Metal Men #37 (1969)

Metal Men #37 (April-May, 1969)
"To Walk Among Men"
Plot - Len Wein
Script - Denny O'Neil
Penciller - Mike Sekowsky
Inker - George Roussos

The last time we read an issue of Metal Men I wasn't terribly keen on it... though, that might've been more due to Eclipso showing up than anything.  I wasn't planning on covering them again anytime soon... however, after seeing this cover in the bin... I just couldn't resist.  I mean, just look at it!  Such a striking image!

Could the inside hope to match up?  Let's find out...

--

We open with the Metal Men careening toward the city in their space ship (which is apparently out of fuel).  Iron is able to weave their way between the skyscrapers before smashing into the ground... well, actually smashing into what looks like a parking lot, or at least it used to be.  As they crawl from the wreckage, the Metal Men find themselves surrounded by an angry mob... and police with their firearms drawn.

We get the impression that the Metal Men aren't exactly the most popular folks around town... and if we're being honest, they've kinda earned their reputation here.  I mean, they risked the lives of countless people here because they didn't realize their ship was out of fuel until it was too late!  Anyhoo, the police load the team into the paddy wagon (for their own safety) while the mob yells that they ought to be melted down and scrapped.

Over the next little while, the court of public opinion is in session... and the Metal Men are proclaimed Public Enemy Number One... (two, three, four, five, and six as well).  The Mayor is approached by a concerned group of citizens who demand he do something about the Metal Menace.  He's a bit sympathetic to the bots, since Dr. Will Magnus is currently in a coma...

... but even he must admit that something must be done.  He decides it would be prudent to actually put the Metal Men on trial... where they are ultimately declared guilty, and sentenced to... immediate destruction?!  Da hale?

From here, the Metal Men are loaded into another van... and driven down to the scrapyard.  Upon arrival, they watch in horror as a car gets smushed in a compressor... knowing they're about to share its fate.

Lead decides to go first... and right before his team, he is crushed into a cube!

The rest of the crew reluctantly follows...

The End!  Wait, no... we rejoin the Metal Men in a darkened room.  Suddenly, a man nearby turns on a light... exposing himself to be Mister Conan... who just so happens to be the same guy who condemned them to their crushed fates!

Conan reveals that he only had them "destroyed" as a means of saving them.  He thinks they could be useful to him somewhere down the line, however, the Metal Man "brand" is pretty much shot.  Since he owns the junkyard, it was easy for him to gimmick the crusher (don't think about it too hard...).  He introduces a Doctor Peter Pygmalion... and makes the Metal Men an offer to hide their robo-metal visages from the world.

The Metal Men agree, and so... over the next several pages a team of doctors attend to them.  Before we know it... bingo-bango, the Metal Men now have secret identities!  Just like Superman, Batman, and everybody!

Let's meet them, shall we?  We start with Gold aka. Guy Gilden, a glittering socialite and philanthopist.

Platinum aka. Tina Platt... beautiful model and fashion icon.

Tin and Lead aka. Tinker and Ledby Hand... folk singers?

Mercury aka. a hot-headed artist and sculptor named Mercurio.

And finally, Iron aka. Jon "Iron" Mann superstar engineer.  Wow, this Mr. Conan has a knack for setting up some bad-ass secret identities!

Six months pass... and the former Metal Men begin to get bored... and feel as though they've gotten soft.  Mr. Conan assures them that they're still needed... and recommends they remain sharp.  At that moment, we wrap up at a Park Avenue apartment... where a group of ghouls called The Black Coven convene!

--

Wow, I had no idea the Metal Men ever went the secret identity route... had a lot of fun with this one!

Let's chat up all the stuff that happened before the big reveal.  The Metal Men are declared menaces... which, c'mon... they kind of are!  If there was a group in the real world who negligently crash their ship into a crowded city street, I doubt the city-folk would take kindly to their presence.  This wasn't just a "lost control" situation... this was just an "oops, forgot to get gas!" deal!

