (and looking at the covers, I wouldn't think it to have been very good in spite of a Marc DeMatteis script).  As I'd said about the Phoenix story, I'm not sure why this was created if not specifically for this magazine. It's again too long for a back-up story, and judging by Alfredo Alcala's beautiful inks and use of wash it was never intended for four color publication.  So it's just sort of "out there"; not sure if we should consider it canon or not.  What it ends up being is a sort of quite-beautiful-but-middling tale of one of Marvel's C-list heroes.

Hot Town, Summer in the City

Karen: It's been a hot, nasty summer all over...talk about what you did as a kid to keep cool, or what you do now! Swimming pools, the beach, lakes, heck, the sprinkler in the front yard, cold beer, whatever made/makes you happy!

Discuss: Members of the Fourth Estate

Doug:  Clicking on either image will get you a much larger image so that you can read the text.  Thanks!

Who's the Best... Super-Hero Jerk?

Karen: But the biggest jerk of all is, of course, Superman:

Giant-Size July: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes 208

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #208 (April 1975)
"Vengeance of the Super-Villains!"
Writer: Cary Bates
Pencils: Mike Grell

Karen: Who's ready for some more Legion stories? Although my blog partner and I might have been Marvel-centric growing up, there was one DC series we followed regularly, and that was those teens from the future, the Legion. This issue came out shortly before I began following the book regularly. It was one of the giant size issues they put out sporadically, featuring a new story and a couple of reprints. We'll just be looking at the new material, which features some terrific Mike Grell art. 

Doug:  At some point I acquired Superboy #201, but #210 was my first in what I'd call my "regular Legion buying".  Later, I was able to get hold of several Silver Age Superboys.  As I've said, I always loved Superboy, but could never abide Superman.  Go figure.

Karen: You gotta love the splash page; purely symbolic (I think it is anyway), it features the evilly grinning members of the Legion of Super-Villains gathered around a scale model of the Super-Heroes HQ (we know this because they say so) as they detonate some small explosive that results in a tiny mushroom cloud! Incredibly goofy!

Doug:  That "gigantic gloating threat looming" motif is as old as comics, and yes -- it's a hoot, all the time.  Funny though -- DC regularly used their splash page as almost a second cover.  Karen mentioned we'd be covering the new material in this issue, which is a 20-page story.  Standard, until you figure it's really only 19 pages due to the splash page being just a teaser of what is to come.

Karen: The actual story begins on page two, in Smallville of the 20th century. Legionnaire Mon-El is spending some vacation time with Superboy and the Kents. Poor Ma Kent is making dozens of pancakes to feed the two super-teens. Mon-El is enjoying the cakes and everything else. Back in the 30th century, fellow Legionnaire Ultra Boy is also enjoying some down time, with his folks on his homeworld of Rimbor. But he's eating rather unappealing-looking vege-steaks. I can't go any further without commenting on the groovy 70s sideburns on the guys here. So a few of our Legionnaires are taking it easy. But back on Earth, at Legion HQ, Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl, and Timber Wolf are about to accept the delivery of the Universal Trophy, a sculpture they are going to guard

that symbolizes the signing of the Federated Planets Treaty. It's an important event, with automated cameras broadcasting the event live. The trophy is to be presented the next day to Dr. Larx Kenrik, who has worked tirelessly to bring the 12 planets together. Kenrik bears a strong resemblance to Henry Kissinger. This is the second comic we've reviewed with Kissinger in it! (The first was Captain America #193.) The teen trio scans the trophy and then takes it into Legion HQ. Sun Boy, who is acting as Legion leader in Mon-El's absence, is a bit nervous about things, wanting to make sure that their security is flawless. He thinks to himself that he doesn't know how Mon-El handles all the pressure -- and he hopes he gets back soon.

