New Adventures of Superboy #18 (June, 1981)
"Superboy's Do-it-Yourself Doom!"
"Day of the Costume Change!"
Writers - Cary Bates & Bob Rozakis
Penciller - Kurt Schaffenberger
Inker - Dave Hunt
Colorist - Jerry Serpe
Letterer - Ben Oda
Editor - Julius Schwartz
Cover Price: $0.50
It's been a long day in Chrisville... so let's unwind in Smallville.
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We open with Carl "Moosie" Draper sulking by the water. He's apparently madly in love with Lana Lang, however she only has eyes for Superboy. He wishes that the mysterious Kator would have soundly beaten his foe to expose him for the over-rated fraud Draper believes him to be. He chucks a few stones into the drink, and notices in the rippling reflection... Kator! And he's got a plan to make Moosie's wildest dreams come true!
Elsewhere, young Clark Kent is walking home from school, and we get the quick and dirty on Kator. Looks like via use of the Mind-Prober Ray, Superboy was able to fill in some of his memory gaps from Krypton, including those of his father Jor-El building robots... and so, Superboy created his own robotic foe as a way to keep his powers sharp by using its own independent thought to attempt to outsmart our boy. That bot is Kator... and he first appeared the issue before this one, not that there are any helpful editorial notes or anything.
We shift to the Kent's General Store... which makes me remember that there was, at one time, a Kent's General Store. Anyhoo, Ma is working the counter, and it would appear to the patrons that Pa is out sick. In actuality, he's... get this, seated at a table with his finger hovering over a button with which he could deactivate Kator should the bot-boy return, and get "out of hand". What an existence...
The next morning we join Superboy as he flies through the streets of Smallville. He passes Moosie, who uncharacteristically smiles and waves. He's not really happy to see Superboy, however... he's happy to see Kator about to (theoretically) put a whuppin' on his arch-foe!
And a battle rages. Kator grabs the Boy of Steel by the cape and drags him far out into space. They struggle among the stars until Superboy realizes that his powers are fading. Turns out Kator purposefully brought the battle into the path of a comet that had passed through a red Sun! They're also too far out for Superboy to successfully contact "at the button" Pa. Uh-oh.
Thankfully, Superboy is not without his wits. He decides to thrust himself through the path of the crimson comet... which, er... gives him his superpowers back? Okay well, he's also back in the proximity of a yellow Sun... somehow. Anyhoo, from here Superboy does what he should do most of the time when dealing with a baddie... he grabs Kator and throws him into the Sun! No foolin'.
Superboy returns home, where he gets an "I told you so" lecture from his parents. They didn't quite cotton to the idea of a Krypto-science-A.I. critter loitering around their fair town always looking for a fight. Pa drops the killswitch into the garbage... which, ya know... might not be the best idea. Just sayin'.
Elsewhere in Smallville, we rejoin our old friend Moosie. He is following the directions of a glowing gadget given to him by Kator, into the hills. Apparently Kator had a contingency plan... when he ceased to be, the trinket would begin to glow, and Moosie would do as it told. The tired, sweating Carl finally comes across a cave. Inside it is an apparatus "far out hardware" he'd been instructed to sit in. He is, obviously, pelted by rays.
Back at the Kents, Clark is on the phone with Lana Lang... when he hears a terrible struggle. He suits up and heads out. He sees the Lang house now has a smoldering hole where Lana's bedroom is, and has to use his telescopic vision to locate his gal. He tracks her down at the athletic field behind the high school.
But, Lana's not the only one he finds there. No, he also finds... Kator 2.0? Seems to be a bit heavier than last time, right? Okay, we all know it's Moosie Draper in the get up. They start to fight, but Superboy's punches are powerless. Wouldn'tcha know it, Moosie buried some Kryptonite under the football field. Just how is Kryptonite so plentiful anyway?
Superboy lets Moosie nail him with an uppercut to send him out of the range of the Kryptonite. They fight into the sky, and Moosie appears to vaporize after a particularly powerful punch. In reality, the husky Kator has phased inside Superboy, threatening to blink him out of existence... because science? It's not worth thinking too hard about because Superboy is able to shake him pretty quickly.
