BONUS BOOK - Night Force (1982)

BONUS BOOK - Night Force (July, 1982)
"The Night Force"
Writer - Marv Wolfman
Pencils - Gene Colan
Inks - Bob Smith
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Michele Wolfman
Editor - Ross Andru

Another day, another Insert Prevue from the pages of New Teen Titans... I think, counting Masters of the Universe, this makes three... with more to come!  One thing's different here though, in that not only does this appear in an issue of New Teen Titans... it's also written by the very same fella who gave us New Teen Titans!

For today we're taking a look at Marv Wolfman reuniting with his Tomb of Dracula partner Gene Colan to create a sorta-kinda horror title in Night Force!

Now, it's been ages since I've read any actual Night Force comics... and my most recent exposure to the concept was, err, not the best.  It was the 2018-2019 Raven: Daughter of Darkness maxi-series that attempted to reimagine the Night Force as a team of teen-age mystics and whatnot... and it was even worse than it sounds.  With a teen-age cast came Marv Wolfman's need to... err, engage in "teenspeak"... Baron Winters even makes a "swipe left" reference.  It was cringy as hell.  Even Winters' Cat Merlin utters out some unironic and sassy "Grrrrrrll"s.  I reviewed every issue of the thing for the folks over at Weird Science DC Comics if you're interested in going along for that ride.

I covered the first issue of Night Force here at the blog nearly four years ago... and I'm pretty sure I didn't even realize at the time that a "Prevue" proceeded it.  To me, that's a good thing.  I don't think people who buy a #1 issue should be punished because they didn't do their due-diligence in buying some other title altogether to be introduced to the concept.  As we will soon find out, this Insert Preview does add to the lore, but it is by no means required to understand the events of the first issue.

Let's get to it...

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We open "somewhen" where Baron Winters is taking in a jousting tournament hosted by a Lord Bedford in his honor.  Apparently, Winters was vital in saving the Lord's people.  He also bought some at-the-time worthless London real estate... knowing full-well that it would appreciate in some six hundred years.  After the event, Winters walks through a door... and winds up back at his palatial mansion, where his jolly mood is interrupted by the ringing of a phone.  On the other end, a man named Jack Gold... with whom the Baron has an interview the following day.  Worth noting, Winters already knew it would be Gold on the line.

Now, just who is this Jack Gold?  Well, we soon learn he is a tabloid news reporter who somehow talked his way into getting a look at some Top Secret Pentagon files on "Psychic Phenomena".  Jack's... well, kind of a jerk to the Major showing him around... and isn't all that keen on being given access to only a single file.

As luck would have it, the Major gets called away.  Despite not liking or trusting Jack... he, get this, leaves him alone in the file room!  Unsurprisingly, Jack takes this opportunity to dig a bit deeper in the drawers... and happens across a file labeled PROJECT SATAN, written by a Georgetown Professor named Donovan Caine.

Major Whatshisface pops back in, and catches Gold in the act.  He has his assistant escort the reporter out... and also tells her to make sure he never returns.  She makes a phone call... to a shadowy individual.

She then catches up with Jack to apologize for the Major's brusqueness and offer to take him out for a cup of coffee so they can talk.  He takes her up on the offer, but doesn't care to stick around all that long.  After the cuppa, Jack heads into the garage to procure his rental car... only to find that a security guard appeared to be paying special attention to it.  Writing it off as paranoia, Jack hops in and takes off.

Only... he doesn't get very far.  The ol' hooptie is rattling like mad and spewing exhaust like it's going out of style.  He pulls into a gas station and asks the Attendant to take a look at it while he makes a phone call to his ex-wife.  Well, the Attendant shifts the gears a few times, and... boom.

Back at Wintersgate, the Baron is talking to his sassy cat about his latest recruits... not only is Jack vital to his plans, but that very same Donovan Caine also factors in!  Speaking of Professor Don, he's currently guiding a class through a... Satanic Baptism?  Okey doke.  His students strip off their clothes and join hands while he babbles about somethin' or 'nother.  Before long, the entire place is bathed in flame.

The students are, well more than a bit freaked out, and nearly trample one another to get out.  Caine manages to calm them all down by suggesting that this was all a good sign... a sign that they're "narrowing in on their target", whatever that means.  During a subsequent five-minute break, one of the students heads into the hallway to make a phone call... to, perhaps that same shadowy individual.

We jump back to the Baron as he's informing sassy cat about the final (at this point) recruit... a young woman named Vanessa Van Helsing.  A woman tortured by visions and whatnot, currently being held at in one of Potomac Psychiatric Hospital's finest padded rooms.

Van Helsing starts throwing a fit, prompting some orderlies to bust in and try to calm her down  She's thrashing all about as a Dr. Rabin enters the scene, resigned to the fact that there's only ever been one treatment for this behavior... and it involves a visit to Wintersgate.

