"Who Haunts This (Crack) House?"

Here's a little review of a comic I found being sold at one of Brooklyn's famous stoop sales: DC Comics Presents # 19 (March 1980). Every issue of this series showcased Superman teaming up with a different DC character, this issue it was one of my favorites - Batgirl! It's about time he hung out with her. Really. He hangs out with Batman all the frickin' time! Those two can't seem to be separtated. But if you were Superman and you had your choice of either hanging out with some jerk with personality issues or a flashy ravishing redhead who's out fighting crime for excitement, who would you choose? Batgirl, of course. She's fun! And if Superman was gay (things he did Pre-Crisis sure make you wonder...) he'd just want her around because she's such a FAB ICON!

Anyways, DC listened to its fans and gave us what we all wanted:


The set-up for their meeting is a party. A good ol' fashioned end of the 70's drug and sex binge in the style of the infamous Club 54! The Comics Code Authority did a good job of dusting up any clear clues as to what really happened at this Caligulian drug-fest but you can still read between the panels quite well!

It starts off with some kooky prospector coming across a mirage that turns into an abandoned Victorian (and Russian-style?) mansion in the middle of the desert.


He lays claim to it, sells off a bunch of its contents and decides to hold a celebrity-fueled mega-event to celebrate. As you can see there is the Queen of Disco herself, Donna Summer!

Lots of ugly old men would hold these types of parties so they could get laid. This one's been in the desert a long time.

Then there's party animal Clark Kent and librarian-turned-congresswoman Barbara Gordon. Um, real lives of the party - yep.

Well, Barbara, you BETTER get some time to get down on that dance-floor and enjoy the throbbing disco-beat while you can. The 1980's will not be kind to you (and your spinal chord)!

Things start to go wrong!


Someone must have spiked the booze. They think they're drinking blood now. Disco-trippy!


Whoa! This party is getting out of control!

Obviously, they're all totally jealous of Batgirl!

Keep yapping, old man. Batgirl's even starting to feel it!


So who sold them all the bad coke? Superman thinks he gets his answers during this particular bad-trip!


Obviously the kid that owned this comic at one time had a strong reaction against colorist Jerry Serpe's use of pink.



And it ends in a head-throbbing coke come-down:





Added Advertising Bonus!


Thanks, Superman and friends. Guess you aren't called the World's Greatest Superheroes because of any of your overwhelming environmental concerns. Superman, do you really need to have FOUR vehicles when you can fly to wherever you need to go?

I see the Joker and Penguin have their own vehicles too. Nicely detailed with their logos so they can't be missed when they're trying to make their getaways. That's probably why they're not in the picture. Batman and Robin repossesed these wheels after throwing their self-promoting asses in jail. You would think with all his money though, Bruce Wayne would get them repainted or something. It would be real embarrassing if you were Robin and you got pulled over because you were mistaken for some evil-doing arch nemesis of Batman.

Wonder Woman, naturally, the princess that she is, has the hottest car of all. I'd like her to give me a spin sometime!

Captain Marvel, don't fret. I like yours too. But I'm a little worried that when you say your magic word that your pimp-mobile's gonna turn into a Gremlin or some soccer-mom's van.

Superman, as I've noted before you have a lot of wheels. Too bad , they all suck. I thought you'd have better taste. Really, that van of yours is shit.

And I see that these cars are being advertised as being "great fun in your pocket." Vroooommm!

"Is that a Corgi superhero car in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Forget the rest---You've found the best, Mnemonic Kid!

From "The Little Clubhouse That Could" in Secret Origins #46 (the same story that also introduced us to the spectacular Arm Fall-off Boy):



She's got spunk, I like her!

DC should bring her back --- I can think of a few storylines that I would gladly let her forever wipe from my mind! Any of you got any suggestions?

All Time Favorite DC Characters!

What can I say? I love my DC Comics! My love affair with its characters started at an early age thanks to hours and hours in front of the teevee watching shows like the Super Friends, the Shazam!/Isis Hour, Batman (both the camp live-action show and the Filmation cartoon), and Wonder Woman. At that time I really didn't know what comic books were, I just got all my super-power dosage from the old boob-tube! It wasn't until I discovered the Super Powers series I mentioned in my first blog that I even really knew what comic books really were. (I was deprived, wasn't I?) 1985 proved to be a good year to get into DC. Crisis, Super Powers, and Who's Who all came out displaying the wealth of characters DC had. Oh boy, what fun, I was soon indoctrined in as a DC whore!

