Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #261

The Legion of Super Heroes 261

Ric Estrada takes over on pencils—John Calnan still inking—and I guess I hope he takes over from Joe Staton. Estrada’s not great on distance or action shots, but his close-ups are okay. And his not-great stuff fits with writer Gerry Conway’s Silver Age-y Legion. For example, this issue has the Legionaries hitching a ride on a warp trail. One of them just grabs it. And not Star Boy. Timber Wolf can do it.

Though based on Conway’s occasionally insipid narration, Timber Wolf can do anything. Except keep his mouth shut. He barks a bunch of orders before chasing a bad guy, with the narration talking about how he never talks.

He just talked–more than anyone else.

The story has the Legion stopping the Space Circus Assassin, who is apparently trying to start an intergalactic war between Earth and one of its former colonies. The only thing to unite the two peoples was the Space Circus, but if meanies are going to try to incite violence, what’s even the point? The silliness gets the comic through quite a bit.

It also helps they’re trying to uncover the assassin, so it’s a mystery with various reveals. Brainiac 5 is around to tell people when they’re right or wrong; whether they listen to him is another story, sometimes leading to trouble. Based on the conclusion, not only should they have really listened to him, Conway should’ve written it better. It’s a decent espionage thriller at its core, but the Space Circus stuff is just too goofy.

Except then again, Estrada does better with the goofy. The finale’s weird and enthusiastic.

I’m not sure Conway Legion is ever going to be “good,” but it’s certainly better than usual.

I really hope Estrada sticks around.

Legion of Super-Heroes (1980) #260

The Legion of Super Heroes 260

Writer Gerry Conway finds his tone for Legion of Super-Heroes and it’s Silver Age homage. The issue has Joe Staton and John Calnan on the art; it’s not great, but it doesn’t have to be for a Silver Age homage. Obviously, the costumes are different, and it’s hard to imagine Wildfire having his temper tantrum in an older book, but the story’s silly Silver Age.

So, in the future, the only thing no one in the galaxy thought about doing except humanity is circuses. The circuses take up giant space stations, but their content is the same as always, which will be important when the Legion goes undercover. But first, there’s this very deliberate Legion action sequence where Conway showcases how the individual heroes’ powers come together to Voltron out and defeat the bad guy.

Or, in this case, save the intergalactic circus barker from a crashing spaceship. It’s implied the spaceship is trying to kill him, but they never actually confirm it. It could’ve been a coincidence.

The main action involves the Legionnaires pretending to be circus attractions to ferret out the assassin. Some of it is just regular circus stuff, only with the occasional alien around. For some reason, Conway draws attention to how circus “oddities” don’t make much sense in the future when people aren’t shitty to each other but then leverages them anyway.

There’s also Staton’s best page in terms of composition, with annoying bro Timber Wolf—pretending to be an acrobat—recovering from a fall. Glorious splash page. It’s still weird looking because it’s a strange mix of Silver and Bronze Ages, but it’s the first time Staton has come through with movement.

The story ends with a cliffhanger—the Legion (thanks to now fully reformed Brainiac 5’s intellect) has their prime suspects, but is there someone even more nefarious behind the circus-hating villainy? Sadly, yes, we’re going to have another circus issue.

But it’s better than I was expecting. Maybe Conway really did just hate having Superboy around.

Detective Comics (1937) #467

Dc467

In my youth, I never liked these “solve-the-mystery-yourself” stories. To the degree, I negatively associated them with writer Bob Rozakis. However, I got over it eventually, instead associating Rozakis with bland, cloying stories, much like the feature he contributes to this issue.

The art’s from John Calnan, and the inks are Vince Colletta. I’m unfamiliar with Calnan, so I don’t know how Colletta’d he’s getting, but Bruce Wayne looks like a forty-something accountant, which can’t all be Colletta.

Bruce is going to narrate the story for a mystery visitor. Now, I won’t spoil—because it’s one of the mysteries you can solve—but it’s a white guy with brown or black hair. This comic is pre-Crisis, meaning every DC superhero knows Batman’s identity, and they look alike. Could be Clark Kent, could be Hal Jordan, could be anyone but Green Arrow or Flash; they’re still blonds at this point.

Batman sits down with this mystery visitor and rings for Alfred to bring them breakfast. Then, Batman’s going to tell the visitor a story and see if he can guess the conclusion.

Now, at this point, I still had vague hope for the comic. I figured it’d at least be a puzzling mystery. Then the title of the story– Pick-Up on Gotham 2-4-6!—references Pelham 1-2-3 so I thought we were in for an elaborate heist story.

Nope. Batman’s in disguise on the subway, and some guy dressed as Batman runs through the train car, then exits the train. Batman follows him, chases, fights, fights, chases, returns to train for resolution, then poses the mystery question to his visitor (and the reader). But it’s an eleven-page story, and three or four pages are used on the framing. The mystery doesn’t relate to the fight scenes either, so all the mystery stuff occurs in a page or two. And then some of the solution is less about deductive reasoning than reading comprehension.

As a result, I’m concerned about my youthful reading habits. Or maybe this one’s just not a great Rozakis who-dun-it.

Anyway.

Rozakis’s also writing the back-up, which is more of the Calculator messing with various superheroes. This time it’s Hawkman, who’s running a courier service of sorts. Except, oh, no, the Calculator turns out to be his package. And so they fight, with the Calculator using some of the powers from previous foes, like Elongated Man’s extended bendy arm punch. Coming out of Calculator’s forehead thing.

That costume design is weird.

Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin do the art (though Austin later said Neal Adams inked some of the pages; I wonder if they were the better or worse ones). The art’s better than last time, but still a bit of a disappointment from Rogers. His best panels are all design-work, too, like they’d make great T-shirts, but comic panels… not so much.

The next issue promises the Calculator story will be important, just like every one before.

Batman 306 (December 1978)

2768 Conway does a riff on High Noon with Batman protecting a drug dealer from the vigilante, the Black Spider. Because Conway keeps all Batman’s plans from the reader, it does have some successful plot twists.

Except maybe when Batman falls down the entire Wayne Foundation tree and lives. The only real damage is to his costume–the cowl and pants survive, but it’s shirtless Batman for the final showdown. Very, very odd.

Calnan continues to be ambitious, particularly during action scenes and they still don’t come off. But it’s not a bad feature.

Rozakis’s backup, with Batman trying to discover the identity of his master blackmailer, is pretty good. It ends unsatisfactorily for Batman, which one has to assume would happen a lot. There are some great summary panels from Newton too.

I think the backup might have more subplots than the feature… Conway’s story is professional, Rozakis’s is passionate.

CREDITS

Night of Siege; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, John Calnan; colorist, Jerry Serpe. The Mystery Murderer of “Mrs. Batman”!; writer, Bob Rozakis; penciller, Don Newton; colorist, Adrienne Roy. Inker, Dave Hunt; letterer, Ben Oda; editors, E. Nelson Bridwell and Julius Schwartz; publisher, DC Comics.

Batman 305 (November 1978)

2767 There’s something off about the art in the feature story. John Calnan is actually really ambitious–interesting composition, lots of dynamic movement–but none of it works. There’s no depth; someone’s hand–gesturing–will look affixed to his or her face.

Not sure if it’s inker Dave Hunt or Calnan, but since Hunt does all right inking the backup, I’m assuming Calnan.

Gerry Conway writes the feature. It’s Batman versus terrorists with a subplot about Gotham millionaires losing their fortunes. Are these two plots somehow related? Sadly, yes. Actually, Conway pulls off the connection relatively well, he just has a goofy resolution for the terrorists. There’s the reality of a terrorist threat and the unreality of a giant slot machine.

Bob Rozakis’s backup has beautiful pencils from Don Newton and goes through Batman’s investigative process. It’s pretty cool, with Batman following leads without them panning out.

Incredibly weak cliffhanger though.

CREDITS

Death-Gamble of a Darknight Detective!; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, John Calnan; colorist, Jerry Serpe. With This Ring Find Me Dead!; writer, Bob Rozakis; penciller, Don Newton; colorist, Adrienne Roy. Inker, Dave Hunt; letterer, Ben Oda; editors, E. Nelson Bridwell and Julius Schwartz; publisher, DC Comics.

Detective Comics (1937) #519

Dc519

Kupperberg writes Batman and Robin like something out of the TV show. They’re celebrities, they go on very public adventures, Robin loiters awkwardly around the Batcave in his tights. The approach is just awkward–it’s like a fifties story stretched over a whole issue so there’s no way it isn’t going to overstay its welcome.

In this story, Batman has a Washington DC adventure and Robin goes to the arctic. It feels like a James Bond parody.

Having Calnan on the inks is also a problem, but it’s not like, even with the regular quality Newton art, the story wasn’t going to be weak. Kupperberg doesn’t even give the issue any subplots. It’s just Batman and Robin splitting up to fight the villains.

However, at least the Batgirl backup is worthwhile. Randall continues to overwrite, but what she’s overwriting is interesting. Here, Batgirl loses, feels bad, story ends. Plus, great art.

Detective Comics 519 (October 1982)

In this story, Batman has a Washington DC adventure and Robin goes to the arctic. It feels like a James Bond parody.

However, at least the Batgirl backup is worthwhile. Randall continues to overwrite, but what she’s overwriting is interesting. Here, Batgirl loses, feels bad, story ends. Plus, great art.

CREDITS

…Like a Dreadnought in the Sky!; writers, Gerry Conway and Paul Kupperberg; penciller, Don Newton; inker, John Calnan; colorist, Adrienne Roy; letterer, Ben Oda; editor, Len Wein. …When Velvet Paws Caress the Ground!; writer, Barbara J. Randall; penciller, Trevor von Eeden; inker, Rodin Rodriguez; colorist, Gene D’Angelo; letterer, Janice Chiang; editor, Dick Giordano. Publisher, DC Comics.

Batman (1940) #352

Bm352

It’s Batman versus the sky pirates! The bad guy’s name is Colonel Blimp. He and his pirates fly around in a tricked out zeppelin.

Of course, the issue doesn’t open with the sky pirates. It opens with the Gotham police admitting their beating up ex-commissioner Gordon because he’s investigating election fraud. They make this admission in front of Batman, who I would have thought could have called the UN or the President or someone when in a situation like that one… but he doesn’t. In fact, he forgets about it for the rest of the issue because he’s got a date with Vicki Vale.

Kupperberg has a really weird narrative gimmick in the issue–he has a cliffhanger, then immediately reveals what happened in a layered flashback. It reads they were originally making space for a Catwoman backup, then didn’t have one.

Calnan’s inks are atrocious. He mutilates Newton.

Batman 352 (October 1982)

It’s Batman versus the sky pirates! The bad guy’s name is Colonel Blimp. He and his pirates fly around in a tricked out zeppelin.

Calnan’s inks are atrocious. He mutilates Newton.

CREDITS

The Killer Sky!; writers, Gerry Conway and Paul Kupperberg; penciller, Don Newton; inker, John Calnan; colorist, Carl Gafford; letterer, Ben Oda; editor, Dick Giordano; publisher, DC Comics.