Green Lantern (vol.2) #181 (October, 1984)
"Take this Job--and Shove it!"
"One Night in a Bar on Lawrel-Hardee XI"
Writers - Len Wein & Paul Kupperberg
Pencils - Dave Gibbons & Don Newton
Inks - Mark Farmer
Letters - John Costanza & John Clark
Colors - Anthony Tollin
Edits - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.75
When I decided to "change format" to covering shorter-subjects back in February of 2019 so I could focus on Grad School, I left a few "projects" incomplete. I did so out of either necessity, burn-out, or... in the case of today's feature, the fact that I didn't actually own a particular issue.
Now, looking at today's cover... I'd have bet my lucky dime that I'd not only owned the issue... but, had actually already covered it here on the site! Perhaps I'm stuck in some sort of odd Mandela Effect... and on the Infinite Earths site... on one of the actual Infinite Earths, I did cover it. But, on our actual Earth-Prime, it turns out... I have not!
The "project" I wanted to explore was something I was calling "To Catch The Predator"... obviously inspired by the old Dateline segment hosted by Chris Hansen (before he went wonky), where we'd examine all of the appearances of the weird pre-Crisis saga of... well, The Predator. This is a character/concept that has confounded many... myself included! I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off o'so long ago.
If you need to catch up, which considering I dropped the ball on this series about a year and a half ago you just might (I know I did!), you can check out the first two parts of this "epic" by clicking the covers below!
If/When we get a few more chapters under our belt, I'll set aside a dedicated TCAtP page in the sidebar.
Before we hop right into it, a warning. Some of what you're about to see is explicit...ly weird. Reader discretion is advised.
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Stop me if you've heard this one... our issue opens with Hal Jordan on his way to Oa to give the Guardians a piece of his mind... and quit the Green Lantern Corps! Yeah, that's more or less just "Tuesday" for our man, Hal... but that's exactly what he's headin' off to do. He thinks about how his off-world exploits have kept him from keeping Carol Ferris, the love of his life, safe. The panel layout here makes it look like Carol's got a Ben Franklin/Void Indigo haircut.
Hal continues his space trek, all the while waxing philosophical about whether or not he's making the right choice in quitting the ring-sling. His inner monologue is interrupted, however, when he is pummeled by an errant meteor storm. Well, maybe it's not that errant...
Back on Earth, Carol is interviewing John Stewart to see if he'd be interested and able to repair the recently destroyed Ferris Aircraft. She tells him he comes highly recommended, and learns that flattery will get her everywhere. John signs on for the rebuild.
Over in Washington, D.C., all-around pain-in-the-butt Congressman Bloch is wondering what might be in his future... the Monitor (yeah, that Monitor) hasn't gotten back to him, and he worries that the Demolition Team will turn him in for contracting them to fubar Ferris. He enters his office, and much to his surprise... he's about to have a run-in with: The Predator!
Oh yeah, he's probably unaware that the Predator is going to kill him too. A bloody Bloch shambles out of his office... and collapses at the feet of, of all people, Diana Prince and Steve Trevor. He whispers something about Hal Jordan being Green Lantern before perishing. Wonder Woman insists to Steve that Bloch's last words didn't mean anything. Fair enough...
Speaking of Hal Jordan, we rejoin him in space... where we learn the cause of that meteor storm: Hal's fellow Green Lanterns! They know of his plans to quit the Corps, and are here to attempt to talk some sense into him. Katma Tui takes this especially hard, and even wallops Hal with a construct-fist when it doesn't look like they're going to be able to change his mind.
All Hal can do is ask them to a) understand, and b) forgive him. He leaves the Corpsmen on an asteroid, and continues his lonely (final?) flight to Oa.
Back in Los Angeles, we pop in on Clay Kendall's hospital room where he's recovering from a broken back. April is there, trying to convince him that it won't be long before he's back on his feet... we get the feeling, however, that Clay ain't buyin' none of this.