Here's a list of my favorites with my reasons why they are:

Aquaman, Aqualad, Mera: Aquaman was my favorite Super-Friend when everyone else seemed to deride him. Characters and people who get the fuzzy end of the lollipop always seem to draw my attention, so when Aquaman became my favorite and I discovered he had a family (how cool!) they were included by default onto my list.









Krypto the Superdog: He's so cute and loveable. I like that he just romps about space. Superboy must have thought he was above obeying any leash laws!



The Wonder Twins: Everyone hates them. I love them.



Brainiac: I'm attracted to his green skin and his li'l pink outfit. I love him for his mind too.



Dr. Fate: He lives in a tower without any doors and windows and he wears a golden helmet over his head. I relate to his insecurity issues. His adventures are some of the downright wackiest, arcane stories I've ever read.



Supergirl: While she's the cutest of the cute, she also has a true and noble heart. Plus her stories are some of the most f-ed up that I've ever read. She would date her super-horse sometimes because he had the ability to become a dreamy guy for a day every 1000 years. Classic!



Rex the Wonder Dog: Who can't love a dog who can ride a horse or do complex calculus?



Wonder Woman: She was always very nice! She would give rides to Aquaman when nobody else would.



Batgirl (Barbara Gordon): She's the Batman with flare!



Vixen: Grrrrrrr!



Justice League Detroit: Heck, I love 'em all! (even the dead ones...)



Hawkwoman: I have a thing for hot red-headed supercharacters. (Mera, Batgirl, and now Hawkwoman - roar!)




Atom: I look out for the little guys.




Captain Marvel (Shazam): The most underrated DC character out there. I'm awfully scared DC's gonna screw this character up real soon...



Shining Knight: Gotta dig Frank Frazetta's run on this series. Got into him because of my love for the All-Star Squadron.




Robotman: Jimmy Thompson, who wrote and drew Robotman for awhile, is a god.



Doll Man: He's the first naked super-hero I've seen. Check out his little ass in Secret Origins #8!



Isis: She's DC, shut up.



Air Wave: I got all the back issues of Action Comics in which Alex Saviuk did the art chores for the back-up features. Air Wave would alternate issues with the Atom or Aquaman. Every third issue two of the characters would team up before one of them replaced the other the next issue.




Congorilla: This man can switch minds with an ape!




Driq: During the Millenium toward the end of the 80's, this Green Lantern character shows up. He's dead but his ring won't let his spirit go.



Nova Woman: An imaginary lover for Superman in a back-up story in Action Comics right before he got the ol' reboot! She was also an imaginary librarian. Question: Why is Jimmy's dream date the drag version of himself, and what did "she" do to his eyes?



Captain Comet: He has such a cool name! That's why.

It's Gypsy Month!

Gypsy hasn't seen a lot of action since the Detroit version of the Justice League bit the big one in 1987. She's played minor roles in the DC universe here and there after a bunch of her buddies were killed off, but this month she's already appeared in two comics (that I know of)! One was in the Justice League Classified issue I just blogged about, and the other is the latest issue of Justice League Unlimited a series aimed at the younger audience. Actually, this series has always been one of the better comics DC puts out each month. It's story and character driven opposed to being caught up in the continuity claptrap DC's forcing us to acknowledge in all its other books.



Gypsy has one of the greatest costumes ever! She's got the thrift-store aesthetic. Kind of a mix of the early-to-mid 80's Cyndi Lauper and Madonna looks. The patchwork skirt and all the hoopy-type jewelry everywhere really works for her, and look: barefeet! Who needs super-hero boots when you're sneaking around everywhere? In a world of spandex, Gypsy was often misunderstood and underrated, but she lives by her own rules and isn't scared to be herself (even though it is her power to blend in...).

Gypsy rocks!

Best New Character of 2006!!!

Has got to be the Mother of Champions who just appeared with her fellow members of the Chinese super-team "The Great Ten" in this week's copy of 52 (#6). Way to go DC!



The press on her states that her super-power is the ability to give birth to a litter of 25 super-soldiers every three days.

Ohmygod. That has to be the most thought-provoking power ever. And from what I hear, her children are full-grown? Soooooooooo many questions!!!

How does she produce these children?
Does she eat a lot of pickles?
Stretchmarks?
Baby books?
Is she married? If so, who's the lucky, lucky guy? (Happy Father's Day!)
Does she have a lot of baby showers?
Does she give her children names or does she just number them?
How many litters has she had?
Boys or girls?
Does she believe in birth control?
When will she join the Justice League?
When will we get an action figure? (Will it be a box set?)