And so, that's exactly where they go.  Rabin and Winters exchange some unkind words, with the former insisting that the latter only provides a "placebo cure"... which, c'mon, any old port in a storm, right?  If it works, it works.  Before we know it, Winters has Vanessa back to "normal" so she can be taken back to the Hospital.  He promises that he will be able to help her in a more permanent way once she turns 21.

We wrap up with the Baron retiring for the evening, realizing that tomorrow is going to be quite a busy day indeed.

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I'm not sure what it was, but I came into this completely prepared to crap all over it.  If I were to guess, it's probably residual disappointment stemming from that Raven: Daughter of Darkness garbage-fire.  I was half expecting the Baron to bust out with a "Talk to the Hand" or "Cash me outside" or something here.  He (and his cat) was just so damn sassy in that cringy maxi-series!

What we get here, however, is... really good stuff!  I'm not even a fella who considers himself a fan of horror comics, and I found myself highly entertained and intrigued by this short offering.  On that subject, has anyone reading this ever read a horror comic that actually scared them?  I know I haven't... but, I'd love to if anyone has any recommendations!

Baron Winters comes across here as quite the enigma.  We can't tell at first blush whether or not we ought to be rooting for him.  In fact, if not for the cover-copy (which reads: "To Save Mankind...") we might assume we're actually reading about a super-villain!  I like just how much of the Night Force "lore" is included right off the bat.  Things like Wintersgate Mansion being something of a dimensional hub is established in the very first page.  Not only is that highly interesting, it also subverts our expectations going forward.  I mean, the "cover" and opening scene take place in Medieval England... then suddenly, in passing through an ordinary door, we're in current day!  It really illustrates the amount of possibilities that can be explored in this series... and it's a lot of fun.

We're not-quite introduced to the anti-Winters (if that's in fact who the shadowy fella getting the phone calls winds up being, I can't for the life of me remember who that is... it might just be the Baron himself playing both sides!).  I dig the level of urgency that threat brought to the story... and the confirmation that there is actually something sinister going on that needs to be uncovered and dealt with.

Really, I just don't have enough good things to say about this one.  From story, to characters, to... good lord, the art... this was a really well put together piece... and to think, we got it for free between the pages of another awesome story appearing in New Teen Titans #21 (July, 1982).  It was a good time to be a fan of DC Comics.

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BONUS BOOK - Wonder Woman (1982)

BONUS BOOK - Wonder Woman (February, 1982)
"New Wonder Woman Preview"
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Gene Colan
Inks - Romeo Tanghal
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Adrienne Roy
Editor - Len Wein

And now for an Insert Preview (or "Prevue" as the cover page puts it) that I've never bothered to read before.  It's features like this that remind me what an "embarrassment of riches" we fans have these days when it comes to options and reading material.  In my younger days, where I'd only be able to buy like one comic book a week, I'd have absolutely loved any extra content I'd get... be it a letters page, a back-up story... or a free "Prevue", I'd be so appreciative... and would just devour all of the content.

These days though?  There are just too many options out there... too many readable-pages competing for my attention.  I can be choosier... and even go as far as to dismiss or ignore things that, at a glance, won't interest me.  That's this NEW Wonder Woman feature in a nutshell... something that, upon first look, was boring... starring a character, who I also feel is quite boring.  Just never felt like it was worth my time.

I guess that's what this little BONUS BOOK project is all about!  Broadening my horizons by actually reading some long-ignored part of my comics library... and hopefully finding something worth checking out and sharing!

This Wonder Woman story was included in DC Comics Presents #41 (January, 1982)... though, you might've noticed (but probably not) that the insert feature itself bears a "Feb" cover-date.  As for the DCCP ish, this insert interrupts a... rather lackluster team-up between Superman and the Joker.  Maybe we'll discuss that sometime... or not.

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Our story opens in Washington, D.C. where Colonel Steve Trevor and Captain Diana Prince are en route to a rendezvous point to drop off a locked briefcase.  Unfortunately for them, it looks like this clandestine meeting might just have been a set-up!  They are approached by a pair of gun-toting spies!  Trevor tosses the suitcase to Diana and instructs her to take off running with it.  As she is his subordinate (least I think she's supposed to be), she does as she's told... running down an alley to protect the loot while he fights off Boris and... Boris?

In the alley, Diana socks the briefcase away in a garbage can and changes into Wonder Woman... who, isn't obliged to obey the Colonel's orders.

Wonder Woman bursts through a wall as though she was Kool-Aid Man, and proceeds to engage in some bullets-and-bracelets before beating up the bad guys.