Doug:  You beat me to the sideburns, because it was on my agenda!  I agree -- even though set 1000 years in the future, both Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell (maybe Grell moreso) gave contemporary teens something to relate to.  And how about Clark's and Jo's parents?  Man, what swingers they must have been -- pretty good-looking 40-somethings!  Personally, I always loved the fantasy of the future,

whether here, in various TV shows or movies -- heck, even the Jetsons!  But it's funny after the passage of time, isn't it?  A lot of what Silver- and Bronze Age creators saw as "Whoa, wouldn't that be cooo-ooool?" has come to pass and we now take a lot of those ideas for granted!  Sun Boy comes off as a whiner, doesn't he?  Not exactly the sort of guy I'd want in charge -- shoot, Timber Wolf wouldn't take any crap from anyone.  

Karen: Back in Smallville, Mon-El and Superboy are about ready to make the trip to the 30th century (departing from the basement) when Ma and Pa Kent appear, Pa brandishing a bizarre pistol. He fires it and a ray flashes in the boys' eyes. Moments later, the two super-teens feel compelled to fight each other. Grell's style works well with the characters, as they look lean but muscular, sort of what you'd expect from these young heroes. The two go at it until they wind up simultaneously knocking each other out (how convenient.) The obviously-brainwashed Kents seem completely undisturbed. Back

on Rimbor, a similar scene unwinds as Ultra Boy's parents stand by as he collapses -it turns out they slipped a paralyzing drug in his food. He should have stayed away from those vege steaks!

Doug:  Time travel's just weird, isn't it?  My first thought, when Superboy said he and Mon were about to depart, and got some pushback from the Kents, was "what's the big deal?  Just come back one second after you left, and who would know any different?"  Couple of thoughts on the going's on:  first, the Superboy-Mon-el fight started like Taylor vs. Brent and ended like Rocky vs. Apollo!  On Rimbor, "don't trust anyone over 30" was never more apt.

 Karen: In the 30th century we get our first glimpse of the bad guys, the Legion of Super-Villains. Being that they are the evil counter-parts of the good guys, some of them bear a resemblance in powers, names, and looks to Legion members. There's Sun Emperor, who is the counter to Sun Boy; Lightning Lord, who is the brother of Lightning Lad and Light Lass. Then there're the odd balls -- Nemesis Kid, who was once an applicant to the Legion (briefly- he applied in Adventure Comics #346, along with Karate Kid, Princess Projectra, and Ferro Lad); Spider Girl, who's pretty much a copy of Medusa; and Radiation Roy, who has energy powers. Apparently Spider Girl and Radiation Roy were also Legion rejects (the Comic Book Database says they appeared in Adventure #323 and 320 respectively). So there's our cast of baddies...well, almost our full cast. One is missing: Chameleon Chief -- you can probably guess his powers. The baddies are gloating over their plan, saying that with Mon-El, Superboy, and Ultra-Boy out of the picture, nothing can stop them from succeeding. But Lightning Lord says that it all depends on Chameleon Chief now.

Doug:  Sometimes the names of not only the Legionnaires but really the entire cast require a groan.  "Chameleon Chief"?  Yeah...  I love the way Grell depicted Nemesis Kid in the "roll call" panel.  What a cocky gent!  He just looks smug and like he knows you're already beat!  Good legwork on that research -- I've read most of those stories, but it's been so long ago that I could not have come up with any of that data.

 Karen: At Legion HQ, Chameleon Boy relieves Chemical King from guard duty outside the room where the trophy is being held.  CK wonders if Sun Boy is being overly-cautious, but Chameleon Boy says he just isn't taking any chances since Mon-El isn't there. Sun Boy is fretting over the absence of their big guns, but Saturn Girl tries to reassure him that everything will be fine, they'll be there in time. Unfortunately she's wrong. All three have been stuck inside impenetrable energy bubbles. Mon-El recognizes it as the work of Radiation Roy. They realize that the Super-Villains must be planning something involving the trophy. They're right. Back in the Legion's HQ, a strange transformation occurs, as the base of the trophy changes into Chameleon Chief. We get a rather weak explanation as to how CC avoided detection -he states that the Legionnaires never thought to examine the base the statue was standing on! Uh, yeah, right. Once he assumes his normal form, he coats the statue with nitro-glyc, which will explode when anyone touches it. He then changes a box into a duplicate base -yes, he has more powers than Chameleon Boy - and gloats over how the Legion will be doomed when the trophy explodes.