Not saying they deserved to be... ya know, put to death or anything... but, maybe... I dunno, suggest they not to fly ships anymore?  The angry mob scenes made me think I was reading old X-Men comics... which was pretty neat.  The fact that this actually led to a trial was a bit silly... but, whattayagonnado?

Let's talk about the actual condemning scene.  How morbid was that?  I mean, they arrive just as a car is being crushed into a cube.  It's easy to dismiss all of this because we're dealing with machines... but, the fact that they were depicted as being fearful... confused even, really made the scene more powerful than it had any right to be.

We don't get a feeling of finality... which, is probably for the best.  Really not much to dwell on, considering what happens a page later.  If this scene were to occur today, I'd expect it to be a gory mess of gears and oil, rather than a sound effect followed by the appearance of a colorful cube.

The new identities were pretty neat to see... and were fun, if you don't think too much about it.  I mean, we've got Gold... who just appears outta nowhere as a wealthy socialite and philanthropist.  Seems far-fetched, but considering the subject matter... we can allow it.

Worth mentioning... Mike Sekowsky is frickin' amazing.  The art here is fantastic throughout... the Metal Men all look great, in both robo and fleshy forms, and hey... how 'bout that Coven.  Those are some freaky looking creeps!  Really, just an awesome looking book!

Overall, this was a very interesting wrinkle in the Metal Men mythos... and I'd say it's worth checking out if you come across it.  The cover is spectacular and the story ain't nothing to shake a stick at either.  It doesn't look like its ever been collected (SHOWCASE Presents: Metal Men, Volume Two unfortunately ends with #36).  It also doesn't appear to be available digitally... so, this'll be a bin-dive if you're interested.

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(Not the) Letters Page:

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Superman (vol.2) #141 (1999)

Superman (vol.2) #141 (January, 1999)
"Introducing Outburst!"
Writer - Dan Jurgens
Guest Penciller - Scot Eaton
Inker - Joe Rubenstein
Letterer - John Costanza
Colorist - Glenn Whitmore
Separations - Digital Chameleon
Assistant Editor - Maureen McTigue
Editor - Joey Cavalieri
Cover Price: $1.99

Been doing a lot of Death of Superman reading of late to prepare for our Cosmic Treadmill series celebrating the twenty-fifth (jeez!) anniversary of the story...

Oh by the way, Part One's right here...




One of the characters introduced way back then was a punk kid named Mitch Anderson.  Ya know... this kid:

Hardcore, bro!  Worth mentioning, this is all because she forgot to buy him soda...

He was a Guy Gardner fan... and thought Superman was kind of a dork.  That is, until he saved his family from a rampaging beast.  Why do I mention Mitch?  Well... seems timely considering the issue we're going to discuss today... but I won't ruin it for you.  Or did I already?  Either way, I promise to act surprised if you do!

--

We open with a group of masked fellas descending on S.T.A.R. Labs under the cover of night.  One repels down and uses one of those cool glass-cutters to gain access.  Once inside, one of them hops over to a computer to grab some data while the others serve as cover... even frying a curious night watchman!

It looks like they've planned for everything... well, everything except... the wacky wall-walkin' Outburst?!

Outburst is a brand-new hero... so, it's not difficult to understand why these geeks might not have planned for him.  They unload their guns in his direction, however, he's able to acrobatically evade every last shot... all the while cracking wise as though he were a certain wall-crawler (rather than a wall-walker).

Everything's all well and good for the colorful young man... until he tries to get a bit creative with his banter (it gets pretty try-hard, but whattaya expect from a kid-hero?), and winds up getting pistol-whipped.

We shift scenes to the Lexcom Building... twenty minutes earlier.  Lois Lane is about to get off work (a 12-hour shift!), and is met by the on-hiatus Clark (he's off to write a book, apparently... I really don't remember the particulars of this storyline) to grab some dinner.  Unfortunately for our pals, Lois' mean ol' boss-lady, Simone Deigns has chosen now to hold a meeting... so, dinner's going to have to wait.