He returns home to dig the killswitch from the bin... and isn't able to find it! He looks up to find Moosie sitting on the Kents' (reinforced?) dining room table. He reveals that he knows Clark Kent is really Superboy, because it wasn't just the powers Kator passed down, but his knowledge as well! Seems like poor planning for Superboy to share that bit of information with a robot he is crafting with the express purpose of being his worst enemy, right? Anyhoo... before Moosie can go any further, Pa Kent pushes the killswitch, and puts the baddie on the ground.
Superboy grabs Moosie and brings him to the Mind-Prober Ray in the basement. He figures if running it normally fills in memories... throwing it into reverse should do the opposite. Sure, that sounds legit. And so, Moosie gets the Professor X special, and his mind is wiped clean. Before we close, we learn that Moosie will grow up to become the Master Jailer! Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Our second story begins with Lana Lang buying a bolt of fabric at the Kent General Store. She is planning on making a new dress before they begin high school the following week. She suggests perhaps Clark change up his look as well... maybe grow his hair out, get some "mod" clothes. He kinda shrugs it off, because apparently his hair doesn't grow on Earth... and he wears his normal CK outfit for certain reasons... which I don't recall. Well, just because Clark can't change, doesn't mean Superboy can't shake things up, right?
And so, he designs a new Superboy outfit... and it's yellow. It's like, really yellow. Ma Kent sews it up just in time for a geyser to become radioactive. Boy, it's lucky they were watching that channel!
Anyhoo, Superboy heads out... and notices that his powers are dampened. He feels the stinging pain when he touches the acid, and he actually sweats from the 110 degree temperatures. He fights his way through in his weakened state, and caps the geyser with a giant stone. Gotta mention, I can't help but notice that the sky is very red during this bit... so maybe it's the red Sun Earth looks to be under that is affecting his powers. Okok, probably not.
He leaves, passing over a carnival where he sees some crooks carrying guns (and a briefcase... they've always got a briefcase!). He uses his telescopic vision... which is fuzzy. No matter, he swoops in and takes out the baddies... however, not before being shot at several times. He can actually feel the impact of the bullets... but only on the yellow part of his costume!
He returns home with the realization that the yellow costume is reflecting the power-giving Sunlight from him... leaving him too weak to properly be Superboy. Hmm... I'm no scientist, but I'm not sure it works that way... at least with UV rays. Anyhoo... he hangs his new-old togs in the closet, vowing never to don them again.
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Man, I love these ridiculous Superboy stories. They're like the perfect mix of the Silver Age and late pre-Crisis wack.
The idea that Superboy would build the robot of his own demise is pretty interesting. It definitely doesn't feel like something out of an 80's book, pre-Crisis or not. I mean, that just doesn't sound like a good idea no matter how you slice it.
In reading these New Adventures issues, I'm actually quite surprised that Clark Kent didn't grow up to be a hyperviolent sociopath. I mean, it seems like in every issue there are classmates out to get him! That's gotta really skew a kids sense of reality, right? Talk about an invitation to a victim complex.
Overall, this is a great series with which you can sorta (and I mean no disrespect here) turn your brain off and just enjoy yourself. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to take a break from contemporary "think too hard" comics where every nuance and story beat needs to be addressed and analyzed... by some nitwit on a blog... ahem. This series is yet to be collected or made available digitally, so if you're down for a romp through sorta-1950's Smallville, you're gonna have to be down for a romp through the bins.
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Batman Adventures #20 (May, 1994)
"Smells Like Black Sunday"
Writer - Kelley Puckett
Penciller - Mike Parobeck
Inker - Rick Burchett
Colorist - Rick Taylor
Lettering - Richard Starkings/Comicraft
Assistant Editor - Darren Vincenzo
Editor - Scott Peterson
Cover Price: $1.50
Happy April Fool's Day!