Doug:  I have to confess that when I read the LoSV roster my mind saw "Radiation Boy", not "-Roy".  Now I can't get the Jim Croce song "Rapid Roy" out of my head!  The stealth attack by Chameleon Chief (man, that's just a bad name) was good -- nice bit of sabotage, dopey as it was.  Wasn't the base some sort of energy construct that gave the appearance that the trophy was floating?  OK...  It's never explained how CC, as a Durlan, has more or different powers than Chameleon Boy so I guess we just have to roll with it.  

Karen: At dawn the next day, boxes of garbage are shot out of the Legion HQ, but one is intercepted by a flying Lightning Lord. He takes the box to a rooftop nearby, where it turns into Chameleon Chief. He tells LL the plan is a go, and they head off to the villains' lair. Meanwhile, on Rimbor, Ultra Boy's parents release him from the energy bubble and snap out of their trance. Ultra Boy realizes there's no way he can get to Earth in time for the ceremony and knows something bad is about to go down. Back on Earth in the 20th century, Ma Kent releases the boys from the bubble while Pa Kent activates some strange device. There's no obvious effect from the instrument, and the boys need to get going, so they fly through the time barrier. This was depicted as a sort of rainbow tube with tiny labels bearing the years placed throughout. In retrospect, it's sort of silly, but it gets the idea across effectively. As the two heroes speed through, they suddenly strike a barrier. Now they understand what Pa's device was for. They struggle with the barrier, as it turns into rubbery strands that imprison them.

Doug:  I enjoyed the consistency of the depiction of time travel via the rainbow tube.  You're right, it is silly/weird, but effective at the same time.  And hey -- didn't Mon-el address the issue I'd raised above about charting their arrival time in the 30th Century?  Just arrive at a specific moment, and no one would be worse for the wear!  I liked the way the barrier seemed impenetrable, even to two super boys.  Sometimes, for as strong as Clark Kent was/is, it's nice to see him fail.  Granted, plot devices to create such a situation were sometimes a stretch for the reader, but drama has to be created somehow.  Good lord, the Henry Cavill Superman can do anything!

Karen: In front of the Legion HQ, the ceremony is about to begin. As the cameras record the details, Dr. Kenrik disembarks his space cruiser and walks across the red carpet towards the Legionnaires and the waiting trophy (which they have moved without touching, I guess). Sun Boy, Saturn Girl, and Brainiac 5 are there to greet the esteemed diplomat. All four gather around the trophy for photos. The villains watch from their base, just itching to see the trophy explode and in one fell swoop, kill the galaxy's greatest peace ambassador, wipe out a good chunk of the Legion, and discredit and shame the rest of them. The moment comes and...nothing. No explosion. The baddies are furious. They turn on Chameleon Chief, blaming him for the failure. Suddenly, he begins to transform -into what? Why, into Chameleon Boy! That's right, he caught his counter-part and took his place. Seconds later, the rest of the Legion comes crashing through the wall. Grell gives us a full page with an inset -the inset shows Colossal Boy tearing the wall apart, from the villains' view point, while the splash page gives us the Legionnaires' point of view. It's a cool trick. We see a few Legionnaires we hadn't seen earlier: besides Colossal Boy (in his groovy Cockrum harness suit), there's Projectra (in her Cockrum uniform), Karate Kid (still in his orange outfit), Lighting Lad (Cockrum-ified), and Star Boy (pre-beard, but in his starry outfit). They make rather quick work of the bad guys -- too quick honestly; I would have liked to see a couple of pages of this fight. With their enemies down, we get an explanation of how Chameleon Boy got to the villains HQ -- well, of course he posed as the trash box. Not sure why they felt the need to explain that.  The villains are hauled off by the police and Sun Boy says he realizes that the reason Mon-El, Superboy, and Utra Boy were detained was because they all have x-ray vision -- they would have been able to detect that the trophy was booby trapped. And who should show up right then but the three missing members?