It's just as well... because Clark hears the intruder alarm at S.T.A.R. Labs go off anyway, and knows that's likely something that requires his immediate attention.  He heads to the stairwell to "Supe-up" and head off...

... arriving just as our new buddy Outburst is about to have his head blown off.  He heat-visions a baddie's gun before taking a half dozen bullets to the face and chest.  Outburst is overjoyed to see his savior, as he considers Big Blue to be his fav'rit... er, that is... his favorite.  Like, his idol.  This really isn't Bibbo, I hope I didn't get your hopes up.

While Superman and Outburst take on the bad guys, that one who went to the computer bank reveals that they got what they came for.  We can see Superman's logo on the monitor.  Hmm.  He calls for a diversion so they can bug-out with the goods...

... and so, he calls for a missile-packin' helicopter to descend.  Superman runs up to the window to take a pair of missiles to the chest!

This results in a rather sizable explosion... kinda begs the question why he took the blasts if he couldn't somehow absorb the resulting ka-boom.  Either way, the baddies manage to break away and escape... with whatever information they came for.  Outburst uses his magnetty powers to frantically dig Superman out of the rubble... and winds up on the wrong end of a lecture for his troubles.

Superman heads skyward to see if he can't pursue the thieves before realizing that several tanks full of toxic gas had been rigged to release to further occupy him and cover the bad guys' tracks.  Superman and his would-be sidekick work together to contain the gunk.

Quitting while he's ahead, Outburst decides to head home... to Suicide Slum, where he unmasks revealing himself to be... Mitch Anderson???  That kid who's house Doomsday destroyed back in '92?  Sur-prise!  Well, that's a deep cut!

Elsewhere, the data is delivered to the bad-guy-benefactor... Lex Luthor.  Well, no surprise there.  The information he sought was everything S.T.A.R. Labs knows about Superman's D.N.A. so that Lex and Co. can set about working toward development of synthesized Kryptonite.

We shift scenes to Superman returning home... where Lois is already asleep.  He comments on how frustrating a night this turned out to be... and I can't argue that.  Of interest... before hitting the sack, Clark brushes his teeth.  I never think about him doing stuff like that... must just be to counter bad breath, right?

We wrap up this issue in... what I assume to be Russia, where a nuclear power plant is currently melting down!  We are, (duh) to be continued...

--

As silly a concept like giving Mitch friggin' Anderson superpowers (much less bringing him back at all) is... I gotta say, I thought it worked.  Worked well, even!

Full disclosure, this comes from a period of time where I wasn't following Superman books... like at all.  I've been known to describe pre-Crisis Superman comics as interchangeable and unimportant... but, truth be told, I kinda feel the same way about the books of the late-1990's.  They seem to just drift from one story to the next, without much in the way of "milestones".  I look at the era between the end of "Electric Blue" and the arrival of Jeph Loeb and couldn't tell ya what happened when.  I've made a few attempts at working my way through it... but never get all that far.

That isn't to say it's bad... it just doesn't hold my attention.  That might sound worse... but also consider, that I didn't have a whole lot in the way of investment in Superman during this era.  For me, we go straight from the Death and Return... to Electric Blue... to Y2K.

With that blibbuh-blabbah out of the way... I really enjoyed this.  Far more than I thought I would!  When we first met Mitch, I thought he was a jackass... like I think we were supposed to.  Well, maybe that's too severe.  He really came off like that cliche "broken home" kid.  Nothing wrong in using a negative archetype... especially if you work toward a redemption arc... which they sorta did during Funeral for a Friend... and continue to do here.

We're left with a lot of questions.  How and why did Mitch wind up in Suicide Slum?  Last we saw him, the DC heroes rebuilt his family home and his folks decided to give the marriage another go.