In the interim, Boris and Boris's buddies have stowed Steve Trevor in the back of their town car... and are attempting to get away.  Wondy ain't about to sweat these fools... and makes pretty short work of them.  The geeks are kayoed, Steve Trevor is saved, and a pair of onlookers appear to be extremely excited to be in the presence of their hero.

As Steve is loaded into an ambulance (and Wonder Woman pretends not to be too worried about him), that pair of groupies decides to approach her.  Ya see, they represent the Wonder Woman Foundation... a non-profit outfit that has been promised full financial backing... from somewhere... to promote Equality for all Women.  They'd like for Wonder Woman to kind of be their public face... which, ya know, stands to reason if the foundation is named after her.  Also, they want her to change her outfit... ditching her old halter to one with "W's" on it.

Wonder Woman takes a moment to ponder this... and decides that, before agreeing to anything, she ought to talk it over with her mother.  And so, she boards her invisible robot plane and heads Paradise Island way.

Upon arriving back home, she finds that the Amazons are a bit subdued.  Getting a closer look, she learns they're not only "subdued"... but bound and shackled!  Turns out they'd been visited by Hercules and Hermes... two grade-a a-holes!  They've stolen Hippolyta's Magic Belt of Strength, and have more or less taken over the place!

Diana decides to challenge Hermes to a race... for the Magic Belt of Strength.  Ol' Hermes ain't one to look like a chicken, and so... he agrees.  He hurls the Belt into the distance and he and Wonder Woman race to procure it.  Wonder Woman wins.

This only leaves Hercules to deal with... and so, Diana challenges him to a test of strength.  Which, after a whole lot of Roy Thomas banter and captions... she wins!

After the dust settles, and the Olympians vamoose back from whence they came, Diana chats up her mother regarding the new halter.  Hippolyta encourages her to wear the new one... and represent women everywhere (which I thought she already did anyway...).

We wrap up with the new-look Diana hopping back on her invisible robot plane to head back to the States to check on Steve... and the realization that, uh-oh... Steve Trevor is... dying!

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I suppose I ought to admit right off the bat that I never realized that Wonder Woman's costume didn't always have "W's" on it!  I'm not sure quite how to describe that old design... but, when the groupies handed her the halter with the W's... I didn't really see what the big deal was!  In flipping back a few pages, I was able to realize that... yeah, it's different.  I didn't get to appreciate the importance of this... or, how... I dunno... "landmarky" this change might've been though.

I get that there's symbolism... but, drawing so fine a line under the W's representing Women Everywhere kind of lessens the importance of everything she'd done while wearing her old costume.  I mean, are we supposed to believe that Wonder Woman only started representing Women after she wore a shirt with a "W" on it?  I dunno... I'm probably thinking about it too hard... and through a scarily less-subtle 2019-2020 lens, where everything needs to be completely spelled out for us.  Otherwise, how would we ever know how morally superior the writer feels they are?

Speaking of "current year" lamentations... it's so darned refreshing to see a story where a character gets a new direction/new look/new creative team... and not a shiny new #1 issue to go along with it!

As for the story itself... ya know, it wasn't half bad!  I was expecting this portion of today's piece to be full of yawns... but, I kind of dug it!  Well, the first half anyway.  I'm not sure there's a writer who's ever walked the Earth who can make a Paradise Island story "work" for me.  I even resort to skimming those early issues of New Teen Titans that occur there!

The first half of the story though?  Top notch superheroics... building tension, leaving some questions unanswered, just all around good stuff.  The second-half... ehh, it was perhaps a, for lack of a better term, "necessary evil".  We needed Diana to chat with Hippolyta... and since this isn't a "current year" comic, we weren't about to get 16 pages of identical photostatted "talking heads".  Gotta appreciate the effort here of actually delivering a bit of action, regardless of how uninspired I might've found it!

Overall... a good outing, and a story I'm happy I finally got around to reading!

UPDATE: February 18, 2020:
An advance preview of Wonder Woman's new costume from Amazing Heroes #3 (August, 1981):

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Nathaniel Dusk #1 (1984)

Nathaniel Dusk #1 (February, 1984)
"Lovers Die at Dusk"
Writer/Co-Creator - Don McGregor
Artist/Co-Creator - Gene Colan
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Tom Ziuko
Editor - Alan Gold
Cover Price: $1.25

Sort of a timely entry with Nathaniel Dusk.

If you're reading the (excellent) Doomsday Clock maxiseries, you'll be familiar with the name.  If you're not reading it (and you really should be), Nathaniel Dusk films are seen from time to time running in the background of some of the scenes.  Kinda reminiscent of how those "Tales of the Black Freighter" bits lent some "flavor" to the original Watchmen series.

From Doomsday Clock #2 (February, 2018)
(w) Geoff Johns / (a) Gary Frank

It's a super neat touch... and, also... for an "everything matters" nut like myself, very much appreciated!

