Daredevil #162 (Jan 1980)

Daredevil #162



Title: Requiem for a Pug
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Pencils: Sal Buscema
Inks: Chic Stone








Rating: *

Well, I am a little bummed that I just read two one-star comics in a row. It’s very disappointing. Maybe early 80s comics aren’t as good as a I remember? Nah, they’re swell, It's just the luck of the draw.

In just a couple of issues, the quintessential DD run by Frank Miller will begin and I will get to read what most consider the best Daredevil stories ever. However, this was a fill in issue drawn by legendary silver age artist, Steve Ditko, and scripted by Michael Fleisher. The editors admit on page one that this is a very special issue and that the regular creative team was not able to meet its deadlines! (although that could be marketing talk)

Anyway, one would expect a Marvel comic drawn by Steve Ditko to kick ass, but this does not. It’s full of cliché.

“Requiem for a Pug” starts out with Meson-Reactor at the Enrico Fermi Research Center “putting out six to seven times the radiation” it should normally put out and the deactivator is jammed. There seems to be only two scientists working and – apparently – they have no safety precautions for an emergency like this. Lucky for them, Daredevil is swinging by and can “see” the radiation with his radar sense. He comes to the rescue, but – strangely – the scientists send him into the reactor without any radiation-protective gear. Hmm, DD must be tougher than we though.

But not that tough! DD suffers from amnesia. Too make a long story short, the rest of the story is a rush job (as if the opening scene weren’t bad enough). Rather than trying to find out who he is or why he has super powers, Matt Murdock hooks up with a local boss who makes him a prize fighter. Matt easily defeats all of his opponents and befriends a crusty old trainer nicknamed Pug or Puggy. When DD refuses to throw a fight, the boss attempts to shoot Matt. However, Pug throws himself in front of Matt and takes the bullet for him. This triggers DD’s memory, since this is the exact scenario in which his father, Battlin’ Murdock, died.

The boss lets loose his pet cheetah on DD. A lackluster fight ensues and DD saves the day, realizing that the world needs a Daredevil. *YAWN*

Superman #343 (Jan 1980)

Superman #343



Rating: *

OMG – this is a one star comic. And it only gets that star because of the sweet Curt Swan art (although it is a bit hampered by the inks). Denny O’Neil doesn’t even phone in this issue. This is bad stuff, people. Bad stuff.

Basically, Moximus – a magician from Pompeii – survives into the future to face Superman. He does this because, in the past, he sees a vision of Superman and thinks he is evil. Superman has difficulty defeating Moximus, because of his weakness to magic. Ultimately, Superman wins by showing he is a good guy and Moximus sees the error of his ways.

The only bright spot in the story occurs when a radioactive rocket explodes in the atmosphere and Superman flies around it at super speed to contain the radiation. That was neat.

All lot of formula here: Lois being nosey. Jimmy being silly. And Perry being cranky.

Justice League of America #174 (Jan 1980)

Justice League of America #174



Rating: ***

The first issue of JLA with a 1980s cover date is a blast. Gerry Conway and Dick Dillin (man, didn’t he draw way more issues of the Justice League than any other artist?) provide us with a tale that’s one part The Pied Piper and one part War on Poverty.

“A Plague of Monsters” begins with Barnabas Boulton (no relation to Michael), a former STAR Labs technician now known as The Regulator, breaking into STAR’s Metropolis headquarters, by controlling everyday rats with a helmet he developed while employed at STAR. It seems that Barnabas had developed the helmet to rid the slums of vermin, but, based on the testimony of his wife and colleagues who claimed the helmet drove him made, he was institutionalized instead. Now, Barnabas has returned and, with the help of STAR technology, turns the rats into giant, super-tough, scary rats. He’s going to use these super rats to attack those who foiled his plans to rid the slums of vermin. Ironic, ain’t it?

Let’s not even get into how ludicrous the notion of riding slums of vermin with a super-powered helmet is.

Next, we cut to a scene where Green Arrow is having one of his save-the-black-man moments of the 1970s, cursing the rest of the JLA for causing Black Lightning to turn down JLA membership. Nothing like a white billionaire championing the rights of poor blacks! Green Arrow, followed by Zatanna and Elongated man who want to reason with Ollie, gets pissed and storms off to try to get Black Lightning to change his mind. Fortunately for the plot, Black Lightning lives near STAR Labs, so the three Justice Leaguers encountered the rats and the fisticuffs ensue. Soon, they are joined by Black Lightning and the only two League members who answer the emergency beacon: Batman and Wonder Woman.

Here, the story essentially splits in two. While the Justice League deals with the rats, Black Lightning pursues The Regulator. A nice battle takes place between BL and The Regulator, including much witty banter about how minorities have been giving the shaft. But, just as Black Lightning swings the final blows that take down The Regulator, he points out how the rats are attacking everyone, even blacks. With much emotion, Black Lightning utters way may be the coolest line he has ever said in the history of DC Comics:

“WHO LIVES IN THE GHETTOS, YOU DUMB JACKASS?”

