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All-Star Comics (1976) #70
Paul Levitz (script)
Joe Staton (pencils)
Bob Layton (inks)
Jerry Serpe (colors)
Ben Oda (letters)
Joe Orlando (editor)
Last issue, writer Paul Levitz found a Hallmark moment amid the chaotic infighting of quinquagenarian white male superheroes and their surrogate daughter (Power Girl), whom they all berate or dismiss. Sole exception: Dr. Fate; respect. Though maybe not once we get to the end of this issue, but then, grace.
Anyway.
It was a watershed moment for the series. It was a good comic and not because it was Wally Wood doing Flash Gordon-esque Justice Society. So it’s unfortunate this issue features villains out of a toy commercial. They’re an elite team of super-criminals in tactical gear with laser guns, and they’re also elitist. They mock the cops for being poors. They are… the Strike Force.
If it were campy or corny, it’d be better, because then there’d be something to talk about. Instead, there’s not. Levitz is either checked out or trying to be condescending to fourth graders in a comic book aimed at a thirty-something (or older) audience? It’s bewildering. And not the progression one would hope after last issue.
But it’s All-Star, so it’s been worse.
The issue opens with a direct continuation of last issue, but instead of having soul-searching monologues, the assorted heroes—after pummeling one another for most of last issue—are having a Justice Society guest-star get-together. There’s too much with Superman (he’s oddly charmless without that Golden Age face) and not enough with Wonder Woman. It’s like there was a Wonder Woman editor yelling at her to get out of the comic. But after the cool kids leave (in addition to the Trinity, this means (yet again twerpy) Robin, Starman, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite, who should not be the cool kids), the regular cast decides it’s time to take a week off. Hawkman hasn’t been there for his recently kidnapped wife, Dr. Fate’s got to Dr. Fate, Green Lantern needs a new job, which Flash is giving him before taking Joan on vacation.
They leave Power Girl, Star-Spangled Kid, and Wildcat in charge because none of them have any lives outside superheroing. Kid immediately takes their assignment to mean turning off the monitors and having a day off to play board games. Wildcat’s already been whining about bad life decisions, so Power Girl leaves. She’ll go actively superhero instead of mope, taking with her a follow-up to last issue. But go read Showcase.
Levitz is falling right back into what made the comic so annoying—they’re either actively jerks or, at least, wanting company. Kid and Wildcat go to the bar, leaving Huntress to come in—still in shadow but with a boot visible now. They’re going to go get in trouble at a bar, then go fight the bad guys. They were on the monitor just as Kid turned it off, but Huntress has seen them. So we’re going to get the regular cast with Huntress in for Power Girl (but in her own thread), along with a check-in with Dr. Fate, who has been unintentionally imprisoning his wife for almost forty years—more next issue on that one (sort of).
But the main plot is the Strike Force wreaking havoc, because apparently, Police Commissioner Bruce Wayne is also taking the day off and doesn’t deploy the cops with the Kryptonian killers. And it’s all pretty bad stuff. The Huntress stuff is the best, but it’s also not the Strike Force or the regular cast, meaning it’s a little unfair to compare.
Disappointing after last issue.
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Briefly, TV (26 October 2025)
All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e03 “Captain Farnon?” [2025] D: Stewart Svaasand. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton. The show feels comfortable enough after the season jump ahead–with Shenton finally getting down to the village for a bit–it’s a surprise when the episode slows down in real time. Ralph’s got the Tricki Woo breeding subplot, West and Woodhouse have the bickering because West’s not communicating one. Sublimely goes from busied to precise. Madeley’s awesome.
All Creatures Great & Small (2020) s06e04 “Jenny Wren” [2025] D: Brian Percival. S: Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West, Anna Madeley, Rachel Shenton. Heartstring-pulling–in all the best ways–episode about Imogen Clawson’s future potential. Meanwhile, Woodhouse has a culture clash with his paramour’s family, and West still can’t figure out how to communicate. Excellent episode for Shenton, Woodhouse, Clawson, and Tony Pitts, with some delightfully unexpected character interactions. It quickly gets emotionally intense and stays there. Great vet cases, too.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e07 “Silver Alert” [2025] D: Jessica Yu. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Renée Zellweger. The gang heads out to the country to Waltz’s weird mansion, thinking they’ll catch the billionaires plotting. Instead they find them playing board games for the future of the MacGuffin. Only then everyone figures out it’s a MacGuffin. Maybe they’ll pull this off? Like, Short and Gomez are really good this episode, and Waltz’s fun. But it’s still iffy.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e08 “Cuckoo Chicks” [2025] D: Jessica Yu. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Meryl Streep, Richard Kind, Renée Zellweger. Did they just save the season? It’s a big turnaround episode, thanks mostly to Streep getting every morsel off the scenery. It’s kind of cruel Zellweger’s one note Martha Stewart is opposite her. The circles Streep runs are something. Really nice character moments, lots of laughs, and a genuine surprise at the end. Great balance of guest stars too.