Hal arrives on Oa... and is shocked to see that the Corpsmen he abandoned have beaten him here. Tomar Re begs Hal to take this one last moment before stepping in front of the Guardians to truly consider his actions. Hal tells 'em to bug off and barges into the Guardians' Council Room.
Of course the li'l blue guys know exactly why Hal is here... they claim that, due to recent outbursts, they've been monitoring him pretty closely. Our man delivers the "You said 'jump'... I said 'how high'." spiel, and basically tell'em to go suck an egg. The Guardians give him a moment to reconsider... so, dude's getting a whole lot of chances to let cooler heads prevail... but, Hal's adamant that he's doneski.
Next we know, Hal Jordan is rendered ringless and, by extension, powerless. The rest of his Corps pals rush in... and say what might be their final goodbyes to the former "best of them". Funny, Hal calls Arisia "little sister" here, which only makes their statutory romance all the more gross. Looks like this is an issue with two Predators in it!
Back at Ferris, Carol's father is holding a meeting to introduce John Stewart to the team. He also... uh, celebrates... the murder of Congressman Bloch, which... I gotta say, probably isn't the best look. Anyhoo, the meeting is interrupted by the arrival of... a man called Smith! Could this be our Predator? Might it be a red herring? Well, the story is over thirty-years old, so we already know the answer to that.
We wrap up later that evening at Carol's beach-house. Hal arrives and lets her know that he's kicked the ring-habit and he'll never leave her again. The story closes with Hal wondering if he's done the right thing. If only he was given more opportunities to reconsider... right?
Our Tales of the Green Lantern Corps back up opens on the planet Lawrel-Hardee XI... which, I dunno, sounds like I place I'd definitely wanna hang out! Probably pick up some hard-boiled eggs and nuts there. Anyhoo, we're inside a bar that looks/feels a lot like the Star Wars cantina... where some Space Pirates are relaxing while playing some high-stakes somethin'rnother.
A little fella enters the bar, and bee-lines it over to the Pirates. Looks like this critter's here to enforce some law, but he is shoved away by the baddies. It's here that it's revealed that this ain't no ordinary Jawa... this is Green Lantern, Ch'p!
He's here because he witnessed the Pirates attacking and destroying a Luxury Liner in space... killing many an innocent in the name of plunduh. Ch'p would'a taken them out right then and there... however, the Pirate Cruiser just so happened to be: Yellow!
And so, he followed them to Lawrel-Hardee XI... where he's fully prepared to beat the hell out of the lot of 'em, and well... that's exactly what he does.
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A very important issue of Green Lantern... not that Hal quitting the Corps is especially novel (though, it was more so back in ye old '84), but still... a lot of pieces were put into place here. There's a fair amount of "soapiness" here... which, as a life-long X-Men fan, I can't help but to enjoy.
Let's get the Predator out of the way. The character only appears on a single page, and they kill Congressman Bloch. Later on in the issue ol' Slender Smith saunters into Ferris. Now, I don't wanna completely spoil the reveal (even though we actually covered that issue here on the blog back in the long ago), but I gotta assume the Smith appearance was intentional to allow us to make an assumption or two about the mystery baddie.
Back in 1984, that might've been a bit underwhelming a reveal... new bad guy and similarly-sized new civilian arrive on the scene around the same time... and are revealed as being two sides of the same coin. Feels a bit "comicbook-lazy", dunnit? Well, if you already know the actual reveal, you'll know that it's more than a bit "comicbook-insane".
I dig John Stewart entering the "main cast" here, and I feel like having him come in as the lead architect on the Ferris-rebuild project is a very creative way to do so. John's a great character... and I really like him taking the job even without the guarantee of a salary.
Let's get to Hal. He's wracked with guilt over not being there for Carol and Ferris Aircraft during the Destruction Team's rampage. Now, Hal has some trouble in the calibration department... with him, it's always "all or nothing". Rather than attempting to reason with the Guardians... maybe pleading a case for taking a break, or whatever... he heads to Oa and pulls out the tired old "When you said 'jump'..." baloney.
