DC NEAR-MISS: Ms. Mystic #1 (1982)

DC NEAR-MISS: Ms. Mystic #1 (October, 1982)
"Ms. Mystic"
Creator & Writer - Neal Adams
Assists - Mike Nasser (hey, I'm just copying what the credits say!)
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Cory Adams
Zips - Joel Adams
From Pacific Comics
Cover Price: $1.00

Here's a bit of a strange one... and one that's kind of controversial in the telling.  I usually preface these DC Near-Miss pieces with a disclaimer about how I'm "probably not blowing any minds" with whatever revelation I'm about to share... but, this one... the deeper I got into it, kinda blew mine!  Ms. Mystic's ownership and creation history is... a bit muddy (though, I'm sure those involved don't see it as such).  I'm no expert on law, and don't claim to be... not even on the internet, which I suppose might make me a something of a unicorn these days.

I'm just wanting to walk you through some of the more interesting bits of Ms. Mystic's tumultuous beginnings, how she was supposed to be a DC Comics character... why that never actually came to pass, and then I'll leave some links to where you can read a whole lot more regarding the issue of who owns what, and why.

Let's start with a look at Mike Nasser/Netzer's blog.  There is a page there titled, "We All Know what You've Done, Neal" which is directed at Neal Adams... and walks us through some of the more seminal moments in the creation of our Mystic Ms.!  I've included the first six bullet points below.

From Michael Netzer's Blog

As we can see, Ms. Mystic was originally slated to be a DC Comic... interestingly, if we look at Item #2 - We learn that it was supposed to be DC's first-ever "Creator-Owned Book".  Keep that in the back of your mind... seems there were at least two other concepts which also purported to be slated as DC's first creator-owned book... Mike Grell's Starslayer, and Larry Hama's Bucky O'Hare.  We will be getting to those pretty soon, don't worry.

Item #3 tells us that Neal Adams included Ms. Mystic on the cover of the immensely popular Superman vs. Muhammed Ali treasury.  No way... right?  Hmm... let's head up and grab that big-fat TASCHEN Bronze-Age of DC Comics book and look into this a bit deeper.  Here's the cover-code:

Well, I'll be damned!  Ms. Mystic is right there, Number 24!  She's got an (H) after her name, which... in going by the Code, tells us that she's... a DC Character!  Let's double-check that on the ol' cover itself!

Well, well, well... there she is, in all her glory!  Her hair is a bit blonder than it'll be in the issue we're going to discuss, but... that's her, alright!

Let's jump all the way to Point #6... the cancellation in 1978.  Plenty of wannabe comics historians (like myself) know what happened to DC Comics in 1978, right?  There was... that opposite-of-explosion thing that went down.  The DC Implosion wound up costing DC Ms. Mystic (along with Starslayer, and Bucky to boot!).  Here's a blurb from page 102 of Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 (TwoMorrows) to further explain:

From Comic Book Implosion: An Oral History of DC Comics Circa 1978 (TwoMorrows) 

As for that "November, 1977 Publishorial", Ms. Kahn might've written it in November of '77, but it wouldn't appear until DC Comics cover-dated February, 1978.  I only know that because I'm such a devoted idiot that I ran upstairs to the stacks to try and track it down!  Here it is in all it's glory (as found in Action Comics #480 (Feb, 78)):

Tracking this down was a half-hour well spent...

A little more evidence that Ms. Mystic was originally a DC (or DC-adjacent) character was the inclusion of a little Easter Egg on the first page of her comic (which Mr. Netzer drew back in 1977).  You'd never notice it, if you weren't already looking for it... as a matter of fact, even after finding out that it was there, I still had trouble seeing it.  It felt like I was looking at one'a them "Magic Eye" Puzzles!  Here, I'll show ya!  This is the bottom-right hand corner of the opening Splash Page from Ms. Mystic #1:

Clear as mud, right?  Well, allegedly, if you toss this image into a Photoshop-like program and up the brightness to el-effen it'll make it a bit easier to see.  So, let's give that a try!

D'ya see it?  Maybe?  And no, I'm not talking about that little ink smear next to her leg... that's just some "misprinting", which naturally means I'll be putting my copy up on eBay as a "rare misprint" and make hundreds of dollars by the end of the day.  Lemme get in there with my ink-pen, and see if I can't make this a bit easier.

