Rima the Jungle Girl #1 (April-May, 1974)
"Spirit of the Woods"
"Four Tombs"
Writers - Robert Kanigher (?) & Jack Oleck
Art - Nestor Redondo & Alex Nino
Letters - Esphidy Mahilum
Edits - Joe Kubert & Alan Asherman
Cover Price: $0.20
So... what's Rima the Jungle Girl? I'm not ashamed to say... I haven't the foggiest idea. I couldn't tell you if this was an old licensed character, or an actual citizen of the DC Universe. Well, I've done some (admittedly, shallow) research... and can happily report: yes... to both!
Rima would first appear in Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest (1904) by William Henry Hudson... which seems like a rather odd place to find an eventual comics property, dunnit? What's more, Green Mansions would eventually be adapted into a film (1959)... wherein, Audrey Hepburn would play Rima? Dang! Dude from Psycho plays the male lead... and, ho-lee smokes, does he ever not look like a complete creep?!
That's the smile of a man with a refrigerator full'a body parts. Anyhoo, with all that having been said... the story we're about to look at apparently takes place on Earth-1! What's more, Rima was even on the SuperFriends cartoon?! This probably isn't all that mind-blowing to many reading this, but SuperFriends is definitely one of my DC "blind spots". I never really watched it! I think it might've been just a hair before my time, and I never made it a priority to seek out.
There she is chatting up Batman in SuperFriends. Not to be confused nor conflated with Hanna Barbera's Jana of the Jungle...
So yeah... Rima, right? This Jungle Girl has herself a pretty crazy little backstory... let's take a look at her first (to my knowledge) four-color outing!
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We open on a man frantically wandering through a Venezuelan Jungle... poisoned from a snakebite. He thrashes about and calls for help from anyone that might hear him. Unfortunately, he's, ya know, way deep in the woods. Fortunately... that same blonde from the cover hangs out there. Next thing we know, our man wakes up... safe and sound... inside the hut of an old man named Nuflo. He wants to know what this strange white man is doing in this (literal) neck of the woods.
Our man figures, heck... the old man saved my life, the least I can do is tell him what brought me here... and so, we hop right into flashback land. This fella's name is Abel... and he was a rebel against Venezuela's military regime during the Venezuelan Revolution. He and his fellow rebels... well, didn't quite stack up to the military's firepower, and as such, went down like dominoes. Abel's friends were all put before a firing squad, with Abel only getting away by virtue of being severely wounded on the battle field. He'd flee into the jungles.
Abel would follow the shores of the Orinoco River, hoping to stumble across a mythical treasure which he felt might turn the tide in the revolution. The days passed on, and he'd finally find his way into a small village. Lucky for him, these were friendly folks. They'd even teach him some of their own ways. Their only warning to Abel was to stay out of Tabu... the Evil Place. Which is to say, the place is called "Tabu"... or, it's, ya know, "taboo" to go there? Whatever the case... Abel is told to stay out.
Naturally... he does not. That night, after the village has gone to bed, Abel sneaks over to the taboo Tabu... and is overcome by the sound of a bird's song. As he wanders deeper, he feels the presence of... someone... watching over him.
He heads back to the village, where the stink of the Evil Place is just allllll over him. Runi, the villager, and Abel's friend calls him a fool for letting his curiosity get the best of him... and warns of a "witch" who lives deep in them thar woods. One who can transform from human to beast, and back again. Those villagers who dared enter before... never returned!
The villagers decide to give Abel another chance... but, again... warn him that he's kinda playing with bad juju in Tabu. Naturally, Abel only stays put for another day. The following morning, he's back in the green... following the strange, exotic, bird song.
He finally finds himself stood before a snarled old tree... and can really feel the magic of the area. Then... Rima! Rima walks out toward him... and, well, doesn't say anything. She's almost playing "hard to get here". Every time Abel approaches, she playfully prances away. Our man takes this as a sign that she's "beckoning" him to follow... and so, he does.
They arrive at a thick brush, and Abel spies a poisonous snake coming dangerously close to Rima's bare leg. Our hero lunges in to push Rima away from the snake, which only causes the wriggler to latch onto his own leg! Ya see, the snake was protecting Rima... a fact that isn't lost on Abel.
This takes us back to the beginning... with poisoned Abel stumblin' all over the place. Back in the present, he thanks the old man for saving his life... only to be corrected. It wasn't Nuflo that drew the poison from Abel's wound... it was Nuflo's granddaughter: Rima!