We've all had jobs before right? A boss telling you what to do is kind of part of that whole scene, innit? I always hate it when Hal complains that he has to answer to his bosses. Just feels petulant and immature... which, I suppose might be the point? Anyhoo, he gets what he wants... only to realize that he might've made a terrible mistake.
Our back-up feature... which, I wasn't actually planning on covering today. Considering we're doing Action-Plus features these days, I just figured I'd save this for a one-off. Well, when I saw that this one had a reference to Laurel and Hardy, I decided to make an exception. Which brings me to my main criticism: If you're going to so blatantly reference Laurel and Hardy with the title... gimme a li'l something Stan and Ollie-related in the story!
The story was... ehh, not much to get excited about. Ch'p tracks some pirates to a bar, and beats them up. Yay? I will say, however, that Don Newton's take on Ch'p was awesome! Probably the best I'd ever seen the character drawn! With a character like Ch'p, it's easy to take it to a cartoony extreme. Conversely, it's probably just as easy to just draw an actual squirrel wearing a green ring. Newton, however, blends the mundane and fantastical elements of the character superbly. I really can't say enough how amazing Ch'p looked here! It's too bad the story was kind of a dud.
Overall, this one was well worth a look... Predator-completionism or not! Very important chapter in pre-Crisis Green Lantern lore, with wonderful art in both features. This issue has been collected in the first of the Sector 2814 trades and is available digitally.
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Letters Page:
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Interesting Ads:
BONUS BOOK - Masters of the Universe (November, 1982)
"Fate is the Killer"
Writer - Paul Kupperberg
Pencils - Curt Swan
Inks - Dave Hunt
Letters - Ben Oda
Colors - Anthony Tollin
Editor - Dave Manak
Still recovering from Christmas, and so I decided to repurpose something I'd written a long while back... perhaps even seguing into the next iteration of this blog!
I've long wanted to discuss the old "Bonus Books" program that DC Comics ran back in the long ago... I wanna say the first time they tried it (in modern times... in an organized way) they just referred to the stories as "Insert Previews", and these ran from 1980-1983. Then, post-Crisis we'd get a smattering of "Bonus Books". I'm guessing many of us are familiar with these... it's always a treat digging through the cheap-o bins and suddenly coming across a book that feels twice as thick as it ought to be, and realizing there's likely an off-the-wall extra inside! These are the things I'm kinda wanting to talk about for the next little while.
We're going to kick things off with the Masters of the Universe "Insert Preview" that ran in a whole lotta books with a November, 1982 cover-date.
This story ran in the following books:
- Action Comics #537
- All-Star Squadron #15
- Arak Son of Thunder #15
- Batman #353
- Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew #9
- Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #1
- Detective Comics #520
- DC Comics Presents #51
- Firestorm #6
- Justice League of America #208
- Legion of Super-Heroes #293
- New Adventures of Superboy #35
- New Teen Titans #25
- Superman #377
- Warlord #63
- Wonder Woman #297
Hope you all enjoy!
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We open with Metron Zodac riding the Cosmic Winds into Eternia. He is there to save a single life... a life which very well might bring (and keep) peace to Eternia. Though, he fears that he also might be damning them. I dunno about you... but, I'd err on the side of caution... maybe sit this one out.
We hop inside Castle (Grayskull... I think?) where the Royal Court of Eternia is having a bit of a party. The King and Queen wonder where their son, Prince Adam might be. No sooner do they ask, than he saunters in with a "wench" on each arm.
(A mustache-less) Man-At-Arms ribs him about only having two "wenches", and suggests he's lost his touch at "wenching". Suddenly, Zodac appears before them, with threats that Eternia's gonna go to pot, lest they produce their Greatest Champion. Prince Adam hears him out... then runs off (with Cringer) to "change clothes".