Doug:  You're a stickler for details!  Ten-year old Doug wouldn't have questioned how that trophy got moved.  Man, I'm dense.  Good catch!  The entrance splash page was indeed grand, and the individual panels that followed showcasing each Legionnaire were fun but also as you said too short.  But hey -- a 20-pager has to be a 20-pager.  But here's a question for you -- how did Chameleon Boy know that Chameleon Chief's plan was to escape as a box of garbage?  I'm sure he didn't just give it up.  Did the Legion coerce a confession out of him?  Was he tortured or blackmailed in some way?  I'd sure be curious to know what went on behind the scenes there.  We've commented in past DC reviews that the writers seem to always feel the need for explanations of the way the stories played out.  Wouldn't it be better sometimes just to show how it's turning out?  I'll be honest -- when I read a comic I really just want to be entertained; I'm not much of a mystery fan.  Just give me my 20 minutes of mindless enjoyment.  But maybe that's just me (I'd be curious to know how much "thinking" others do when reading their funnybooks).

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Karen: This story was OK -the Grell art is what made it enjoyable. The story fell flat for me. I would really have liked to see the two teams go head to head but we didn't get that here. We did get to see a variety of Legionnaires, even if only in panel or two, so that was fun. But reading a story like this, in the early 70s, when I was also reading Avengers and Fantastic Four, there was really no comparison. There's no depth here. It looks cool and the sheer number of characters is fun, but the storytelling is still set at a much lower level. I probably had more fun coming up with Legion adventures in my own imagination.

Doug:  I couldn't agree more.  I think Marvel really embraced its new talent, and Stan Lee and Roy Thomas tried hard to keep their fingers on the pulse of their teenaged and young adult readers.  DC, on the other hand, seemed to squelch some of the literary creativity of their new blood, keeping that 1950's-era thumb on the creative process and mistakenly assuming that all comic book readers were still 10-year old boys.  So as you say, while we get some great visuals, they're just a peel on the outside of some less-than-tasty scripting.  I think this was generally the case for DC in the Bronze Age, with a few exceptions here and there -- but with no consistency across the board at all.

Karen: I will add one more thing: this giant has a fun one-page feature (that appears to be reprinted from the sixties) that shows the members of the Legion Subs and gives their vital statistics. I used to memorize all of these characters names and home worlds!

Things I Wish I'd Never Bought

Doug:  Quite some time ago, Karen ran an Open Forum on things she wished she still had, and I followed it up with a post on things I never had but wished I did.  Today we're going to set that premise on its ear, and ask you to commiserate with us on things you've purchased, but wish you never had.  The door is wide open to all sorts of possibilities -- comics, books, toys, DVDs, music, etc.  We're looking for those wastes of money that have littered your collections over the years.

Doug:  My wife heard a morning crew discussing organization on the radio a few weeks ago, and one of the suggestions they were making was to throw away (or donate, etc.) 10 things a day for 10 days.  By doing that, paring down your junk would become manageable, and once it was done, you could see that it perhaps wasn't so painful to have done it.  Maybe you're a hoarder, maybe you'd call yourself a "completist" -- we all have a story to tell.

Doug:  Right off the top of my head, I'm going to say the first 25 issues or so of Bendis' New Avengers took money out of my pocket that I could have spent on Doritos or some other such pleasurable experience.  Egad, was that horrible.  I ended up giving them away to the Resident Director in my son's dorm last year.  That was the best loss of personal money I think I've ever endured!  As far as something I own and really do love, but will never get any satisfaction from, is the door-sized poster of the wraparound cover to the Crisis On Infinite Earths tpb.  You can see it below.  Now what the heck am I ever going to do with that thing??  But it sure is cool...

Who's the Best... Giant Monster?

Karen: Since the film "Pacific Rim" is coming out today (I can't wait!) featuring giant robots fighting giant monsters, I thought I'd turn today into a free-for-all where everyone's favorite king-size critters go at it. Try to turn your brain back to age ten and recall how awesome it was to see those gigantic creatures tearing up cities while they battled each other, and then answer today's question!