Our back-up story features the creatively-named Space Voyagers! They are Armando, Bartt, Melong, and Nolan... and, well... as the name might imply, they're voyaging through space. They decide to stop on an uninhabited planet to see if they might procure some actual food (rather than their normal "food tablets"). Upon hitting the ground, they spy a set of footprints leading into a weird forest, and figure they might be worth a follow. Yeah, what's the worst that can happen?
What they find is... the owner of those prints, an old man... who is just about to be gobbled up by a giant green insect! The Space Voyagers attempt to blast at the thing, only to find that their weapons are powerless against it.
They decide to outsmart the thing, by making it give chase. When this happens, the poor bug winds up impaling itself on some of the spikier parts of the forest.
The old man pulls himself back up to his feet, and beckons the gang to follow him. Wow, two "beckonings" in one issue! You sure got your two-dimes worth back in '74! Anyhoo... he leads them into a weird Mausoleum... and inside, are our titular "Four Tombs"... which look to contain... them!
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Lemme tell ya... if not for this site, this is definitely not the sort of book I'd ever subject myself too... which, is another reason to be happy to have the site. I really, really enjoyed this!
I'm not going to pretend to be some sort of Rima expert or anything, or suggest that I've read more than like a paragraph and a half of the Wikipedia synopsis of Green Mansions... so, we're just going to look at this as a comic book. As a comic book, I found that this story had a wonderful "flow" to it. It really felt as though I was being kinda "swept" into it. So often, it feels like our creative teams attempt to show and tell... which makes the read feel a little bit overbearing at times. This, was relatively light, and almost played out like a movie. For all I know this was a direct retelling of the first bits of the 1959 film... but, for whatever it's worth, I really enjoyed the way this played out.
There were no credits in this issue... though, many of my research haunts attribute it to Robert Kanigher. Couldn't find any concrete confirmation, but the speculation appears to be in agreement... though, Nestor Redondo is given credit in "expanding" Rima's role. Considering this version of the Jungle Girl is only around for this seven-issue series, I'm not sure how much actual "credit" is involved.
Worth noting, that Rima was nyoinked outta the mothballs for the 2010 DC FirstWave stuff, which featured pulpy characters like Doc Savage and the like.
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| Art by Rags Morales |
This issue also came with a back-up feature I suppose we could spend a few lines talking about. It... was fine. Definitely my kind of back-up, in that it didn't attempt to overwhelm the lead story... and was rather breezy to get through. I didn't feel overwhelmed by a load of characters (I'll probably never see or think about again) dropped in my lap, and having to keep straight. This was a pretty boilerplate space adventure, with some action, and a pretty cool twist of a cliffhanger. Good stuff.
Overall, definitely enjoyed this more than I thought I would... and I'm really glad I finally got around to reading it.
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1st Issue Special #4 (July, 1975)
"Poisoned Love!"
Writer - Robert Kanigher
Penciller - John Rosenberger
Inker - Vince Colletta
Cover Price: $0.25
Well, here we are... it took EIGHT HUNDRED (consecutive) Days to do it, but today we're finally covering... Lady Cop. Welcome to it!
Kind of a low-key "milestone" piece, sure... but one that just felt right. When we first started this silly journey two years back, I was hoping to share some of my favorites... not so favorites... and just plain oddities from the DC Comics library. Even from the first few days blogging, Lady Cop was one I was dying to share.
The crazy thing is that it's (in theory) not a terribly difficult book to find... at least online. The book regularly appears at various online retailers... and only goes for a couple bucks. Even though it was at the tippity-top of my wish list... I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.
I'm very much about "the hunt". I've never ordered a back issue from my "wish list" off the internet... there's just something about flipping through a bin... and getting the goosebumps when I'd start to notice issues of 1st Issue Special... knowing that one of these days, Lady Cop would be among them.
It was my "white whale" and gave me a reason to be excited to dig through the bins. As insanely frustrating as it is, it's also kinda nice to have one of those books that just escapes your grasp. It keeps things interesting.
Right now I sit, with the book about six inches to my left... feeling sorta like Kraven at the end of his "Last Hunt". I've bagged the biggest "game", and I feel like there's not much left for me to do. Well... I guess we still gotta track down the Dingbats of Danger Street.