Decided to give our Patron Saint of the "holiday" Mr. Mxyzptlk the day off, so we might instead check in with some other fools in an issue of Batman Adventures.
While we're discussing Batman, I do want to mention that I'd been turned on to a new (to me) podcast this week via a shout-out during an episode from our friends at Warlord Worlds. It's called Bat-Books for Beginners and is hosted at The Batman Universe. The hosts Chris and Gerry put on a great show that I believe would prove interesting and inviting to actual bat-book-beginners, while also being entertaining to we seasoned folks. Even though we're no longer in #trypod month (I just found out #trypod was a thing yesterday!), this show is still worth giving a try.
Anyhoo, onward!
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We open in the prison cafeteria where Mastermind, Mr. Nice, and the Perfesser are planning their escape. Unfortunately for them, it's not like they're just gonna walk out of jail... so, they're going to need a diversion. And, so... the Perfessor stands up and calmly says "Fire." The resulting riot facilitates their procuring a gun from a prison guard, with which... Mr. Nice can shoot out the power lines. So far, so good... right?
The Perfessor uses his computeresque brain to easily guide the trio through the darkness... and out of the prison via a convenient sewer pipe. Their first breaths of free air are short-lived, as they find themselves surrounded by some rather angry (and rabid) looking dogs. Mastermind tries getting the pistol from Mr. Nice so he can... ya know, kill the pups. Mr. Nice, being a nice guy, ain't feeling it. During the tussle, the Perfessor grabs a stick and whittles it into a flute. After giving it a toot, the dogs vamoose.
It isn't long before the escaped convicts rob a bank and run afoul of a certain caped crusader. Luckily, Mastermind is at the wheel for this getaway, though, we appear to be missing Mr. Nice. Anyhoo, Mastermind has accounted for just about everything that might go wrong. The tires are batarang-proof... and he has devised a route with which they will be able to elude capture.
They cut through an intersection just as the light turns red, and figure that Batman's going to at least have to stop to allow traffic to cross. What Mastermind failed to take into consideration was the Batmobile being equipped with nitrous oxide. Batman is able to blow through the intersection with ease... and remains on the baddie's tail.
Mastermind tries calling the police from the car in order to divert their attention elsewhere... however, this doesn't quite work out. After nearly t-boning another car, our baddies skid to a stop. Batman arrives moments later for the pick-up. Mastermind, who is counting down to zero, doesn't seem terribly bothered. He scoffs at Batman, claiming that he's "too late".
Batman asks just what in the world Mastermind is going on about, and it is explained that Mr. Nice is currently at Fort Bragg procuring nuclear warheads. Hmm, sounds legit. Anyhoo, Mastermind made Nice promise not to be... nice, until after midnight. Meaning until then, he'd be fine just blowing fools away, right?
Well, as it turns out... yeah! We join Mr. Nice as he infiltrates Fort Bragg... and dude is budda-budda-budda'ing at everything that moves! He busts inside, and goes nuts with the gunfire.
That is, until he runs into a teeny tiny puppy.
We wrap up our tale... right where we started it, the prison cafeteria. Our boys are huddled around the same table... until Mr. Nice and the Perfesser can't take any more of Mastermind's crazy schemes. They abandon him, leaving him to rant all by his lonesome... that is, until some inmates get tired of hearing the geek go on. We close out with the Mastermind deposited in a garbage can!
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I totally slept on this series when it was coming out. I think the X-Men Adventures tie-in comic kinda ruined me on animated series books. I just always looked at these as low-priority "cheap" books the companies put out to cash in on unwitting parents who might wanna pick up a mag for their kids. I'm still not convinced I'm wrong... but, I gotta say... this was a fun read!
Let's start with the art. I'm sure I'm not the first fella to extol the virtues of the late Mike Parobeck. The dude was great... his work here looks effortless, and yet... painstaking. Not sure if that makes any sense... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I would have to work mighty hard to make my work look so perfectly simple.