Why... izzat... izzat, one of my least favorite DC Comics characters of all-time... Deadman?!  Yeah, it is... how would we ever know that from that chicken-scratch I scrawled across my phone's screen on that above image?  Well, if we go back to Mr. Netzer's blog, he gives us a wayyyy more professional-looking "upscale":

From Michael Netzer Online

So yeah, there you have it.  Ms. Mystic... a victim of the DC Implosion, who wouldn't see publication until nearly a half-decade later... at a different publishing house altogether!

Now, before heading into the spoilery-synopsis of her first issue, I wanna leave a(nother) link to Michael Netzer Online, where you can read way more about the rights issues and what-not.

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Our story opens in the Arizona Desert... because, in comics-speak, more often than not, that's all there ever is in Arizona.  We check in on a unique-looking vehicle that barrels down the barren road.  Inside, we meet a half-dozen scientists, whose expertise appears to be in pollution.  They're out here looking for a remote factory that's been spewing it out by the cloud-ful.  To further hammer that point home, we can see that nearby animals and humans are falling ill.  Get used to this issue "hammering" things home... we're going to get a lot of that.

Finally, our Science Team arrives at the remote factory... and so, they exit their vehicle... and the leader, an older fellow named Dr. Raas, proceeds to... well, shout a whole lot into a megaphone.  The factory itself responds to this by... producing a gun, and shooting at the pesky annoyance.

Raas and the Gang hustle back to their rig, and throw out a shield made of a full inch of solid steel.  Thankfully this is enough to deflect the incoming fire.  One of the group, the athletic Dennis Swan, takes aim at the laser-gun with one a blaster of his own, and manages to take it out.

It looks like everything's gonna be hunky-dory... that is, until the factory releases a... uh, these weird unicycle spider things?  It's not lookin' good for our gaggle of geeks!

The team reconnoiters back behind their solid-steel-shield, and tries to plan their next move.  Doctor Raas claims that his "detectors" have deduced that these unicycle critters are being controlled by both psychic and mechanical means.  Hmm... "psychic detectors"?  That doesn't sound terribly scientific, does it?  Meanwhile... somewhere else, a woman floats in space.

At this point, the Scientists are pretty much outta tricks, and so they have to rely on... I dunno, their "energies".  I'm not sure if it's been established whether or not this crew has powers.  It really hasn't been explicitly stated either way.  Whatever the case, they gather around this cannon... concentrate their energy... and fire!

Now, in firing this energy cannon, our team somehow disrupts the entire multiverse or something... because in the three-seconds it takes for this blast to do... whatever the hell it is that it did, our floating woman is able to "cross over" into the real world!

This woman, who is... duh, Ms. Mystic, immediately faces off with the wheelie-spider thing, while the scientists look on in confusion.

Ms. Mystic gives the machine everything she's got... but it doesn't look like it's having any effect.  She eventually rushes the thing with her strange sword drawn... and, bada-bing, bada-boom... no' mo' juggerno.

When the dust settles, the Science Team heads over to our gal and tries to reconcile everything they'd just seen.  Actually, it's more like... they tell her how powerful she is, and ask if she can help them break into the factory.  It doesn't take much convincing for Ms. Mystic to come on board.  She sets to using lasers from her weird antenna things to break on through the wall.

She dramatically refers to herself as a "Vessel of Earth's Revenge", to which, nobody laughs.  I'm sorry, I'm thinkin' I'd have busted a gut if I ever heard someone say that.

Inside, Dr. Raas gets a load of what the baddies are workin' with... and deduces that this is among the 2% of manufacturing processes that he is unfamiliar with.  Ms. Mystic finally decides to ask them what their purpose here is... and what we learn is that they are the S.I.A., the Science Investigation Agency... a special task force put together as an act of Congress to fight pollution.

Suddenly, the crew finds themselves surrounded by some very angry-looking blue-collar workers!  What's more, they're armed... with, ya know, crowbars and stuff.  Ms. Mystic isn't sure what's going on, but is quick to reveal that this mob isn't acting of their own volition... they're being controlled by somebody, or something.

That "something" is... a gigantic golden box in the room... which Ms. Mystic destroys, returning the blue-collar workers to normal... or at least as "normal" as they were before the mind-boggling.  Boy, the business of making pollution (and only pollution) must be booming for the baddies to go to such lengths, no?

