Category: DC Bronze Age

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Superboy became Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes with issue #197 (August 1973). Crafted by Bates and Cockrum, the feature proved popular and saw such events as the wedding of Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel in Superboy #200 (Feb 1974). Cockrum was replaced on art by Mike Grell as of issue #203 (August 1974) which featured the death of Invisible Kid. With #231 (September 1977), the book’s title officially changed to Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes and also became a “giant-size” title. At this point, the book was written by longtime fan Paul Levitz and drawn by James Sherman, although Gerry Conway frequently wrote as well. Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad were married in All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-55 (1978), a treasury-sized special written by Levitz and drawn by Grell. In #241–245 (July–December 1978) Levitz and Sherman (and then Joe Staton) produced what was at that time the most ambitious Legion storyline: “Earthwar“, a galactic war between the United Planets and the Khunds, with several other villains lurking in the background. During this period, Karate Kid was spun off into his own 20th Century-based self-titled series, which lasted 15 issues. Levitz left the book, to be replaced full-time by Gerry Conway.

Superboy departed from the Legion due to a plot of a villain, and the book was renamed simply Legion of Super-Heroes starting with issue #259 (January 1980). Editor Jack C. Harris hired Steve Ditko as guest artist on several issues, a decision which garnered a mixed reaction from the title’s readership. Jimmy Janes became the regular artist in a lengthy tale by Conway (and later Roy Thomas) involving Ultra Boy’s disappearance during a mission, and his long odyssey to rejoin the team. This story told the tale of the Legionnaire Reflecto (only glimpsed during the “Adult Legion” stories in Adventure Comics), featured villainy by the Time Trapper and Grimbor the Chainsman, and saw Superboy rejoin the team.

Flash V1 (1980’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Barry Allen’s adventures continued in his own title until the event of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Flash ended as a series with issue #350. Allen’s life had become considerably confused in the early 1980s, and DC elected to end his adventures and pass the mantle on to another character. Allen died heroically in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 (1985). Thanks to his ability to travel through time, he would continue to appear occasionally in the years to come.

Ragman V1 (1970’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Ragman first appeared in the short-lived comic-book series named after him. He is one of a number of Jewish superheroes, and his continuity is tied to that of DC Comics‘ Golem, derived from the Golem of Prague of Jewish folklore. Ragman was created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert. Ragman is sometimes compared to the other nighttime defender of Gotham City, Batman.

A Vietnam veteran, Rory had grown up helping his father, a junk man who owned a pawn shop named Rags’n’Tatters. His father always dreamed of making a better life for Rory and constantly promised that someday he would make Rory rich. While drinking with his friends one night, his father discovered 2 million dollars stuffed inside an old mattress that had been pawned just recently. He and his friends decided to hide the money for Rory, since they were too old to truly benefit from it. The money turned out to be the loot from an armored car heist and when the hoods came to the shop one night to get it, they shot down some electrical wires and used them to torture Rory’s father and his friends into revealing where the money was hidden. Rory arrived soon after and seeing his father in agony attempted to pull him free from the wires. A final shock of power ran though the old men and grounded out at Rory, knocking him unconscious. When he woke his father and friends were dead and the hoods responsible were gone. Using a costume made out of old rags (his father had bought it from a stranger before he died and left a note saying Rory could wear it to a costume party) he became Ragman, “The Tatterdemalion of Justice”.

Secrets of Sinister House (1972)

Posted on by EHT Comics

After four issues as The Sinister House of Secret Love, which featured Gothic romance/horror stories written by Michael Fleisher and others, the title changed to Secrets of Sinister House, and the original format and romance angle were abandoned the following issue.

In the same vein as House of Mystery and House of Secrets (as well as its successor, Secrets of Haunted House), Secrets of Sinister House was “hosted” by Eve (the character debuted in issue #6) and included guest appearances by Eve’s cousins Cain and Abel. In issue #16, Eve was removed as host — as editor Joe Orlando departed from the title, replaced by Jack C. Harris — to focus on the concept of the “sinister houses”. The following month, she began nudging Destiny out of Weird Mystery Tales.