The "animated style" isn't one that I always cotton to. We discussed an issue of Adventures in the DC Universe last year, which had similar art... and I really didn't dig it. I think Parobeck makes all the difference to me. His work just comes off as first-rate... and not as an artist trying to make their work look "DC animated", you follow?
The story was... silly, and light. Perfectly fine, and as I'd mentioned, perfectly fun. I like that the story's focus was on the baddies. It offered a different and novel perspective, and allowed us to explore the fellas' quirks and idiosyncrasies. In doing a bit of research, I've learned that Mastermind and Mr. Nice are both established characters in the DC Universe... with Mastermind showing up in an early Challengers of the Unknown story. Mr. Nice has actually showed up in post-Rebirth Nightwing comics... which is pretty neat. The Perfessor appears to be an original character for the animated series, and seems to have been based somewhat on Denny O'Neil. How fun is that?
Overall, this is a light, fun Batman story... that Batman doesn't really loom all that large in. I'd say if you are a hard-copy fan (like I am), this might be worth it at cover price and below. Wouldn't recommend paying much more than that. If you're not like me and digital comics don't make your teeth itch, this issue has been made available in that format. Worth a look.
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Electric Warrior #1 (May, 1986)
"The Whole Nasty Night"
Writer/Co-Creator - Doug Moench
Artist/Co-Creator - Jim Baikie
Letterer - Annie Halfacree
Colorist - Tom Ziuko
Cover Price: $1.50
Going to chat up one of those wacky mid-1980's New Format books today. This one gets a bit mature toward the end... just thought I'd give a warning.
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We open with some strange looking fellas rappelling down to some elevated tram tracks. Once there, one mounts some gel on the line. Moments later, a medi-car rushes down the way... and there is a terrible explosion when it reaches the ghetto napalm. The track breaks... ad the "bullet" plummets toward the ground. I gotta mention, the two geeks speak in this strange and nearly indecipherable argot. The word "zig" is said at least 700 times. The medi-car crashes into the ground, and before long it is swarmed by dozens of these strange "ziggie" transients, looking for a fix.
We shift to a wide shot of the city... and we can now see that those ziggies live in the warrens, which is the "old" and what we might consider to be the "modern" city. Atop the buildings sits a new city. It is clean and futuristic. We also can see that outside the city limits is a wilderness, where men can live among nature... men, like Derek Two-Shadow.
From the palace of the Council of Cities, a woman named Quintana petitions to head into the wilds. She is given the okay, however, she must be accompanied by some Electric Warriors. Oooh, that's the name of the book! As she leaves, she learns of the "bottom-dwellers" attack on the medi-car. This scene is juxtaposed with Derek Two-Shadow going for a swim. We learn that he lived in the city until he was nine... but escaped. That was twelve years ago.
From here we get some vignettes. Quintana arrives at her destination, and decides to send her escorts packing. We shift to the Electric Warrior barracks, where it seems one of these robots might be... dreaming? That's probably going to be important. In the warrens, the bottom-dwellers discuss an attack on the power station. Meanwhile, Two-Shadow is fetching some art equipment he'd hidden under a large stone.
He unpacks an easel, and begins to paint. A blonde woman approaches... and upon noticing this fact, Two-Shadow stashes his supply under the stone. While this is going down, Quintana is setting up a strange looking camera mounted on a tripod. Nearby, another wilderness dweller named Simon attacks her... fearing that her device might be a weapon. There is a brief struggle before she convinces him that she's no threat. He looks at the holographic image she'd snapped, and sees Derek Two-Shadow in the midst of painting. Satisfied, he allows her to accompany him back to his village.
Meanwhile, back in the city... the ziggies silently break into the power station.
In the village, Quintana is doing a wonderful job entertaining the wilderness children with her "techno-trash". The same blonde from earlier is on the periphery... and appears to be intrigued by Quintana's voodoo. Here we learn that her name is Amber Brightstar... which definitely sounds like a sci-fi leading lady, don't it?
Again, back in the city... the ziggies are affixing their crude napalm gel to the machinery... and the workers! At the same time, outta town... Two-Shadow heads out of the village. Quintana is not far behind.