It's here where the Science Team decides... hey, maybe we oughta know a little bit about this strange woman we're rollin' with.  And so, she volunteers her entire origin story!  Ya see, she's a three-hundred year old witch... 

... who, during the Salem Witch Trials was burnt at the stake... only, before she could burn, she was zapped into another place... where she's remained ever since.  Dr. Raas wipes a tear from her eye, welcomes her "home", and tells her next time, not to stay away so long.

The rest of the team... ehhh, they ain't so sure they buy this story.  I mean, just how far are we willing to suspend our disbelief, right?  Weird flying woman with laser antennae appearing outta nowhere is perfectly logical... but, that witch thing... tsk, I dunno!  Anyhoo, they continue down the factory hallways until they find a very brightly-lit room.  Ms. Mystic bee-lines it.

Inside, she is blasted by... uh, some goofball in a construction helmet?  Oh, wait... he's not just any goofball in a construction helmet... this, my friends, is The Foreman!  He tells them to beat it... and also is about 100% sure that he killed Ms. Mystic dead.

Naturally, she starts speaking the very next panel.  She asks Raas to distract the Foreman... while she petitions the Earth for assistance.  And so, while she chats up Gaia, Dr. Raas proceeds to... uh, show the Foreman his government ID?  This might be even worse than the megaphone!

Ms. Mystic finally rises, and takes on the Foreman... knocking him down, and also... knocking off his helmet.  We see here that the inside of his helmet had all sorts of circuitry in it... and he too was being controlled!  Mystic cannot believe that all of this pollution was created by some doofus in a helmet... and so, she faints!  That's where the story ends... annnnnd, the next issue ain't comin' for something like two years (cover-date February, 1984)!

But!  We've got a back-up!  "Rescue Rhapsody" from the "Tales of Zed" by Chris Miller.  In it, a Fairy takes a bath... before being nabbed by some strange beast.

She cries for help, which wakes up a sleeping piper... who, proceeds to, well, pipe.

The enchanted tune makes it so the only thing the beast can do... is dance!  And so, it releases the little half-bathed Fairy!

But, that's not all the music did!  It looks like it's caused the beast to sorta-kinda fall in love with the Piper!  And so, it grabs him!

Now, since the Piper is being forcibly danced with by the beast, he can no longer pipe... which, kinda ticks the beast off?  I think?  This is much harder to follow than it ought to be.  This chapter ends with the beast hurling the Piper away.  Not sure if this ever gets followed up on... and, I can't say I'm all that interested in finding out!

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So... that was Ms. Mystic!  What'd we all think?  When we look at the fight for her rights, it kinda feels like much ado about nothing, dunnit?  I mean, no disrespect to Netzer or Adams, but... I'm not at all convinced this character warrants all that much in the way of hub-bub.

Here's a bit from a Neal Adams interview regarding the character that appeared in Back Issue! #94 (February, 2017)... it's actually the interview that prompted Mike Netzer to deliver that 36-point itemized list I included (the first six points of) above:

Seems Neal's a little dismissive of Mr. Netzer's contributions... I can kinda see why he's a bit ticked off.  Though, I don't know either of these fellas... so, it's probably best to reserve judgment.

What we have here is... I dunno, it's going to be a lazy comparison, but it feels very much like Captain Planet.  Our main threat is... pollution just for the sake of it?  I never understood it when the baddies are cool with destroying the planet... because, it just seems counterproductive, don't you think?

The heavy-handedness of this story bordered on being silly... I mean, it's the sort of story that would make Hard-Travelin' Hero-era Ollie Queen roll his eyes.  Ms. Mystic's dramatic soliloquy as she melted her way into the factory was also wildly cringy... and kind of pulled me out of the story.

On the other hand, the characters... what little we "got" from them, were more or less likable enough.  Ms. Mystic herself has a really cool design, and is also the kind of character you could get behind.  Also, the art here was pretty fantastic!

Had DC not "imploded"... I could see Ms. Mystic being mentioned in the same breath as characters like Madame Xanadu and Amethyst.  Probably would've been part of a Justice League Dark line-up at some point... which, considering she hasn't been seen since 1994 (to my knowledge), might've been her best-possible timeline.


