Return of the New Gods #12 (July, 1977)
"Prelude to a Holocaust: Part One, Chapter One"
Writer - Gerry Conway
Artists - Don Newton & Dan Adkins
Colorist - Liz Berube
Creator - Jack Kirby
Cover Price: $0.35
Welcome to the first installment of "1st Issue Special: Where are they now?" or, "Where were they then", I suppose.
A few weeks back we discussed 1st Issue Special #13... the final issue of that strange and wonderful series. It reintroduced the concept of the New Gods... and the "Story Behind the Story" letters page promised that the story would continue in the pages of a the resuming New Gods book... and, in the rare case of something being promised in a letters page actually coming true... here we are!
Of note, this issue includes some Bug... Forager... whatever you wanna call 'im. He's somewhat topical these days as he's just about to star in his own miniseries coming out of the Young Animal imprint of DC Comics written and illustrated by more Allreds than you can count! Reggie and I will be covering his adventures during the Young Animal segment on the Weird Science DC Comics podcast... and (I'd assume) one of us will be reviewing the book for the site.
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We open with a neat two-page spread which gives us the quick and dirty on the embattled planets of New Genesis and Apokolips. From here we meet Orion and his current running buddies Lonar, Jezebelle, Metron, Lightray, and Forager... the Bug! They chat about a nebulous warning from the Source regarding Darkseid and his nefarious plot. As they approach Apokolips, they're greeted by the welcoming committee... a whole slew of Parademons!
The battle is brief, and landfall goes off without a hitch. They head to Darkseid's domain, and deal with a few palace guards. Once they are out of the way, the heroes come to the realization that the city has been deserted... and they're all by their lonesome. Orion works his way to his father's throne room... and the only man their is Metron, who had disappeared during the earlier battle. Orion accuses him of betrayal... tipping Darkseid off so he might flee. Metron assures him Darkseid was long gone before they even arrived... gone, to the Moon!
And so, our heroes boom tube it to the Moon... where Darkseid has erected a base on its dark side. The heroes are surprised to find that this facility, like the palace before, is deserted! They head on in anyway, and come across a computer display that lists the names of six Earthlings who are believed to possess equal parts of the Anti-Life Equation.
The story resumes with Orion flying in the Colorado sky, hopeful that he might speak to one of the names on that list... a Brigadier General Maxwell Torch. It gets a bit sticky here... as several fighter planes see him in the sky... and want to take him down. It's strange, they seem surprised to see a flying man... one even says, "Yes, General, I know that's impossible!"... I mean, doesn't Superman live in this world? I dunno. Anyhoo, Orion gives them the slip... and then fires a blast at one of the planes. That doesn't exactly scream "I come in peace", does it?
Once everybody is on the ground, Orion finds himself face-to-face with General Torch... and dude don't seem terribly pleased.
We shift scenes to Forager, who is looking for Donald Bradford at "The Project". He works his way through the ventilation shafts and prepares to sidestep all of the potential security measures this installation might have in store for him. He runs into some soldiers, who... as luck would have it, are more than happy to bring him to Mr. Bradford.
Here we get a welcome bit of backstory for our buddy the Bug. Turns out some "bacteriological" weapons on New Genesis created a race of sorta-mindless insectoid people who called themselves "The Colony"... the Forager was part of it, however, through adoption... and therefore is still capable of independent thought. Bradford doesn't look completely convinced... but he doesn't kick our man out either.
At the same time, in Fairbanks, Alaska... Lonar seeks an Eskimo named Nomak... and it looks like he does! We don't get to see them chat, but we can probably assume everything's cool... right?
Jezebelle is in Metropolis, looking for a David Lincoln. Metron's in New Orleans, seeking a young lady named Lorraine Hampton. Again, these scenes are brief... almost "blink and you miss'em" quick.
In San Francisco, Lightray looks for Vietnam veteran and (recovering?) drug-addict, Richard Roe. He decides it's probably in his best interest to "dress down" for the meet n' greet. We see Mr. Roe... who looks rather frazzled. His hippie girlfriend, Debbi, answers the door.
We rejoin Orion as he's trying to talk with General Torch. It's really not going well, as the General is... well, a jerk. Orion decides that they've talked just about enough, and lunges in to just grab 'em. This ends poorly with several soldiers opening fire! Like, seriously... these goofs are inside a warehouse or something, and just "braka braka"ing all over the place! Orion takes this opportunity to leave.
We wrap up with Orion swearing that he will finish the battle Darkseid started... a threat that daddy Darkseid sees via his video monitor.
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Had a lot of fun with this one.