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We open with a young lady hiding under a bed while a man in Jolly Roger cowboy boots... murders her roommates. Before making his exit, he leaves an Ace of Spades playing card behind. The police arrive on the scene and our survivor, Liza Warner gives them the low-down on what just went down. She tells them about what she was able to see, including the Jolly Roger boots... which leads another officer to inform her that she has the "camera eye of a born police officer".
... and so, she enrolls in the Police Academy!
She appears to be a natural... not only for her "camera eye", but she's also a crack-shot and has a heckuva judo throw. Time passes, and we rejoin Liza at commencement. Before she and the rest of the cadets can be properly graduated, a classmate who flunked out crashes the party... with a live grenade! Our lady is able to intercept the explosive... and tosses it into a nearby garbage can before it can go boom. Not sure how much protection a garbage can might give when we're talking about a grenade... but we'll allow it.
With our backstory behind us, we can now move into the "present". Lady Cop is on the roof of an inner-city building trying to get a creeper to back off from a young lady he's been hassling. She manages to get him to desist by informing him that "that girl's underage". So... I guess roughing up a "legal" woman is a-okay. Or maybe just "not as bad". Anyhoo, the young lady leaves... just as another hoodlum arrives. They figure, if they can't have the underage girl... Lady Cop'll have to do.
She beats them both up pretty quickly... and without even messing up her hair all that much. She arrests them... and leads them into a nearby police cruiser. The entire time they're threatening to come back and even the score, which tells me that they were never read their Miranda Rights... I figure those are some of those things that "could be used against" them in a Court of Law.
With a job well done, Lady Cop continues along her beat. She comes to an ice cream vendor... and sees that one of the neighborhood kids cannot afford even a single scoop. She goes ahead and buys the tot an ice cream "with all the trimmings". When I hear that, I picture relish and onions... let's hope that's not the case.
With that injustice righted, Lady Cop once more continues on her beat. She is warned by a neighborhood woman that the men she just had put away are quite dangerous. Speaking of dangerous, Lady Cop is being watched by a chain wielding buffoon hanging out on another roof. Lotta people hanging out on roofs in this 'hood. She continues, and comes across that underage girl from before, who is using a pay phone. She overhears that the girl just found out that her boyfriend... has V.D. Huh... gotta say, I wasn't expecting that. Upon seeing Lady Cop, Underage Whatsherface rushes off.
Before Lady Cop can give chase, she witnesses a bodega getting robbed by a knife-wielding loon. The robber attempts to flee, and even stabs the grocer in order to break his grip. Liza manages to deflect a stab attempt and throws the nogoodnik into a lamppost... kayoing him.
Turning her attention to the grocer, she deduces that he's stopped breathing... and so, we get some mouth-to-mouth action. Gotta say, they're checking off a whole lotta boxes here, aren't they?
She manages to save his life, and he's hauled off into an ambulance for observation. She finishes out her day, with visions of V.D. Girl dancing in her head. After her shift, we meet Liza's boyfriend Hal. According to her fellow officers, this is "Where the Cop becomes a Lady".
He takes her to the beach... all the while complaining that she's a police officer. He even goes so far as to refer to her as "a working man". What an a-hole. Thing is, she might just leave the force... if only she could track down ol' Jolly Roger Boots and avenge her roommates.
Three days later, we're back on the beat... and Lady Cop has finally tracked down V.D. Girl, who is standing at the docks all melancholy like. We get the "After School Special" take on venereal disease... and Lady Cop really presses the girl to go get checked out. The gal is too scared, and doesn't want her father to find out.
Lady Cop insists they tell her father... who, it just so happens works on those very same docks. Now, here's where it gets weird... er. Nina (V.D. Girl) tells her pop what went down... and he's rather ticked off. He reels back... then punches... Lady Cop?! Who, in the very next panel looks no worse for wear... I mean, not even a hair out of place... when the wallop nearly knocked her hat off. I'm not sure what's going on here. Dude also doesn't get arrested for, ya know, assaulting an officer... He says "Mea Culpa" a bunch of times, which I suppose is "Latin enough".
As Nina and her Pops walk off, Lady Cop is taken unawares by that chain-wielding dope from before. He somehow wraps her wrist with the chain (without breaking it... the wrist, that is)... and they both wind up in the drink.
Now... if you're ever going to accost a police officer down by the docks, you might want to make sure you know how to swim, right? Well, Chainy never got that memo... and so, Lady Cop is tasked with saving his worthless life.
And then... we end with Lady Cop asking herself if she'll ever find "The Killer in Boots". Spoiler Alert... no.