Kamandi (1972)

Posted on by EHT Comics

DC editor Carmine Infantino had tried to acquire the license to publish Planet of the Apes comic books. When this failed to happen, he asked Jack Kirby for a series with a similar concept. Kirby had not seen the films but he knew the rough outline and he had also created a very similar story, “The Last Enemy!”, in Harvey Comics‘ Alarming Tales that predated the original Planet of the Apes novel. He also had an unused comic strip he created in 1956, titled Kamandi of the Caves. Kirby brought all those elements together to create Kamandi. Although his initial plan was to not work on the comic books themselves, the cancellation of Forever People freed him up to do so.

The Brave and the Bold (1980’s)

Posted on by EHT Comics

The character Nemesis, also known as Thomas Tresser, debuted in an eight-page backup story in issue #166 (September 1980) written by Cary Burkett and drawn by Dan Spiegle. The Tresser character was created by Burkett in 1979, and named for an actor with whom Burkett was rooming in New Hampshire.

Alan Brennert wrote four issues of The Brave and the Bold featuring Batman teaming with the Creeper, Hawk and Dove, the Robin of Earth-Two, and the Catwoman.

The title’s final issue featured a team-up of the Batmen of Earth-One and Earth-Two and included a preview of Batman and the Outsiders, the title that replaced The Brave and the Bold on DC’s schedule and became Aparo’s next regular assignment.

Tor (1974)

Posted on by EHT Comics

After his debut in 1,000,000 Years Ago (St. John, September 1953), Tor immediately went on to become one of the first comic book characters to star in 3-D comic books. The second issue of that series was renamed 3-D Comics before being renamed Tor with issue #3 in May 1954. At this point the series was once again in the traditional two-dimensional format. This series lasted until issue #5 (October 1954).

In 1959, Kubert and inker Carmine Infantino unsuccessfully attempted to sell Tor as a newspaper comic strip. The samples consisted of 12 daily strips, reprinted in six pages in Alter Ego #10 (1969) and later expanded to 16 pages in DC Comics‘ Tor #1. DC Comics would publish the Tor series for 6 issues from 1974-1975.

Doorway to Nightmare (1978)

Posted on by EHT Comics

Doorway to Nightmare, introduced in 1978, was the last of the DC “Mystery” line of titles in the 1970s that became the forerunner of Vertigo. It did not have a consistent creative team—the intent was to create writer-artist pairings that had never occurred before, except for the cover art of Michael William Kaluta. Madame Xanadu, the star of the series, was not a host but an active participant, albeit never the main character in her stories.

1st Issue Special (1975)

Posted on by EHT Comics

1st Issue Special was a comics anthology series from DC Comics, done in a similar style to their Showcase series. It was published from April 1975 to April 1976. The goal was to showcase a new possible first issue of an ongoing series each month, with some issues debuting new characters and others reviving dormant series from DC’s past. No series were actually launched from 1st Issue Special but the Warlord made his first appearance in the title and the character’s ongoing series was already slated to debut a few months later.

Secrets of Haunted House (1975)

Posted on by EHT Comics

The series began in April–May 1975. Like its predecessor Secrets of Sinister House, Secrets of Haunted House was originally “hosted” by Cain, Abel, Eve, and Destiny who had moved over from Weird Mystery Tales. By issue #10 (Feb.–March 1978), Destiny was the only one of these who remained a regular. In issue #40 (Sept. 1981), Abel returned with no further mention of Destiny.

A Secrets of Haunted House Special was published in 1978 as part of the DC Special Series umbrella title. Secrets of Haunted House was a temporary victim of the “DC Implosion.” With issue #14 (Oct.–Nov. 1978), it was cancelled but revived a year later with issue #15 (Aug. 1979). The title continued until issue #46 (March 1982).