He heads off to a cave... and (as He-Man... little disappointed we didn't get a scene of the change) chats up the Goddess. She tells him that Zodac isn't a threat... he instead needs to focus on, you guessed it, Skeletor. Duh. Double duh.
Speaking of Skeletor... he, flanked by Beast-Man, is chatting up Mer-Man. He asks the fishy fella to track down the other half of the Power Sword. Rumor has it, it's in the deepest trench of the dark sea. Fair enough.
We shift scenes to... Metropolis? Well, that's unexpected. Superman is delivering a crate of valuable electronics to the mainland from a broken down freighter. He is suddenly attacked by a mustached octopus! Maybe he took Man-At-Arms' 'stache!
They struggle for a bit... but Superman is distracted by a trio of glowing balls flying overhead. He abandons the battle with the beastie to give chase. He follows them into the drink, and gets caught up in a vortex. Feels like we missed a few pages, doesn't it?
Back in Eternia, He-Man and Battle Cat meet Zodac. He-Man asks his cosmic visitor to stand down, as he has no quarrel with him. He's more interested in taking down Skeletor. While you'd figure Zodac would be all-in with this plan... he ain't! This, naturally... leads to a fight.
We rejoin Superman as he emerges from the water... only to find himself no longer on Earth, but in Eternia! There was a portal underwater, donchaknow. He recognizes it from the last time he visited (DC Comics Presents #47). He knows Skeletor is behind everything... which, c'mon... who else it gonna be?
Speaking of Skeletor... he now has both halves of the Power Sword. Yeah... this definitely feels like it's missing a grip of pages. After pontificating a bit, he gives Beast-Man... what I can only describe as a "playful swat" on the tush with his Power Sword. Superman than swoops in and steals'em both!
Rather than just running (flying) away with them, Superman throws 'em... one returns directly to Skeletor, the other somehow finds its way to He-Man's back. This (somehow) ends the battle between he and Zodac. We learn that Zodac is only fighting He-Man to keep him from getting to Skeletor, because he'd seen in the stars that such a meeting would result in He-Man's demise. Undeterred, He-Man heads Skeletor-way. Upon arrival, he sees that Skull-face has already defeated Superman... and is about to go for the killing blow.
He-Man and Skeletor attack each other at the same time... with He-Man actually impaling the baddie with his half of the Power Blade. It manages to consume him... and sends him far away. He-Man survives the blast he was hit with... and he, Superman, and Zodac celebrate their victory. Yay?
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Can't lie, folks... didn't much care for this. Outside of having a handful of the action figures, I didn't really get into He-Man as a kid. I'm sure I'd have dug this if I saw it back in 1982... keeping in mind, I was still a couple of years away from learning how to read at that point.
Today? I dunno... it's just all over the place. Pacing was shoddy-at-best... we get panel after panel of pontification, either by Zodac or Skeletor while important actual occurrences are left out altogether. We always here that comics are about "showing, not telling"... but, that's certainly not what we get here.
I mean, we waste so much time with monologues... and we don't even get the "By the Power of Grayskull..." scene? Lame. Tying Superman into the story? I guess it's neat to see him side-by-side with He-Man... but, his involvement didn't exactly rock my socks.
Reading this makes me remember that weird time back around the turn of the century, where all of those 80's properties were coming back in style. I remember sorta "buying in" to that fad, and quickly coming to the conclusion that... outside nostalgia, there just wasn't much there for me.
The folks at Wizard certainly did their part to foment the post-speculation speculation (above)... I even checked through several of their price guides to see if this issue of Justice League of America got a "bump" for having the Masters of the Universe bit. It didn't... but, that's not much of a surprise... the Wizard gang never seemed to give a rip about DC, unless Kevin Smith was writing something.
Overall... if you're a fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe... you're probably going to want this too. Won't break the bank in either case. Many of the issues this story appears in are available digitally... and are listed as having "40 Pages", so there's a good chance this Bonus Book is included!