It seems that The Regulators plans for retribution for poor minorities was short sighted. Could it have been anything else? He IS a mad super villain.

The JLA concoct a perfume that lures all of the transformed rats out of Metropolis. They cage the animals in an air tight container and Wonder Woman hurls them into space. Ah – death by asphyxiation. It seems that WW has been a killer even longer than we thought.

In the final scene, Green Arrow and Black Lightning come to an understanding the Lightning works better as a loner.

This issue – as goofy assed as it got – was a heck of a lot of fun. I am going to give it three stars for the fast plot, terrific art, and absolute disregard for logic!

Interesting Note: We get to see Zatanna in the super-hero uniform she briefly wore, as she sports some sexy Bettie Page hair.

Fantastic Four #214 (January 1980)

Fantastic Four #214



Rating: ***

This is a decent issue of the FF by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, and Joe Sinnott. Wolfman has said in more than one interview that he is not fond of his FF work, because he really didn’t know how to write the series. I think it shows a bit, as this comic is not nearly as good as his earlier Spider-Man and Tomb of Dracula stories or his New Teen Titans, which debuted about the same time his FF work was wrapping up. We all know that Byrne’s run on FF (#232-#292 – I think) is considered one of the best FF runs. In light of this, it was interesting to see his art on the title a couple years before his seminal run began. I don’t know why, but it looks like he is trying to draw like John Buscema. Either it’s a decisive move on Byrne’s part (or perhaps editorial edict) or Joe Sinnott’s inks really alter Byrne’s pencils. It’s very interesting to compare Byrne’s art on this issue with that of the concurrently released X-men #129, in which his pencils and Terry Austin’s inks shine! While the art here is solid, it does look a bit rushed.

The story starts out with Johnny Storm whining about how he is a failure, while standing over a stasis chamber, wherein lie Reed, Sue, and Ben. In the previous issue, it appears that these three were drastically aged by a skull aging ray. Now, Johnny has to find someway or someone who can reverse the effects of the ray.

Johnny tries to elicit the help of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. His search finally leads his to the S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft, but DumDum Dugan won’t allow Johnny to speak with Stark, because Tony is working on a top secret, radioactive project. It seems that it would take so long to decontaminate Tony, that other members of the FF would die of old age by the time Tony was able to help them (Hey, I thought they were in a stasis chamber? Must be one crappy stasis chamber.).

Back in the Baxter Building and back to his whining, a machine in Reed’s lab metamorphoses into Skrull X and surprise attacks Johnny! (I don’t know if the X stands for X or “10,” like Weapon X. Maybe the Skrull and Canadian governments were working together!). Anyway, to make a long story short, Johnny defeats this poor-man’s Super-Skrull, takes the aging ray gun from him, and give it to Reed to reverse the effects.

Skrull X's dialogue was very funny. He kept calling Johnny "Dog." Instead of comic across as a derogatory remark, Skrull X sounded like Randy Jackson, the man who refers to everyone as "Dog."

Ultimately, it’s a fun read. Not the best FF issue I have ever read, but still more enjoyable than 99% of the FF comics published in 1990s. I’d give it a solid three stars.

Weird Trivia: In this issue, we learn the Jarvis, the Avengers butler, is allergic to nuts.

Green Lantern #124

Green Lantern #124



Rating: **½

Denny O’Neil phones in this issue. There’s not much characterization and the plot is simplistic and, at times, ridiculous. Sinestro attacks a museum celebrating humanity's space exploration. Hal saves the people, but Sinestro escapes. Proclaiming that he will follow Sinestro to Korugar, Green Arrow gets fed up on being left out of the space adventures. Hal meets up with Katma Tui (Sinestro’s GL replacement on Korugar) who informs Hal that Sinestro’s father operates a Null Chamber (Korugarian version of an opium den) and that Hal should look there for Sinestro. She states she is unable to help because of some Korugarian law which is never explained very well. Hal gets trapped by Sinestro impersonating his father, Katma Tui returns to help (even though I thought she couldn’t?), and Hal chases Sinestro off into the Qward universe.

This issue, while enjoyable, simply wasn’t Denny’s best (I read his and Neil Adams’ complete GL/GA run, which is classic stuff). The art by Joe Staton adds a lot of overall quality to the issue, saving if from being a complete “ugh” read.

I noticed there were a lot of house ads for DC Comics and it seemed like every title advertised was being released on October 25th. I find it very cool to see ads for 26 year old comics that I have not read yet, but will read very soon. These ads are also informative, because they let me know that although I am starting with a comic dated January 1980, it was actually on the shelves in October 1979 (when I was a wee lad of 8 years old). I knew that I would be starting with comics released before their actual cover dates, but this helped lock in a more definitive time.