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Well, I gotta say... that wasn't what I expected!
All I knew about this going in was that Liza's roommates were murdered... so I just assumed this was going to be twenty-odd pages of revenge-fueled melodrama. I was also expecting to be greatly disappointed by that fact.
Thankfully that wasn't the case at all! The "Killer in Boots" was just the motivational measure for Liza joining the force... and was clearly being used for a long-term payoff... if only "Lady Cop" ever became an ongoing series. Weird thing about this issue, usually when we discuss a 1st Issue Special, there's a text page inside giving the "story behind the story" in lieu of a letters page or some such... we don't get that here. Also... I was expecting a little note saying "If you want more Lady Cop, please write to such and such address"... but, we get none'a that either! Wonder if they didn't have high hopes for Lady Cop... or maybe they just assumed people would be writing in by the thousands, and figured they didn't need to promote? Yeah, I'm sure that's probably it.
What I really wasn't expecting was the... relevancy? Is that the word we're looking for? I mean, when I'm looking at a comic from the 1970's, venereal disease really isn't a topic I expect to read about. I guess when you put out a book with "Lady Cop" on the cover you don't really expect kids to be all that jazzed about picking it up... right?
We should also talk about Liza's beat a little bit. She had to have been assigned the most dangerous block on the planet, right? I mean, forget cops... this neighborhood needs its own sector designation and own devoted troop of Green Lanterns! You can't walk five feet without somebody swinging a weapon in your direction! I mean, Liza doesn't even look distressed by any of this... which tells me, she's dodging chains, knives, and would be-rapists on a daily basis.
The art here, I thought was really good. Not terribly familiar with Rosenberger/Diehl... but know that he came from romance comics. That's probably what made him a good fit for a "street level" book like this. My only quibble is that weird page where Papa V.D. punches Lady Cop in the face... that was some weird flow!
I'm really rather surprised that Lady Cop hasn't made any sort of resurgence in comics... especially in the times we're currently living in. Seems like a natural fit... I'll bet she probably could've had a good 4-6 issues (before being cancelled) during the DCYOU days!
Overall... for novelty's sake, and to follow one of the very few demandments of this humble blog, I'd definitely tell ya to grab this if you come across it in the wild. Hell, add it to an online order if you've already got an order in the works... won't set you back much.
Was it worth the wait? Ya know... it's not often I feel this way, but I think it was. The story isn't going to rock any socks or blow any minds... but it has just the right amount of weirdness to it, that I can't not love it.
With all that said... we've come to the part of our milestone celebration where I become a sappy mess. Eight Hundred days is a very long time... besides my wife, I think this blog is the longest steady "relationship" I've had in quite a long time... and to think, when I started it, I thought it would be "really cool" (and almost an impossibility) to blog daily for an entire... week.
In our time together, we've celebrated holidays... birthdays... graduations... anniversaries... all sorts of things. We've covered some old favorites... discovered some new favorites... taken part in blog-hops and team-ups... and we've also discussed both Millennium and Superman: Grounded.
I've also been afforded the opportunity to meet and share with some really great people... like my Pod-ner, Reggie... the Weird Science Get Fresh Crew, the mighty Super-Blog Team-Up, the ParliPodders, DC in the 80's, the #BestEventEver gang, the Top-Secret Podcast Partners... and anybody and everybody who has reached out! And yeah, I realize how silly it is to write an Oscar speech for a blog post that (at best) a couple of hundred people might see... but, that train has already left the station. I'm normally a (shocker) pretty introverted dude... so, opportunities to meet and befriend folks (especially online) is (or was) a pretty rare thing for me.
I'm happy that I've stuck with this as long as I have. As with every milestone we hit, I begin questioning just how much longer we're going to keep at this. I always see a "hundredth" post as a good way to make an escape...
... but, we've still gotta wrap up that #Action100 thing, don't we? Guess we're not about to shutter the windows and dim the lights just yet.
By this point... I'm babbling. If you've made it this far, THANK YOU. If you're a regular reader... THANK YOU. If you've somehow stumbled across this post, and read it through... THANK YOU. I guess what I'm trying to say is... ya know, Thanks.
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Teen Titans #26 (March-April, 1970)
"A Penny for a Black Star"
Script - Bob Kanigher
Art - Nick Cardy
Editor - Dick Giordano
Cover Price: $0.15
Welcome to a we-e-e-e-eird time for the Titanic Teens. No longer acting on their own as a force for good, they now answer to the enigmatic Mister Jupiter! Well, least that means we'll be getting some Lilith!