Action Comics Weekly #641 (Phantom Stranger)
"Tommy's Monster"
Writer - Paul Kupperberg
Art - Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Letters - Tim Harkins
Colors - Petra Scotese
Editor - Renee Witterstaetter
Trudging ever closer to the end, and we get a... Phantom Stranger story? Oh, c'mon... why? Is this really necessary?
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We open with a boy named Tommy Jones hopping into bed, grabbing his Illustrated Edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales. He peers at an image of a dragon, and wouldn'tcha know it... at that very moment a nearby drug store goes up in flames. I'm sure there's no connection. So, you might be asking: just who is this "Tommy" anyway? Well, he's just some kid... who always finds himself being hassled by grown-ups. He can't walk across their fences, or read comics in the store (It ain't a liberry, after all!). He's just a kid... with a bone to pick.
The next day, just as the Phantom Stranger himself arrives in town, we see the woman who shooed Tommy off her fence settling in to watch some television. Suddenly, there's a rumbling... and before we know it, her house is destroyed! Before the walls come toppling down, however, she notices a great big beast stood outside her window... and it appeared to be taking direction from that no-good Tommy Jones!
When the Police arrive, the old lady tells them that Tommy's responsible... and so, they follow up at the kid's house. Naturally, upon arrival, they find the kid "fast asleep" in bed. "Fast asleep", that is, until the Phantom Stranger arrives to conduct an interrogation of his own!
The Stranger calls the kid out on being a little jerk, and causing all of the recent destruction. Tommy's all "screw this noise" and bails out the window. Unfortunately for us, this was just a first floor window... and so, the story must continue. As the Stranger goes to give chase, he is nearly struck by a giant reptilian tail that crashes through the house!
Outside, we see Tommy riding on the back of a great big dragon (named Rudolph). The Stranger appears right in their path... and so, the great beast breathes fire right at him. Of course, this isn't very effective.
The Phantom Stranger pleads with the boy to stop being a little jerk, and points out all of the people he is hurting with his supernatural delinquency. When he mentions Tommy's own parents, the kid seems to snap out of it... and the dragon vanishes. He falls into the Stranger's arms... and thankfully, we out!
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I feel like, over these past 1,400 or so days, I've discovered some "chestnuts" that I pop into my writing more often than I realized. Just little turns-of-phrase, or plays on words that... without 'em, this blog would probably be much shorter. So, stop me if you've heard this before: "Not much to say about this one...".
The first time I flipped through this issue, in preparation for what was to come, I took one look at li'l Tommy Jones, and figured we were in for a "Send 'em to the Cornfield" sort of situation. And... I groaned. Boy, was I wrong... this kid pulling a Billy Mumy would have been just so much more interesting than what we actually wound up with here.
Kid's a little jerk... kid has the power to manifest a dragon from his Fairy Tale book... Phantom Stranger tells 'im to cut it out... and we're done. Really not sure why we got so much Phantom Stranger during this run... and, no matter how interesting a story he gives us, he never fails to cause the "flow" of Action Comics Weekly (if there's one to be found) to a screeching halt. Oh well, at least it had wonderful art... and, it was better than the Demon.
Tomorrow: The FINAL anthology chapter of Action Comics Weekly! Be there, or... ya know, don't.
Action Comics Weekly #636 (Phantom Stranger)
"All That Jazz"
Writer - Paul Kupperberg
Art - Andy Kubert
Letters - Tim Harkins
Colors - Adam Kubert
Editor - Renee Witterstatter
So... I kinda misspoke the other day. Not that anybody noticed, or ever will... but I referred to today's chapter of Phantom Stranger as his last. That is not the case, as we'll actually get one more visit with him in about six weeks. So, I s'pose I get to drop a "penultimate" as a descriptor for this here post!
Also, this is the first of two Phantom-y features for this week... just on the other side'a Superman, we'll be meeting the Phantom Lady. I don't think that's much of a spoiler, considering she's front-and-center on the rather awful cover this week!