Is this worth checking out?  I think so.  I don't know a heckuva lot more about this property than what we discussed today... and, I suppose I wouldn't mind learning a bit more.


Oh... yeah, there was a back-up, wasn't there?  It was... fine.  I will say, even if the story left me wanting... I did love the art.

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(Not the) Letters Page:

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Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #225 (1977)

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #225 (March, 1977)
"And Who Shall Lead Them?"
"A Matter of Priorities"
Writer - Paul Levitz
Pencillers - Jim Sherman & Mike Nasser
Inker - Bob Wiacek
Editor - Denny O'Neil
Cover Price: $0.30

When folks think of important creative figures in Legion of Super-Heroes history, one name that is often at the very top is Paul Levitz.  I figure for this installment of "Learnin' the Legion", we'll go back to what I believe is his first Legion issue!

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We open during Wildfire being sworn in as new leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  A very angry Superboy bursts onto the scene, claiming Wildfire cheated him out of the position... because, he had more votes!  Things nearly become physical as this entire confrontation is being televised on WGBS.

As Superboy is being restrained by Mon-El and Ultra Boy, Dream Girl and Lightning Lad inform him of a change in the Legion Constitution... since Superboy (and Karate Kid, evidently) are only part-time members, they are unable to fulfill the role of Legion leader.  Kinda begs the question why so many people would vote for a part-timer, right?  Superboy did say he had the most votes!  Anyhoo, he stomps out in a huff, kvetching at Shadow Lass on the way down the hall.

Hours pass, and the Legion is alerted to their first big threat under Wildfire's leadership... the Resource Raiders are attacking a dam on Earth!  It looks like this crew is widely known as plundering resources throughout the galaxy.  The Legionnaires swoop into position, rescuing the nearby civilians...

... before taking aim at the Raiders' own odd flying saucer.  Lightning Lad and Shadow Lass hold the spinning disc at bay while Wildfire breaks off to attend to the busted up damn.  Before he might give it "one good blast", Superboy flies in and takes the brunt of it.  After throwing the Resource Raiders into orbit like a Frisbee, Superboy explains that the dam was coated in tiny explosive powder, which if ignited would've destroyed the entire valley.

Later on, in the Legion Lounge, Ultra Boy claims that there was no powder on the dam... otherwise he would have been able to see it with his Penetra-Vision.  Shadow Lass doesn't want to think that Superboy may be trying to set their new leader up... to which Dream Girl thinks there might just be more going on here than meets the eye.

We shift to the Legion's Hall of Uniforms, where an embittered Superboy skulks in the shadows.  He comes across his bounty... a Wildfire costume, just as the real-deal Wildfire shows up.  A brief skirmish ensues, ending in the darkness.  Once the dust settles... Wildfire leaves the room... or is it?

It isn't long before the Resource Raiders (I gotta stop typing Rescue Rangers) return to pillage and plunder, and Wildfire summons the Legionnaire to battle stations.  The team questions how Wildfire could have seen the Raiders, as they were hiding behind satellites... without penetra- or telescopic vision, this shouldn't be possible!  Wildfire simply replies that he "has his ways".

The Legion attacks the Raiders... and Wildfire is almost immediately blasted to atoms!  At that very moment and to everyone's surprise, Superboy shows up!

As Superboy enters the fray, and helps the team easily take out the Raiders, he explains that the reason he's been such a jerk is because he saw that the Legion computer predicted whoever was the new leader would be blasted and killed during their first mission... and he intended to (literally?) take that bullet!  During his fight with Wildfire in the Costume Room, Wildfire convinced him that he would have a better chance of surviving the (Kryptonite-laden) blast.  Wildfire slips into his spare costume, hoo-ha, the whole world works.  Everything's cool in Legion-land.

Our back-up story provides us with an "unknown tale" from Legion history.  It occurs on a spaceship where Legionnaires, Timber Wolf and Sun Boy are escorting Ambassador Relnic on a diplomatic mission.  Timber Wolf believes the intergalactic mass-murderer Tseln of Thaun is also on board... and despite Sun Boy's arguments, set out in pursuit.

In giving chase, Timber Wolf grabs a lone drape off the wall, and hurls it at his bounty... which turns out to be fellow Legionnaire, Princess Projectra!  It's really unclear just what the hell is going on here... like, I think he threw a drape at her... but it creaked when it came off the wall... like maybe it was a piece of the wall itself... but that would probably have taken Projectra out, right?  I dunno...