As you read along, keep the story title in the back of your mind... it turns out that it's a bit of a play on words. Though, perhaps I'm just thinking too hard.
Let's get to it... and while we're at it, let's meet Vox, er... Guardian, um... Hornblower... ehhh, ya know, Mal Duncan!
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We open with the Teen Titans, though here they're dressed more like Challengers of the Unknown... or, with those collars maybe like the SuperFriends Wonder Twins. They are being led through the darkness by a robot named Angel, before being sent through a string of death-traps!
The team emerges safely from the terrifying obstacle course, entering into Mr. Jupiter's strange office... through some holes in the wall. Really don't like seeing a bunch of holes in a surface... makes my skin crawl. Anyhoo, Mistuh J tells the Teens that they were never in any real peril, and informs them that they've all "passed". The second-half of this assignment is to... well, that's for the kids to find out, it seems. He hands them each a shiny penny, and sends them into Hell's Corner (which, I'm assuming is something like Hell's Kitchen... and I'll very likely use the terms interchangeably from this point forward!
The confused kids leave Mr. Jupiter's office, and try to wrap their heads around just what in the hell he expects from them. Suddenly, Lilith pipes in with the idea that they use the penny to find... a black star! Lilith, you're babbling again. Turns out she briefly tuned-in to a psychic message... which, is kinda cheating. Thought these "street clothes" Titans didn't use their powers... maybe Lilith doesn't count.
The Teens finally arrive in Hell's Corner... where they find a young girl selling cups of lemonade for... a penny each! Well, ain't that a fine howdoyado? The thirsty Titans all pony up their pennies... when they are descended upon by super-tough street gang... Hell's Hawks!
These geeks try to shake the poor girl down for a "kickback" of her profits. I mean, c'mon guys... she's selling lemonade for a penny a pop! Anyhoo, the Hell's Hawks proceed to kick over her lemonade stand, and knock the drinks out of the Titans' hands. Wow, these guys mean business! Hawk... that is, Hank Hall clenches his fists... until Dove reminds him of their secret shame.
Flashback time! Ya see, last issue the Titans failed to save the life of the most important Peacenik on the planet Earth... Dr. Arthur Swenson. Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination occurred just a couple of years earlier, and I would assume that this was DC's answer to it. Anyhoo, it was after Swenson's passing that the Titans swore to never again wear their costumes... or use their powers. Gotta wonder how somebody like Robin or Speedy "stop" using their powers. I mean, Robin's just a smart acrobatic kid... and Speedy can fire arrows. Is Speedy just never going to pick up a bow again? This new status quo doesn't really take... which isn't really a surprise.
Back on the street, the Hell's Hawks go to grab the gals... and, get this... the frickin' Titans allow it! Are you kidding me? Wally actually holds Roy back from intervening because... they're "down". Down with what, jackass? Wonder Chick getting molested? Well, to be fair... it also seems like Donna's down with it too... lest they act, and another Peacenik drops dead! Remember the old saying, "Every time a Titans balls his fist... a peace-loving man dies!"
Well, luckily that doesn't apply to neighborhood do-gooders, like... hey, it's Mal Duncan! It turns out that the lemonade girl is actually his little sister, Cindy! He hops to and starts beating up the baddies.
The Titans, who are still standing their twiddling their thumbs realize... hey, if we don't step in, this Mal is gonna get bum rushed. So, finally... we get some Titans fighting. I counted about ten punches, which likely means ten Peaceniks just bought the farm. When the dust settles, the Hell's Hawks have flown the coop... and Mal leaves with his sister. Lilith suggests that they haven't seen the last of him.
Now, without their shiny pennies, the Titans realize they're going to need jobs! Donna and Lilith break away to apply for a gig at a dress shop... and it turns out these groovy chicks are pretty good at slinging outfits.
Nearby, the fellas are approached by a coordinator for a local "boy's club"... like an after-school program to keep kids (boys and girls) off the streets. He asks if they're willing to work long hours for crappy pay... and boy howdy, are they!
That evening, the Titans share a meal with the club coordinator... and Donna has her first taste of Soul Food... delicious! The Titans learn that the next day will feature the club's big boxing matches... more on that in a bit.