Only Murders in the Building (2021) s05e09 “LESTR” [2025] D: Jamie Babbit. S: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Richard Kind, Jermaine Fowler. The penultimate episode puts everything on the line with the case and the building. Then it (initially) inexplicably messes with the stakes (with Gomez nicely getting the good scene if not arc), before a dynamite second half. Returning supporting cast members make for a fun time. And Short and Martin eventually do get to their moments, too. Real good.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e03 “Tall Tales” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Brilliantly done bridging episode has Scott Thomas and Oldman simultaneously figuring out what the season villains are plotting. Oldman’s in lockdown with the team while Scott Thomas is interrogating Chung, who gets to show some actual range for the first time. There’s also a lot of saboteur intrigue and reveals, though special guest star Nick Mohammed isn’t really delivering.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e04 “Missiles” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Excellent direction, acting, and a surprise ending cap the episode, which opens with Oldman thinking through a part of the mystery and showing off. The second half is Lowden and Edwards trying to investigate and potentially protect assassination targets, with varying levels of success. Once again, Nick Mohammed is over his head, but James Callis finally gets to flex.
Slow Horses (2022) s05e05 “Circus” [2025] D: Saul Metzstein. S: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Excellent setup for the finale has little fallout from last time, instead showcasing supporting players Ruth Bradley and James Callis. It’s (presumably) to get the board in shape for the HORSES to come through and save the day next episode; superbly executed. Though not enough for still regular Scott Thomas. And there’s some concerning repetition from last season’s wrap.
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Briefly, Movies (26 October 2025)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) D: George Roy Hill. S: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, George Furth. Superlative Western about outlaws Newman and Redford’s luck running out as the world’s changing and they aren’t. Spectacular filmmaking–Hill’s direction, Conrad L. Hall’s photography, John C. Howard and Richard C. Meyer’s editing standout–essays William Goldman’s patient, lush screenplay. And then, of course, there’s the acting. Redford, Newman, and Ross are all fantastic. Some great bit players, too.
A Date with the Falcon (1942) D: Irving Reis. S: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, James Gleason, Allen Jenkins, Mona Maris. Professional cad Sanders once again finds himself embroiled in a mystery, this time at the expense of meeting fiancée Barrie’s family. Sanders is charming throughout, thank goodness, because Barrie spends most of her time either complaining about Sanders being a cad or catching him with other women. The mystery’s half-baked, and Reis’s direction is wanting, but Sanders delivers.
The Falcon and the Co-Eds (1943) D: William Clemens. S: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Rita Corday, Amelita Ward, Isabel Jewell, George Givot, Cliff Clark. Despite Conway being a profound creep (his romantic pursuit is Ward, the–hopefully–legal age daughter of an old paramour), it’s a swell FALCON. Conway’s investigating a mysterious death at a girls’ school, where everyone (who isn’t coming on to him) is a suspect. Clemens’s best work directing on the series. Brooks is fantastic as the moody drama teacher.
The Falcon in Danger (1943) D: William Clemens. S: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Elaine Shepard, Amelita Ward, Cliff Clark, Edward Gargan, Clarence Kolb. DANGER gives Conway a fiancée sidekick with Ward, who’s still hysterically jealous after telling him to help damsels Brooks and Shepard. Long, but Conway’s found his (somewhat less slutty) groove (and Clark’s his best ever as the cop antagonist). The mystery’s great until the messy, unrewarding third act. Ward’s amalgam character’s an interesting idea, but the execution fizzles fast.