Anyhoo, Sun Boy and Relnic catch up, and we hear more about the mission of diplomacy.  Relnic is to head into the Dominion Worlds to avert a pending war with the Dominators.  We also get some exposition on Tseln.  The Legion have followed him across 12 planets, and still haven't gotten a good look at his face.  It's said that the baddie is quite superstitious and always kills using a ceremonial knife.  Relnic attempts to reason with Timber Wolf to settle his tea kettle... as it would be most unfortunate if the Dominators were to find out that he was secretly being escorted by Legionnaires.

Timber Wolf retires to his room, unhappy with having to wait... while Relnic, Sun Boy, and Princess Projectra have themselves some dinner... and, as it turns out, a show!  Suddenly the main area of the ship is filled with flame as a pair of smilin' demonic beasts make a (very) dramatic appearance!

The devilish-duo starts rattling the chains of the passengers when, wouldn'tcha know it, after some very comics-code-friendly threats, the very superstitious Tseln of Thaun shows his face... and ceremonial blade made of Mithril Silver!

Tseln attacks, but gets kayoed for his troubles.  The Devil-dude vanishes as ship security descends on the mass-murderer.  Turns out the devil was (I think) Timber Wolf under a Princess Projectra projec-tion, and the flames were courtesy of Sun Boy.  The whole ordeal is written off by the captain as the "ship's entertainment getting out of hand".  We wrap up with the Legionnaires whispering to each other about having stopped a mass-murderer without Relnic even realizing it.  Wonk wonk wonkkkk.

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Ehhhhh...

While the first story wasn't terrible, I really found it hard to believe that Superboy would act like such a brat.  I mean, would the Legionnaires not listen to him if he spoke to them about his findings in private?  Did he really need to cause a televised Legion-incident by storming in on the swearing-in ceremony?  Did he really plant gunpowder on the dam?  Did it really matter that whoever was in charge was going to be blasted by the Raiders?  Seems like Wildfire would've survived without Superboy's assistance, right?  I mean, buddy's an energy-type being, right?

The (brief) mystery of who is in the Wildfire costume was decently done, I suppose... but, if Wildfire was always Wildfire... how could he suss out the Raiders if they were hiding behind satellites?  I mean, that was a red herring to make us thing Superboy was under the mask... but isn't really explained away, unless I'm missing something.  Perhaps Superboy tipped Wildfire off after they put their plan together?  Was there a plan?  Oof.

Even with all of my misgivings/confusion, I gotta say... I enjoyed the first story a whole lot more than the back-up.  This one was just a chore.  This is the kind of story that always scared me away from the Legion... just three random Legionnaires in an out-of-costume adventure.  I mean, I can hardly identify some of these characters in costume... in their civvies, I'm totally lost.  That isn't to say there wasn't a fair amount of exposition... and by "fair amount" I mean a TON.

I'm still unclear on what it was that Timber Wolf through at Princess Projectra... was that all part of an elaborate act to smoke the baddie out, or did the "act" start with the devil illusion?  Why couldn't Relnic know what they were doing... I mean, he already knows his "bodyguards" are really Legionnaires, right?  Did he really need deniability?  Is he so dense that he wouldn't realize that, when the baddie gets captured due to a mixture of an illusion and flames, that perhaps Sun Boy and Princess Projectra had a hand in it?  I dunno...

The art for the first story was pretty great.  I was a bit disappointed initially that Mike Grell wasn't on art after seeing his work on the cover (along with Superboy's man-sized sideburns!), but Sherman put in some excellent work.  Nasser's work in the back-up was a bit sketchy, but not bad at all.  I definitely prefer Sherman's though.

Overall... perhaps not the best initial outing for Mr. Levitz.  From what I hear (and what little I've read) his run with these characters throughout the Bronze Age and beyond is pretty legendary.  Believe it or not, the first Legion of Super-Heroes story I (attempted to) read, was The Great Darkness Saga.  That would kinda be like reading Crisis on Infinite Earths as a brand-new DC fan (which I also did some 20 years ago).  I look forward to eventually giving Great Darkness another look when I have a better grasp on the characters and their world... I'm sure I will have a much better appreciation for it by then.

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Letters Page:

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