I'm assuming if you're following (or even just popping in on) a blog like mine, you're already aware that Nathaniel Dusk was the star of a couple of miniseries back in the long ago.  If not, get ready to meet him!

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We open on January 31, 1934 with Nathaniel Dusk going for a midday walk.  As he makes his over way to chat up a neighborhood vendor named Oscar, we can see that he is being watched by a couple of nogoodniks.  They watch while Nate and Oscar talk about the latter's Polio-afflicted son.

After chatting and picking up some snaps from the photo lab, Nathaniel heads back to his office to meet with a client... a Mrs. Grant Morrison (heyyy), who has hired our man to check up on her husband and see if he's been cheating on her.  

Annnnnd, turns out... he is!

Mrs. Morrison is pretty ticked, as you might imagine.  Just ten a young lady named Joyce Gulino enters the office.  She tries cheering up the jilted Midwestern Morrison... which doesn't go all that well.  The client chucks some cash at our man Nate before storming out.

At this point, it's made pretty clear that Ms. Gulino is Nate's love interest.  She throws herself into his lap, and kinda ruffles his feathers about being a Private Investigator instead of remaining on the police department.  He spins a tale of corruption, abuse of power, and general unpleasantness which led to him leaving the force.

Nate changes into his casual clothes, and the couple head out for an evening on the town.  They run into a Wolf of Wall Street turned shoe-shine man named Freddie Bickenhacker, and chat about his shifting of fortunes following the big crash.  Those creeps from earlier are still keeping an eye on Dusk.

One of the baddies even gets out of the car to pursue Nate and Joyce on foot.  He winds up getting tripped up by a dog on a leash before slamming into another pedestrian.  At this point, Nate and Joyce run into an acquaintance of her's named Arthur Squire.  The resulting chat is brief... and awkward.

We rejoin Nate and Joyce at a restaurant, and they're talking about contraception as a precursor to infidelity (or something).  We then learn a bit more about Joyce... her past isn't something she really discusses.  We find out that her parents and husband have passed away, and she lives with her two young children.

Just then, Nate catches a glimpse of that same hearty-looking fella who has been following him around all day.  He heads over to find out why the goof's been keeping an eye on him... and in a neat little touch, the baddie is reading an upside-down menu.  Not sure if that's a sign that he can't read... or just a really bad attempt at looking conspicuous.  Either way, I thought it was pretty neat.

Nate "questions" the man... which, is to say... gets in his face and throws a drink at him.  This causes the goof to lunge, and after a brief skirmish, throws Nate out the front window of the joint.  The baddie takes this opportunity to escape into a waiting car.

After the police show up to take a report, we follow Nate and Joyce back to her place.  It's here that we meet her children... and learn that the voices of Amos and Andy on the radio are actually white guys.  Nice "flavor" of the times, I suppose.

After the kids head to bed, Nate and Joyce spend a little "quality time".  Rather than stay over, and risk making the children uncomfortable, Nate decides to head back to his office.

... only to find those voyeuristic nogoodniks waiting for him!

They talk a little King Kong, and take Nate to a tall building (which might be the Empire State... it's definitely near it).  From there, they toss our man, and that's where we leave him!

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Quite enjoyed this one.  It was a different sort of animal for me.  I'd hate to use words like "Noir", because... honestly, I'm not entirely sure what it even means!  I'd guess this is noir, but I've put my foot in my mouth before.

For my first read through, I was a bit confused with the way we were (or weren't) getting all the information I felt we might need... but, considering this is a finite story, I suppose it makes sense to leave things somewhat nebulous... at least during the opening chapter.

I appreciated all of the Depression-era "flavor" included here.  Discussions of contraception facilitating infidelity, a "Wolf of Wall Street" reduced to shining shoes, Polio being a thing pre-Jonas Salk, radio shows being a primary form of entertainment... all really cool to see.

Nate seems like a likable sort of fella... with a strong moral compass.  His integrity led to his leaving a corrupt police force, and going out on his own.

We still know little about Joyce... and I'm not entirely convinced that she's trustworthy at this point.  I mean, this is (I think) noir... and femme fatales were yet another flavor of the day.  I almost feel like we're being lured into a false sense of security with her... though, I've never read this all the way through, so I can't be sure.

I'm torn on the art here.  While I like it, it's almost a bit too "loose" insofar as it being sequential art.  There were a few pages I had to look over more than once... though, I'm always open to the possibility that that might be due to my own density than any flaws in the artwork.

Overall... a different, but fun kind of comic book.  If you have any interest in pot-boiler detective stories... or if you just wanna know a little about the fella who's being name-dropped in Doomsday Clock, you'll probably want to give this a look.

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(Not the) Letters Page:

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