From Superman (vol.2) #76 - Words & Art: Dan Jurgens

Also... how did he get superpowers?  Does it have something to do with his suit?  Did they somehow develop?  Was he marrow-sucked by one'a them Bloodlines aliens?  Was it a late reaction to the Gene Bomb?  Well, we could just Google it... but, where's the fun in that?

Outburst does come across a bit Spider-Man like here... almost veering into full-blown Deadpool!  That's not a particularly bad thing, as it's always fun to have a bit of banter.  Just a few years earlier, Dan Jurgens had a short run with Spidey... well, a Spidey anyway (t'was the Clone Saga)... so, I wonder if Outburst might be getting some of Peter Parker/Ben Reilly's leftover jokes.

Scot Eaton turns in some really great fill-in art here... really doesn't feel like a "fill-in" at all!  I usually complain about how muddy books of this vintage look because of the rotten shiny paper... but the coloring and inks here don't look half bad!

Overall... a fine issue!  Definitely inspired me to be a bit more proactive in checking out pre-Loeb and Co. turn of the century Superman.  Hell, I've got'em all... just gotta get around to reading them!  This issue is available digitally.

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Teen Titans (vol.3) #1 (2003)

Teen Titans (vol.3) #1 (September, 2003)
"Teen Titans"
Writer - Geoff Johns
Penciller - Mike McKone
Inker - Marlo Alquiza
Colorist - Jeromy Cox
Letters - Comicraft
Associate Editor - Tom Palmer, Jr.
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.50

During the 2000's there really wasn't much of a "sense of urgency" in getting to the comic shop as they opened the doors.  Back during the height of speculation, you'd almost have to be there as the doors opened in order to keep up with your favorites.

The 2000's were very different times... instead of paying the proprietor to have books held, shops were now offering (somewhat deep) discounts if you asked them to!

Just like reserving a rental car though... just because you have a book on your pull-list, doesn't guarantee you're going to receive it.  That was the case for me with this very issue of Teen Titans.

It was like nothing I'd seen since the early-1990's... every single shop on my side of town was sold out on this issue.  I remember doing a ton of driving that night after work... before finally finding a single copy on the other side of town... probably a good hour and a half from my house.

In the years that followed, Marvel and DC both would try to release books with the "get there when the doors open" sort of hype... but, it would never actually result in me pounding the pavement and engaging in a "hunt".  Not for Civil War, not for Infinite Crisis, not for the Death of Captain America, or even the Fantastic Four "Three" storyline... but for this issue of Teen Titans.  So weird.

Sooo... was it worth the expenditure in time and gasoline?  Let's find out...

--

We open in Smallville, with Ma and Pa Kent... well, Auntie and Uncle Kent at this juncture... driving their "nephew" Conner to Smallville High School.  Superman has set up a civilian identity for the lad so he could have something resembling a "normal" childhood.  He arrives at school... scans the hallways, and decides "nahhhh".

He thinks listening to chats about cow-tipping are pretty lame... so he instead heads out and makes some Superboy-inspired crop circles.  Seems just as lame, if you ask me.  Anyhoo, as he plays hillbilly hooky, Superman flies up to check on/lecture him.  During the discussion, the subject of the Teen Titans comes up.  Kon ain't feeling it, but Superman urges him to at least consider it... and go back to class.

We shift scenes (we're going to be doing that a lot) to Gotham City, where Robin is fighting Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum... while Batman chats him up about joining this new team of Teen Titans.  Tim's a bit iffy...

Next stop, Keystone City where Jay Garrick and Wally West talk about what to do about their impulsive young speedster.  Jay suggests the Titans invite, but Wally ain't all that keen... after all, he was a founding member of the team, for all that matters.  It seems like Wally wants to keep Impulse out of the Titans, like that can only be part of his history... guess he never read the late-Marv Wolfman run, because... Impulse was already a Titan!