The Falcon in Mexico (1944) D: William Berke. S: Tom Conway, Mona Maris, Martha Vickers, Nestor Paiva, Mary Currier, Cecilia Callejo, Emory Parnell. After a somewhat protracted setup in the city (which city, what supporting players, don’t ask), Conway’s on his way to MEXICO to uncover a potential art forgery. Vickers doesn’t impress as the ingenue, but Maris is great as her suspicious step-mother. Paiva’s profoundly uncomfortable Mexican caricature has an explanation, if not a point. Competent outing.
The Falcon Out West (1944) D: William Clemens. S: Tom Conway, Carole Gallagher, Barbara Hale, Joan Barclay, Cliff Clark, Edward Gargan, Minor Watson. Fun–albeit frequently racist–outing with series regulars Conway, Clark, and Gargan heading out to a ranch to investigate a murder. Conway’s there to help grieving almost-widow Gallagher, but gets distracted by capable cowgirl Hale. Conway’s getting better at the detective scenes but worse with the caddish behavior material. Great Roy Webb score. Off finish but great rhythm.
The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) D: Edward Dmytryk. S: Tom Conway, Harriet Nelson, Jane Randolph, Edgar Kennedy, Cliff Edwards, Rita Corday, Erford Gage. Conway’s first solo FALCON is a whodunit with wartime espionage trappings. He’s framed for a war bonds heist; somehow, lovely ladies Corday and Nelson figure in. Plus, Randolph’s back to perturb the plot whenever needed. Conway’s charming (though less believably mindlessly horny than unmentioned George Sanders), Dmytryk’s direction’s nicely moody, and it moves. The resolution’s a little pat, though.
The Falcon Takes Over (1942) D: Irving Reis. S: George Sanders, Lynn Bari, James Gleason, Allen Jenkins, Helen Gilbert, Ward Bond, Edward Gargan. Fascinating mix of Sanders’s slutty (no other word) adventurer FALCON and a Raymond Chandler adaptation. Sanders (fiancée now off-screen) moves from lady to lady (Bari as the good girl, Gilbert as the bad), while sidekick Jenkins is constantly assaulted by man mountain Bond, who’s looking for revenge. Plus, series cop Gleason’s around (and pressuring Jenkins). Often very noir.
The Falcon’s Brother (1942) D: Stanley Logan. S: George Sanders, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph, Don Barclay, Cliff Clark, Edward Gargan, Keye Luke. Sanders, still in New York but with an almost entirely new supporting cast (and no fiancée to be cheating on), goes to greet visiting brother Conway, only to find a corpse, instead. Incredibly efficient, albeit derivative (same jokes, plot points, and character setups as last FALCON entry), baton passing entry. Randolph’s likable as the good girl. Some racism, however.
Münchhausen (1943) D: Josef von Báky. S: Hans Albers, Wilhelm Bendow, Ferdinand Marian, Käthe Haack, Hans Brausewetter, Marina von Ditmar, Brigitte Horney. Often racist, always sexist, tedious, terrible (just because it’s literal German Nazi propaganda, either) tale of how young fräuleins can’t get enough of fifty-year-old Albers. Who’s magic and immortal. The narrative arc itself could be worse–but the pieces along the way are awful, so the finish flops. The single imaginative sequence (the moon) isn’t worth it.
Underwater (2020) D: William Eubank. S: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie, T.J. Miller, John Gallagher Jr., Jessica Henwick. Ocean floor and monsters of the deep versus determined gaggle of survivors lacks competent directing and writing, but the special effects aren’t bad. Director Eubank cares about nothing but getting Stewart soaking wet and scantily clad. She and Cassel manage not to embarrass themselves; everyone else has a bad part (in addition to bad writing). Except charisma vacuum Miller.
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The Spirit (March 2, 1941) “Dead Duck Dolan”
Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks)
Joe Kubert (colors)
Sam Rosen (letters)
Argos is a singular Spirit strip. Not because of its formal artistic qualities, which are strong in places, particularly in the establishing shots, and altogether perfectly fine. Rather, its content and connotations. The strip’s about a regular Joe who encounters a space alien and can’t get anyone to believe him. Eventually, this fellow—Sam Smith—will enlist the Spirit’s aid. And the Spirit’s not sure whether or not to believe him, because even though they’re hunting giant robot monsters in the cemetery, turns out Spirit’s got bad eyes. Especially on foggy nights.