I should probably get my bias out of the way... I'm kind of a sucker for these "split up and collect stuff" stories, so seeing the gang all searching out 1/6 of the Anti-Life Equation really scratched an itch I didn't realize I had!
Now, this is my first run-in with Forager... and, I really dig him! Makes me really excited to see the Allreds's's take on him later this Spring. He's got a super cool design, and his backstory (at a glance) seems like one of the more interesting of the Fourth Worlders. I was quite pleased that they spent a couple pages filling us in on his backstory... he's the main character I came into this wanting to know more about.
Orion seems like a rather conflicted chap, no? I mean, what's dude thinking blasting military aircraft just to get their attention? That's just insane, right? Not bad, though... I kinda like him being portrayed as on edge... perhaps not thinking straight. We got a glimpse of this in Darkseid's throne room where he straight up accuses Metron of snitching to daddy dearest. Paranoid to say the least!
I will say I'd have liked to have spent a bit more time with the rest of the crew. Jezebelle, Lightray and Lonar get precious little screen time here... and we also don't get much in the way of clarification if their 1/6's were agreeable to joining the cause. Though, I suppose that might be something that's made more clear next issue.
Overall, a great start for the Returning New Gods series... and a run I'm going to keep my eye out for when bin-diving. I'm rather surprised to report that this is available digitally, and you don't necessarily need to have read 1st Issue Special #13 to appreciate it! Well worth a look
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(Not the) Letters Page:
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Detective Comics #367 (September, 1967)
"Where There's a Will--There's a Slay!"
"Enigma of the Elongated Evildoer!"
Writer - Gardner Fox
Artists - Carmine Infantino & Sid Greene
Cover Price: $0.12
Still in a Silver-Age kinda mood... let's check in with (at the time) new television stars, Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder!
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We open with some exposition regarding a "murder-go-round" in which four men (including Bruce Wayne). In recent adventures, Batman and Robin have been able to save the lives of all but one... Bruce Wayne. It seems as though his time might just be up! We move into the story proper with a ruby being hurled through the window of Wayne Manor... rousing the two inhabitants, Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth. Dick recognizes it as a piece from Bruce's collection... the Rajah Ruby!
Dick immediately believes that it might have something to do with the "round robin deaths" case they were working on last issue. An "unknown killer" sent Bruce a flaming letter to tell Commissioner Gordon to turn on a radio... a radio which would have, somehow, killed him!
At the same time, Commissioner Gordon received a flaming letter of his own, with instructions to ring the doorbell of John Kobler... who himself received incendiary instructions to call sports writer Fred Tinney. All four men were to be the instruments of each other's demise... if not for Batman and Robin's involvement!
The only remaining potential victim is... Bruce Wayne, and so Dick plays a hunch. He figures the ruby was stolen and hurled back in to facilitate Bruce accessing his wall safe. Dick sets up a barricade for he and Alfred to hide behind before unlocking the safe at a distance. Wouldn'tcha know it... it goes boom! Gotta wonder... if someone was able to break into Wayne Manor... and booby-trap a wall-safe, wouldn't it stand to reason that they might have found the giant cave downstairs? Thinking too hard... thinking too hard...
Anyhoo, Dick and Alfred head into the Batcave to see if maybe Bruce is hanging out. He's not... however, his crudely-written last will and testament is there! The will gives away both his and Dick's secret identities... and is apparently written in such a way where the words "round" and "robin" are conspicuous. Not that we'd know... but, we'll take Dick's word for it.
Also... the will bequeaths Dick Grayson with an inheritance of ten-dollars and sixty-six cents! Could that be a clue? Well, duh... of course it is. Ya see, the Battle of Hastings happened during the year... 1066! Doesn't take Dick long to deduce that Bruce is trying to convey to him that "Doc" Hastings is behind the craziness!
And so, Dick hops in the Batcopter to visit Wayne Foundation. As he lowers himself down via Batrope, he sees... Doc Hastings, disguised as an electrician! What luck!
Robin bursts through the window, and a fight is on... well, sorta. Dick comes across pretty uncoordinated here... the Doc easily swats him away. We get to see what Hastings has been up to... it looks as though Bruce Wayne is about to deliver an address to a crowd... his introductory speaker is shorter than him, which means Bruce will have to raise the microphone... at which time, he will die. Dick manages to get back to his feet and goes to pull the giant "on/off" switch to save him, at which time Hastings points his electronic gun...
Robin manages to pull the switch before being shot... however, is shot a split-second later. He lay on the floor of the studio, dying. Hastings takes this opportunity to booby trap the body of the boy wonder!