That night, a brick-wrapped-in-a-note is hurled through the window of the boy's dorm. It's a warning for them to go back where they came from... and threatens that perhaps next time, instead of a brick it'll be a Molotov Cocktail.
The next day is the day of the big boxing match... turns out this year's feature bout pits our new friend Mal Duncan against... Storm from the Hell's Hawks! Now... okay. We've got the Hell's Hawks, right? Real no-good jerks... who would steal pennies from a little girl. Now we learn that they hang out at the Community Center? Wha--?
Mal kayos the crud with the quickness... to a mixed reaction.
... and after the bout, the Titans save him from a beat-down in the locker room. Looks like at least four more Peaceniks just bit the big one!
Donna suggests they celebrate Mal's victory with "a little rock"... didn't think crack-cocaine was really a thing back in 1970. Okay, okay... she means the music. Mal has a different idea... and so, he takes them to The Cool Cat Club for some smooth jazz and dancing.
While there, Mal engages in a little bit of projection... until Lilith asks if he's down for a dance.
While they shake-shake-shake, Wally suggests to Donna that they invite Mal to join their Mr. Jupiter brigade. After all... they spent a penny, and found themselves a... ahem... black star. Mal doesn't take to the invite right away, but comes around before the night is through.
He runs through the same death-defying obstacles that his new pals did, and passes with flying colors. He's certainly earned his Challengers' leisure suit. That night, after spurning Hawk's advances, he remains awake... wondering if he's made the right decision in joining up with these weirdos. After all, he's just a kid from Hell's Corner.
Over the next few days, we get a bit more insight as to what Mr. Jupiter hopes to accomplish... and boy does it seem pointless. He's planning to send an unmanned spaceship on a one-way trek to Venus. Why? Who knows. Why does he need the Titans for this? Again... who knows. Mal gazes longingly at the spaceship as lift-off fast approaches.
The night before lift-off, Mal sneaks out of his dorm. Lilith catches him in the act, but lets him go. He heads toward the spaceship... but why?
The lift-off is set for the following day... and it's a success! Well, until they learn that their unmanned ship is currently... ya know, manned. Our man Mal reports in... saying he'll provide "human reactions" for Mr. Jupiter's data. Which really doesn't sound as useful as he thinks.
We wrap up with the Titans promising to find a way to bring him back. If only they lived in the same universe as Superman... oh, wait.
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Toldja it was a w-e-e-e-eird time for the Titans!
We've got a little bit to break down here. This issue has the same cover month as the first iconic Green Lantern/Green Arrow "relevant" era book (April, 1970). So many folks attribute DC's leap into social relevancy as a result of that O'Neil/Adams run. Let's look to the Titans though... this issue (#26) deals with the fallout of a Peace Demonstrator being assassinated (in issue #25/February, 1970). Could the Titans have been the super-secret-start of the "relevant era" for DC Comics? We don't really hear about the Silver-Bronze Age Titans outside of "zany Haney" references... but, who knows?
Anyhoo... today we meet Mal Duncan... and he gets blasted to Venus his first time out. This sort of reminds me of that EC Comic that was almost banned by the Comics Code Authority for featuring a black astronaut. The Code would be relaxed about a year after this issue hits the stands (1971)... gotta wonder if DC got any odd flack from the CCA for this one.
It's also worth noting that Mal was sort of a "one and done" here. Wonder if DC had to compromise with the CCA to even do the story to begin with! Like, yeah... "we really want to introduce a black hero... but don't worry, he'll only be around for one issue." Man, the early-CCA era was a strange (and awful) time.
The "threat" (if we can call them that) of the Hell's Hawks was as silly as it gets... literally stealing pennies from a little girl... and kicking over her milk-crate lemonade stand to boot! Still find it hilarious that these menaces to society take part in the Community Center sports appreciation day.
I hinted at it during the synopsis... but it's really hard for me to muster up feelings of urgency for some of these stories. Yeah, Mal's been blasted to Venus... maybe one day we'll see him again. Or... or... or, maybe we call Superman and in about eight-seconds, we've got Mal back? I dunno. Guess maybe the street-clothes-Titans vow doesn't allow them to use anybody's powers?
Overall, this issue was a blast... had a great time with it, silliness and all! Nick Cardy draws some absolutely beautiful faces here, and is always a treat. Well worth checking... and has been collected in SHOWCASE Presents Teen Titans, Volume 2. Give it a look and get relevant with the Titanic Teens!
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Letters Page (featuring Alan Brennert):
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