First, the most obvious—aliens exist in the Spirit-verse. Eisner presents it as a “what do you think?” but the Spirit’s evidence is conclusive. I mean, as far as within the context of the story, it’s conclusive. So… neat. It doesn’t really matter. It does allow for this strip having a bit of a horror vibe—even though the alien means Sam Smith no harm (and, arguably, no one any harm), Sam’s repulsed and must find allies to help him destroy.
The alien told Sam only primitive minded beings are racist, and, if you’re always so violent, you’re going to kill yourselves off. Sam’s going to take them out to prove the opposite. And the Spirit’s going to help.
The strip’s almost entirely from Sam’s perspective. Even when the Spirit takes over, it’s just for exposition’s sake; even though Sam’s not present in the finale, the conversation’s about Spirit’s adventure with him. We find out about Sam’s racist lodge brother, his unsympathetic landlady, and his ability to bust out of jail. While briefly in custody, Sam finally finds someone who believes him–a prisoner in a straitjacket compares Sam’s story to Jesus’s.
It’s actually kind of hard to understand the point Eisner’s trying to make with the interaction. Best to take it objectively, but the other implications are fascinating. Contradictory and fascinating.
But then Sam meets up with the Spirit on his way to the tallest, most likely spot for a spaceship takeoff around, which just happens to be in Wildwood Cemetery. Spirit flies Sam around and acts as a sounding board. He’s superfluous, just as superfluous as Commissioner Dolan, who takes Sam’s statement. It’s a Spirit strip because it’s Eisner and studio and Spirit and Dolan, but it’s a sci-fi horror thriller appropriate for newspaper readers.
I’m leaving out Sam Smith’s moral imperative; with it, the strip’s far more fascinating than “are aliens for real” could ever be. And the strip taking Spirit out of the driver’s seat (in his scenes) is a milestone.
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The Spirit (February 23, 1941) “Invasion from Argos”
Will Eisner (editor, script, pencils, inks)
Joe Kubert (colors)
Sam Rosen (letters)
Argos is a singular Spirit strip. Not because of its formal artistic qualities, which are strong in places, particularly in the establishing shots, and altogether perfectly fine. Rather, its content and connotations. The strip’s about a regular Joe who encounters a space alien and can’t get anyone to believe him. Eventually, this fellow—Sam Smith—will enlist the Spirit’s aid. And the Spirit’s not sure whether or not to believe him, because even though they’re hunting giant robot monsters in the cemetery, turns out Spirit’s got bad eyes. Especially on foggy nights.
First, the most obvious—aliens exist in the Spirit-verse. Eisner presents it as a “what do you think?” but the Spirit’s evidence is conclusive. I mean, as far as within the context of the story, it’s conclusive. So… neat. It doesn’t really matter. It does allow for this strip having a bit of a horror vibe—even though the alien means Sam Smith no harm (and, arguably, no one any harm), Sam’s repulsed and must find allies to help him destroy.
The alien told Sam only primitive minded beings are racist, and, if you’re always so violent, you’re going to kill yourselves off. Sam’s going to take them out to prove the opposite. And the Spirit’s going to help.
The strip’s almost entirely from Sam’s perspective. Even when the Spirit takes over, it’s just for exposition’s sake; even though Sam’s not present in the finale, the conversation’s about Spirit’s adventure with him. We find out about Sam’s racist lodge brother, his unsympathetic landlady, and his ability to bust out of jail. While briefly in custody, Sam finally finds someone who believes him–a prisoner in a straitjacket compares Sam’s story to Jesus’s.
It’s actually kind of hard to understand the point Eisner’s trying to make with the interaction. Best to take it objectively, but the other implications are fascinating. Contradictory and fascinating.
But then Sam meets up with the Spirit on his way to the tallest, most likely spot for a spaceship takeoff around, which just happens to be in Wildwood Cemetery. Spirit flies Sam around and acts as a sounding board. He’s superfluous, just as superfluous as Commissioner Dolan, who takes Sam’s statement. It’s a Spirit strip because it’s Eisner and studio and Spirit and Dolan, but it’s a sci-fi horror thriller appropriate for newspaper readers.
I’m leaving out Sam Smith’s moral imperative; with it, the strip’s far more fascinating than “are aliens for real” could ever be. And the strip taking Spirit out of the driver’s seat (in his scenes) is a milestone.