There was also an ad in for the Green Lantern issue just BEFORE this one. It was still being advertised, because it highlighted how Green Arrow was being removed from the comic. Remember, when the Big Two used to support their comics with house ads? Do they even do that anymore?

GL odds-n-ends: Per formula, in this issue Hal takes the GL oath, the yellow “impurity” weakness is explained, and there is tension between Hal and Carol Ferris.

There were a few cool parts to the comic. Tom (forget his last name) – Hal’s sometimes non-powered sidekick – told Hal not to call him “Pieface.” Denny was riding the comic of a bit of racism. When Hal met Katma Tui, their rings “embraced” by forming some weird image, in what was called a “Moment of Silent Recognition.” I thought that was cool. Also, at the end, Hal kissed Katma on the cheek and she responds by saying it has no effect on her, because she is not female in the way that human women are. Isn’t Katma an item with Jon Stewart? I guess in the post-COIE DCU, she has plenty of estrogen flowing through her hot, red bod.

I wonder how Infinite Crises has affected her sex drive?

Uncanny X-Men #129 (Jan. 1980)

Well, I am beginning my task of reading all of my favorite comics published from 1/1980 to 12/1989 in the order they were released. Well, their monthly release; I cannot and do not want to figure out the weekly release date of all these comics.

Obviously, I am starting with January 1980. There are about 60 comics this month that I was into or wanted to read. Some I have never read before, because I could not afford or find them at the time and I have not read them over the subsequent years. So, it will not only be a treat to reread some of my faves, it will also be very cool to read a bunch of 80s comics for the first time!

This task to read a decade's worth of comics is going to take a long time, but I plan on enjoying every second of it.

Here's what I read first....

Uncanny X-Men #129



Rating: ****½

Wow, what a great way to start out my romp through 80s comics. It’s the first appearance of Kitty Pryde and the first installment of the Dark Phoenix story arc. This is classic stuff, people. We get John Byrne art and Chris Claremont’s over-the-top, melodramatic dialogue. This is superhero soap-opera at its best!

The comic opens with the team (Professor X. Colossus, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Phoenix, and Nightcrawler) in Scotland, having just defeated Proteus. After membership is offered to and refused by Banshee and Madrox, the X-Men hop aboard the Blackbird and head home to Massachusetts. While in flight, Jean hallucinates that she is back some two hundred years in the past, en route to America aboard a ship with her future husband, Jason Wyngarde. This hallucination is broken by Scott talking to Jean, leading to a one-page scene where the couple proclaims their undying love for one another (isn’t this obligatory in any X-Men comic?).

Once back at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Professor X is a prick and pisses of Wolverine and annoys Cyclops. Then – suddenly – Cerebro detects two new mutants (remember when mutants were rare?): one in Chicago and one in New York. The team splits up to contact both mutants. This is the last we see Scott, Jean, and Nightcrawler in this issue. Also, unknown to the X-Men, the Hellfire Club has bugged Cerebro and plans on getting to these new mutants first.

The next scene shows Kitty Pryde arriving home from dancing class to find Ms. Frost, who “represents a very good school in Massachusetts," speaking with her parents (I wish the White Queen had been my “teacher”). As Frost leaves, the X-Men arrive. Professor X stays to speak with Kitty’s parents, while Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus take Kitty out for ice-cream (remember, Kitty is only 13 years old at the time) at a local soda shop. This is where the action kicks in! After much cool fighting, the White Queen and her henchmen take the X-Men prisoner. Although Frost thinks Kitty fled, the future X-man has sneaked aboard the Hellfire Club’s hovercraft. The issue ends with Kitty scared and wondering how she is going to get herself out of this mess.

If I were handing out stars, say on a scale from one to five, with five being the best, this comic gets an excellent 4 ½!

One cool thing to note: While in the soda shop, Wolverine is seen reading a Penthouse.

January 1980

DC
Action Comics 503
Adventure Comics 467
Batman 319
Brave and the Bold 158
DC Comics Presents 17
DC Special Series 20
Flash 281
Green Lantern 124
Jonah Hex 32
Justice League of America 174
Legion of Super-Heroes 259
The New Adventures of Super-Boy 1
Superman 343
Superman Family 199
Warlord 29
Wonder Woman 263



Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man 200
Avengers 191
Captain America 241
Conan 106
Daredevil 162
Defenders 79
Fantastic Four 214
Ghost Rider 40
Incredible Hulk 243
Iron Man 130
Man Thing (II) 2
Marvel Spotlight (ii) 4
Marvel Team-Up 89
Marvel Two-In-One 59
Master of Kung Fu 84
Micronauts 13
Peter Parker, The Spectaculer Spider-Man 38
Rom 2
Spider-Woman 22
Thor 291
Uncanny X-Men 129