JLA Classified #22

This issue begins an untold tale of the Justice League when it was headquartered in Detroit during the 1980's- one of my favorite incarnations! Aquaman had disbanded the original group of the "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" and reformed it with a cast of characters who would always be there whenever needed. Second-stringers like Elongated Man, Zatanna, and J'onn J'onnz were joined by new untested characters like teen runaway Gypsy, Latino street dancer Vibe, hot-headed man of metal Steel, and beautiful fashion model with animal powers Vixen! Everyone vehemently hated them, but I loved them. Letter columns to the comics were always filled with readers ranting about the roster and how they would like the Justice League ranks to be filled. I always root for the underdog!

For some reason this grouping has been brought back twenty years later. Here's a shot of Aquaman swimming toward Detroit in lovely Lake Erie!

Welcome!

INTRODUCTION

When I was a young little misfit going to junior high during the height of the 80's, I discovered the colorful world of comic books. Alone, as I often was, I'd take my hand-me-down banana-seat bike on explorations of my small midwestern town. This was before the rise of the big-box grocery store that would later dot the outsides of towns like mine, so during my little jaunts I was still able to stop at any one of the locally owned little groceries around town whenever I felt I was getting thirsty and buy myself a Jolly-Good. It was on one those summer bike-rides that I happened to be searching the magazine racks, probably looking for something on Madonna or, more likely, the Goonies (I was obsessed that summer!) and came across a bunch of comics.

I never really paid much attention to them before, but as I was leafing through one I saw this amazing group shot of all these super-heroes I knew from the Super Friends standing around greeting each other. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkman, and a bunch of others I didn't recognize.

A couple pages later, there was Aquaman - my favorite Super Friend!

I guess he couldn't make that great meeting a couple pages earlier because, as I read along, he was already over in England investigating...the Seeds of Doom! Wow! I was reading the first issue of a new six part mini-series called Super Powers! The greatest heroes of the time had gotten together to fight the power of an evil spacelord named Darkseid who was trying to conquer and remake the earth in his image by using these giant destructive seeds that could protect themselves by transporting anyone who messed with them back into time! Aquaman and some green guy (no, he wasn't the Hulk - he was the Martian Manhunter!) were sent back to King Arthur's time. Because of their super powers they were mistaken for witches, and therefore, were going to be burned at the stake! What was really helpful, and in turn quite instrumental in transforming me into a true comic-geek, was this section after the story which featured biographies of different characters so new readers, like me, could know what the heck was going on. With Super Powers #1, an obsession was born.



Now, I came from an upper-lower class, blue collar family and I didn't get much of an allowance. Actually, my mom was notoriously stingy, and I remember I only got a quarter a week back then (though I remember being grateful to get even that). New comics cost 75 cents plus tax. An early obsticle to a burgeoning hobby. Luckily, for me, my parents dragged my sister and me to flea markets and local antique malls so my mom could buy all this boring junk that teenage boys have no interest in whatsoever; however, certain dealers, to my utter glee, had quarter bins of old comics out to be sorted through. This is how my love of comics started and grew.

Soon, in order to get my hands on more comics, I concocted a plan when school started in the fall. Luckily, my family was poor enough that we were getting government assistance and I got free hot lunch tickets to use at school. Every week I'd pick up these tickets and sell them to the other kids who were too impatient to wait in line themselves. I'd go across the street to a small grocery and buy new comics. With what I had left I would spend at the flea markets on whatever I found in the bins. My abuse of the system worked pretty well. I was becoming immersed in the likes of Aquaman, the Justice League, the All-Star Squadron, Superman, Donald Duck, Scamp (the naughty puppy from Lady and the Tramp), and whatever else (except Marvel for some reason). A growing demand for more and more comics plus the fact that I was starving soon put an end to my white-collar criminal antics and I soon got myself a real job as a paperboy. What I bought back then became the foundation for my love of the four-color medium, and therefore, I dedicate this blog to those quarter bins of yore.


GOAL

This blog is an offshoot of my main blog, "Bull Roar!" where I can go off on whatever subject on comic-books that I want to, without having to bore my non-comic-following readers .

It is with this blog that I'd like to present a discussion and review of comics that I've been reading, old and new. I especially hope to compile a chronological listing of such favorites of mine: Aquaman, Walt Disney's Scamp, Harvey's Black Cat, the Super Powers mini-series, and whatever else strikes my fancy. At the moment I'm without scanning equipment, so the graphics, unfortunately, may be kept to a minimum. I'd like that to change within a few months. Hopefully, I'll be able to present a forum that will keep your interest regardless of the number of images I'm capable of posting.

Happy Reading - here's to the quarter bins!