Turns out the Bart overhears the conversation, and decides to pop his head in.  It's here that we learn that young Master Allen has something of a photographic memory... he's able to retain everything he reads (at super-speed, even!).  Not even Wally can say that!  This concept will be very important a couple of issues later.

Let's head over to Gateway City, where Cassie Sandsmark (and her mother) is being reamed out by her Principal.  Ol' lady Griffith doesn't like her Pagan-ish practices... nor her claims of being granted superpowers by Athena Zeus.  Cassie flips out, and smashes a desk... which probably doesn't help her case.

She rushes to the bathroom, where a couple of mean girls call her a Pagan.  As Cassie stares into the mirror... an odd, helmeted face stares back... that'll come back around later.

Anyhoo, moments later she is joined by Starfire... who is there to issue an invite, and talk a little bit about Wonder Girls past and present.  Cassie almost immediately agrees to join up, and before we know it the pair are flying over San Francisco in a bee-yootiful double-page spread.

The pair arrive at the new Titans Tower... and Cassie is almost immediately approached by our old friend Gar Logan... and boy is he a pervert. Still, somehow far less creepy than the Millennial-skeevo he is in post-Rebirth Teen Titans.

We learn that Titans Tower was built by Cyborg with funding from the city of San Francisco... in exchange for "favors" to be named later.  It's been awhile since I've read these early issues, so I couldn't say if/how that rolls out.

While Cassie admires the architecture, a few old friends arrive.  Former Young Justice founders, Superboy, Impulse, and Robin head in... and it's a bit of an icy reunion.  In the months since Donna Troy's death in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, it would appear that the YJer's relationship has been strained.

Over the P.A. system, Cyborg welcomes the newcomers... and suggests they get a good night sleep, as they have an early-morning orientation.  That night, neither Robin nor Superboy can get any sleep... and have an uncomfortable/almost contentious late-night chat.

Neither knows why they're there.  Kon suggests it might just be because they miss their friends... which Robin doesn't disagree with.  Suddenly, Robin gets an email... from Snapdragon.  I don't remember who or what "Snapdragon" is... but the email includes Kon's Cadmus Labs file...

... which reveals the name of the human donor of half of Superboy's DNA makeup.  Uh-oh...

--

I remember not being blown away by this at release.  Maybe I wasn't keen on the story... maybe I was just annoyed that they cancelled Young Justice to make way for it.  I will say I enjoy it more and more with subsequent rereads though... and, if I'm honest, I have a real hard time revisiting Young Justice these days.

I remember also not digging the art the first time around.  McKone's style feels a bit loose... though, I suspect that might have something to do with the inking.  Noses look like putty... and like they're just floating on the faces.  I used to get McKone mixed up with Georges Jeanty back then.  Both of their styles have grown on me over the years.

I've heard it said that Young Justice was like Junior High School (or middle school, if you prefer) and the Teen Titans was more like High School.  There is definitely something to that.  This issue wasn't just an "assembling the forces" story... it was a story full of adolescent discomfort (or maybe I'm just projecting).

This felt very much like a "first day of school".  There are familiar things and people around... while at the same time, everything's new.  New places, new dynamics, new priorities... and boy did Cassie "grow up" over the Summer.  Use of the elder-Titans as mentors for the next generation is a great touch as well!  Really lends to the old feeling of "legacy" in the DC Universe.  And, boy is it nice to read a Beast Boy that doesn't make me want to tear my comic in two!

I feel like Johns really captured the discomfort and uncertainty felt by the new team members.  Their "civilian" and "solo" lives are in all sorts of upheaval... and now they've all been thrown on this new team.  Really such an interesting dynamic.  Throw in a killer cliffhanger, and we've got ourselves a great opening issue.

Overall, one of the best runs for the Teen Titans starts right here.  I'd definitely recommend checking it out.  Thankfully, you won't have to drive all over town to snag a copy, as it's been collected (several times) and is available digitally.

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