After Bruce delivers his speech, he discovers the body of his teen-age partner. It looks pretty grim... and then it becomes, well... kind of uncomfortable. Bruce uses his American Red Cross training to bring his ward back to land of the living. Dick wakes up, feeling as though there's something sticking him in his back. I promise I don't mean that like it sounds.
The thing sticking in Robin's back is... a live grenade! The only thing holding the plunger down is Robin's body. Bruce maneuvers the lad so he can remove the grenade without causing it to go boom.
Later on, Bruce follows up on a hunch... these old Batman stories are just full of hunches. He figures that the best way to find Doc Hastings is to head to the electric company to see who has the highest bill in Gotham. Stands to reason, right? He learns that the highest bill belongs to a Charles Steinmetz... a name Batman recognizes, as it belonged to an early twentieth-century electrical engineer. He knows that's the alias Hastings would use... and wouldn'tcha know it, he's right!
Batman bursts into the Hastings house... and a fight is on. Doc's laboratory is just riddled with death traps... and for a moment it looks as though he's gotten the better of Batman. That is, until Batman taps into his "fighting spirit"! Doc runs to a cliche bit of machinery... ya know the type, it's got light bulbs on it. Before Hastings can flip that switch, a batarang busts it up real good.
The story wraps up with the round-robin-foursome toasting their good fortune while Aunt Harriet cluelessly looks on.
Hey, we're not done yet... we've got ourselves a back-up strip! This one stars the Elongated Man, Ralph Dibney, who is currently enjoying a vacation in Nevada ski-country with his wife Sue. Well, that doesn't last all that long, because... mystery is afoot. A well-known gambler known as "Hundred Grand" Harry (he's called that because he always carries $100,000 with him... which, isn't terribly smart, if you ask me) was kayoed and robbed on the slopes! The getaway tracks look... a bit strange...
They figure that it's gotta be another stretchy fella behind the badness... Ralph tries to dispel that train of thought by demonstrating how a normal-sized individual might have done the ol' split-legged ski-tree trickeroo. It's really not ideal for someone trying for a quick getaway...
Back at the resort, Ralph is alerted that the thief is at it again... the Countess has lost her box of jewels! She didn't see anything, because the baddie used a gas pellet... but she figures it's gotta be a stretchy guy, because she claims that whoever did it was standing on the roof across the courtyard... over fifty feet away! Ralph proceeds to follow the footprints in the snow...
When he comes across a pair of goofs in jester masks mugging a blonde man. Ralph takes care of them quickly... and if I'm being honest, kinda brutally.
He heads over to the victim, who introduces himself as Banners, an inventor. From the art, it looks like he wasn't only mugged... but the baddies broke every bone in his body, or maybe he's got rickets... probably never eats his vegetables. Either way, dude looks a wreck!
Ralph turns the jesters in to the sheriff, then rejoins Sue at the masquerade ball. Before the evening ends... Banners crawls in, claiming that the stretch-bandit has just stolen the plans for his invention. Ralph checks out Banners' room... and is shown the getaway footfalls in the snow... about 15-20 feet apart. He heads out to investigate, and think. When he returns to the resort, Banners has already checked out. At this point, Ralph is somehow certain that Banners has been the baddie all along.
Ralph takes a shortcut down the mountain and heads Banners off at the pass. It's here that we learn that Banners was able to make it look as though everything was done by a "stretch bandit" by use of... a fishing rod. Ay yai yai. Ralph beats him up...
We wrap up with the resort guests getting their loot back... and a "long arm of the law" pun. This one was... pretty painful.
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Okay... not gonna lie, I didn't enjoy either of these stories. In fact, they were both a bit tough to get through.
Let's start with the Batman story. Reading comics for all the years I have, I've grown accustomed to... convenient story-telling. This story, though... perhaps a bit too convenient. Everything just fell into place... and it kinda felt as though I was watching a slightly darker version of the "66" television show, which... is probably what they were going for. Darker... and overwritten!
It probably didn't help that this was a "part two"... which I really wasn't expecting. Maybe if I knew more about the "round robin" deal, I would have been more engaged... but, I kinda doubt it. I think this one was just kind of a dud. It happens from time to time, I guess.
The Elongated Man backup... dang. This one was a chore. Perhaps if I read it first I'd have appreciated it more, however... reading it immediately following that dud of a Batman story didn't do it any favors. It was a lot less fun than I thought a Silver-Age Ralph and Sue story would be, that much is for sure. It just felt painfully dull... and it refused to end.
Overall, not a whole lot to recommend here personally, though I can certainly see folks digging it. If you do decide you wanna check either of these stories out, they are available in SHOWCASE Presents Batman, Volume 3 and SHOWCASE Presents Elongated Man, Volume 1.
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