Anyhoo, let's get into it... I don't think this could possibly be any worse than the Cat and Mouse story from a few weeks back!
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Our story opens down on a subway platform. An old musician named Loblow Jones recognizes a fella by the name Ezra Griffith... and so, he rushes over to catch up. Ezra ain't quite feeling this reunion (in fact, he claims not to recognize the man at all), and so he bugs off on the train to get away. Poor Loblow is just left standing there all by his lonesome.
We join the Phantom Stranger, who is doing that thing where he's reading every book in the library to learn everything he can about the human condition... or something. He's also doing a bit of "people watching" like ya do. He sees Loblow Jones leaving with a book called "Music and Magic"... and grows curious.
We shift scenes to Ezra Griffith's place, where he has apparently been listening to the same record on repeat for the past little while. His wife is a bit concerned, and tries to comfort him. Ya see, this record is of music created by, you guessed it, Loblow Jones. Griffith's father was an evil publisher record producer who was able to get Jones to sign away all his rights to Superman his music. Ezra was rather taken aback in seeing Loblow doin' his thang for spare change in the subway earlier that day.
Their chat is interrupted by the sound of... saxophone music. Outside, leaning against a street lamp is, you guessed it again, Loblow Jones... and he's belting out (does one "belt out" on sax?) one heckuva tune.
The Phantom Stranger's on hand to watch this all go down... and the scene grows even weirder as children begin emerging from all of the neighborhood houses. It's almost as if Loblow is a low-key Pied Piper of sorts! A man rushes from his home brandishing a rifle... but the Stranger stops him before he can pull the trigger.
The Stranger then attempts to reason with Loblow... but it's a No-go. Before long, our man is literally buried by the music!
But then, it's deus ex time! The Stranger pulls himself to his feet... spouts a few words, and Loblow is snapped out of his trance.
We wrap up with Ezra checking in with Loblow... and we learn that, he was so hurt by being "ghosted" in the subway, that Loblow wanted some revenge... and since Ezra's daddy took away his "babies" in his music, the Jazzman was going to return the favor by... ya know, literally stealing children. Thank goodness the Phantom Stranger arrived in time to... ya know, tell him to knock it off.
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So... this story kind of encapsulates everything I find wrong with the Phantom Stranger. You start with an interesting premise... ramp up the drama, or suspense, or comic-approximation of "horror"... build to a climax where everybody is painted into a corner... then, the Phantom Stranger speaks. I mean, that's it... he speaks, and everything goes back to normal.
Y'ever watch the old Power Rangers show? They'd get their butts kicked for the better part of a half-hour, when suddenly "It's Morphin Time"... big-ass robot, fifteen second battle, everything ends all hunky dory. This is sort of like that, only we don't get the satisfaction of seeing people dressed like robots stumbling around and destroying a cardboard city.
I mean, this is worlds better than that "Cat and Mouse" four-parter we covered a few weeks ago, but... man, this might be more disappointing, simply because it felt like it could've been much better! Sure, it was heavy-handed... and was probably more than a little bit "commentary" on creators rights... but, it was good! Ezra wasn't painted so much as a cloven-hoofed villain, but a son who might get stuck holding the tab for the sins his father committed.
Loblow... I mean, really dude? You decide you're going to steal children... from folks who had nothing to do with you signing away the rights to your music? Sure, it'd be one thing if he was just going after the Griffiths... but, every kid in the neighborhood? C'mon Loblow, how you gonna feed all dem kids? Think it out, man.
The art was pretty great... I thought the Kuberts did some wonderful work here! Really, my only complaint here is the deus ex, finger-snap ending. Overall, it's probably the strongest Phantom Stranger story we've looked at in Action Comics Weekly... but, that strength only makes the anticlimactic ending stand out even more.
Tomorrow: The Seeds (or izzit Sides?) of Darkness!