She follows him to a waterfall where she learns a bit more about his backstory. They discuss their similar origins, but drastically different journey/destinations. Both came from the warrens, both (sorta) left the city... however, only one will be going back. This chat feels a bit contentious...
Back in the city, word of the terrorist act has gotten back to the council. Rather than look into it, they decide to send the Electric Warriors out to take care of business. The 'Leks awaken... and go to work. One of these bots, however... just ain't feelin' it.
Back at the village, Quintana is looking at her holographic images. She questions why Derek Two-Shadow would hide his artwork when Amber Brightstar hit the scene. The images continue with Derek and Amber making love. It gets a bit weird here, as Quintana flips through her Holocorder instruction manual, where it advertises that the images captured are so lifelike... you can feel it. A-hem.
We return to the Electric Warriors as they make their way into the power station. 'Lek 9-03 suggests they pull back, lest they destroy the station themselves. It's made pretty clear that 9-03's opinion wasn't solicited. And so, they bust in... and start blasting away at the ziggies and the gels. As one might imagine, there is a sizable explosion... and the lights go out, city-wide. There's a really interesting exchange here between some council members. They discuss that the folks from the warrens had so little to lose, that risking their very lives wasn't all that big a deal to them.
The Electric Warriors leave the scene... all except 9-03, that is. He sees a dead body, and decides to move it... even straightens its leg, giving the corpse some dignity. An older woman notices the act, and calls out to him. She sees something in him... something different than the other 'leks. 9-03 charges his blaster and takes aim... after all, the orders were to kill 'em all. At the last moment, 9-03 turns and releases the blast at an Electric Warrior billboard.
We wrap up back in the village, where beastmen begin their descent.
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I'll be honest... this one took a few tries for me to get going.
In opening with the bottom-dwellers taking down the medi-car we were positively hammered over the head with dweller lingo. It was incredibly hard to follow without any context. It wasn't until they blew up the bullet that we knew what they were on about... which made me have to reread the opening bit a few times. I will concede that it may just be my density... but, boy... this was a toughie.
Later scenes with the ziggies, while annoying, weren't nearly as confusing. We kinda knew what they were planning to do, and so it wasn't too terribly difficult to fill-in any "dweller talk" blanks.
Sticking with the dwellers for a bit... I really like the way the council members described them. They fight like they have nothing to lose... because, honestly... they don't. Every act is a means to an end... and, hell... it didn't even seem they were sure what result they were seeking. While gelling up the power station, they were chatting among themselves about what they were going to demand. Isn't that something you usually work out before committed a terrorist act? Well, not when you come from the warrens, it seems.
The warrens... and the new city. I love the design here! It's so cool that they just build a brand new city atop the architecture of the old one. Such an obvious concept, but not one I can recall seeing before. I will say my sci-fi game is totally weak, so this might be somewhere between old-hat and cliche for some folks... but, I really dug it.
The wilderness scenes were a nice bit of contrast... but, it didn't really hold my attention. The idea that Derek Two-Shadows is kind of a man without a country is pretty novel... he fled the city, and yet doesn't quite fit in with the villagers. He refers to himself as their "mirror" and "observer", which is interesting... especially when we consider that he is a super-secret artist.
I suppose we ought to discuss our Electric Warrior with a conscience... 9-03. I'm really not sure what to think, as my immediate reaction was "sigh...". Seems like such a cliche, right? I dunno... I probably shouldn't judge it just yet, we've only seen 9-03 briefly thus far.
Overall... despite the complaints listed, I enjoyed this. I must say I'm actually intrigued as to how all of these disparate concepts are going to mingle. I thought for sure that Derek Two-Shadow was somehow going to be the Electric Warrior... otherwise, why spend so much time on him, right? I might have to track some more of this series down to find out how it all shakes out. I'd say, if you see this in a cheap-o bin, you could do far worse. Definitely worth at least a flip-through... even if it's just to check out the character and location designs. They're worth a look!
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