New Blackhawk Day!

Dick Dillin was born on this date in 1928. Dillin was a rock-steady artist for decades. He worked in the Golden Age for Fawcett and Quality, but he's most famous for his long runs at DC. He worked on Blackhawk for years and later took on the Justice League of America, becoming only the second artist to work on that title. He stayed with the League for the rest of his life which came to an end in 1980. Guys like Dillin were loved by fans, but not so much the critics. 

I know it's likely only dumb nostalgia, but I wish DC would collect up the Blackhawk stories from near the end of the run which featured the team in their superhero identities. Golden Centurion, M'sieu Machine, Dr. Hands, Weapons Master, The Leaper, The Listener, as well as Blackhawk, the Big Eye himself were vibrant examples of the madhouse superhero craze. All the issues were written by Bob Haney and drawn by the team of Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera. 

I latched on to the very last issue of Blackhawk from this time, and I enjoyed it thoroughly as a kid. I've since gotten hold of an issue or two from this ignominious run, and I find that I enjoy them all in spite of the bad press they get. I'd love to see it collected up. Will it happen? I doubt it, but it's something to yearn for.

I'm sure my affection for the heroes is because I had no history with them before coming into contact with these "New" versions. I like the old Blackhawks very well indeed, but I am fascinated by these gonzo Blackhawks as well.

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Danger Street Signs - Metamorpho!

In anticipation of a review of Danger Street by Tom King, Jorge Fornes and assorted cover artists I am representing my thirteen reviews of DC's 1970's Showcase-style comic 1st Issue Special. The books by King and company make use of ALL of the sundry heroes and heroines who appeared in these pages. So, let's continue. 

Not did 1st Issue Special introduce characters such as Atlas and The Green Team in issues one and two, but in the third issue we get a superhero revival with the reappearance of Metamorpho the Element Man in a solo comic book outing. The story is written by Bob Haney and drawn by Ramona Fradon, the talents who created Metamorpho to begin with. In this tale the status quo which was so wildly transformed in the last few issues of Metamorpho's 1960's comic book are pretty much forgotten and the status quo which existed before Fradon left is largely re-established. Haney does offer up an introduction which does a bang-up job of introducing the character and offering a summary of his earlier adventures. 

In this story the Element Man is battling against a ghost who haunts Washington DC and is taking some pains to monkey with monuments and public buildings like the Capitol. Turns out the ghost is a forsaken inventor who tried to help President Madison before Washington was burned down by the British and who has appeared to each wartime President since. (The Korean and Vietnam conflicts are left out of this storyline. I guess in 1975 no one wanted to touch such hot topics.) Of course to save the day Metamorpho must battle not only the ghost but his boss Simon Stagg who has designs on the U.S. gold reserves for himself. 

It's a tale told at breakneck speed like the vintage Element Man stories. Alas as far as I can tell it did little to revive the character who in the Bronze Age was mostly limited to guest-star shots in The Brave and the Bold and Justice League of America, and  back-up series in World's Finest and Action Comics. Eventually he was tapped to join Batman's Outsiders outfit and that helped to give Metamorpho a regular home for a time.

More next time when a lady becomes a cop. 

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Metamorpho Day!

Ramona Fradon was born on this date in 1926. In the 1950's she joined the staff at DC to draw Aquaman among other things. In the 1960's she teamed with Bob Haney to create Metamorpho The Element Man. Fradon left DC in the 1980's to take over the Brenda Starr comic strip. Today we celebrate Metamorpho. 

Bob Haney's and Ramona Fradon's Metamorpho is an extremely fun superhero concept. Birthed at a time in comic history when fun was paramount in comics, on the cusp of DC's infamous "Go-Go Checks" era, Metamorpho is a mild satire of superheroes presenting a goofy hero, a former chiseled-chin A-personality and famed explorer named Rex Mason who due to a bizarre meteor and ancient pseudo-science becomes the "freak" Metamorpho, able to use the elements of his body to fashion all manner of things. He is a transformational wonder, able to become gas, liquid and all kinds of sturdier constructions limited only to the elements in the human body. And he's loved by the gorgeous Sapphire Stagg, the playgirl daughter of self-absorbed billionaire and scientist Simon Stagg who is Rex's employer. Add in a jealous revived caveman Java and you have the mix of main characters in a typical Metamorpho story. These are tales in which the villains have funny names and absurd motivations, but who pose a threat to the Staggs or the world or both. 

Metamorpho debuted in the pages of The Brave and the Bold, at a time when DC typically tried out new concepts in either that comic or Showcase. After a few issues by Haney and Ramona Fradon in which "The Element Man" is birthed and his basis scenario established he quickly is awarded his own magazine. One filled with a humor often absent from other more established DC offerings. 

I was struck reading Metamorpho this time how much this "E-Man" reminded me of another E-Man, one created for Charlton Comics by Nick Cuti and Joe Staton. Cuti always said that Plastic Man was the inspiration for E-Man and I have no reason to doubt him, but I wonder if Plas was not also the inspiration for Metamorpho - a zany shape-changing character in an even zanier world. 

One of the mild surprises reading this tome was how few issues of the original run Ramona Fradon actually drew. She certainly defined the character with his debut and earliest showings, but with the fifth issue of the run Joe Orlando stepped in to do the penciling honors. 

Orlando was gone by the seventh issue to be replaced on pencils by Sal Trapani. I'd not really heard of Trapani's connection to the character, but it turns out he penciled more issues of Metamorpho than did Fradon. The art though is amazingly consistent throughout most of the run and that's likely why I never tumbled to the fact Fradon was not on board for the whole trip. 

The reason for that artistic consistency is the inker Charles Paris. He inked Fradon, Orlando and he inked all but one of the Trapani issues for a total of seventeen Metamorpho adventures counting the two Brave and Bold appearances. Paris had been a longtime artist for DC working on Batman and other early projects like Crimson Avenger. He retired after his turn on Metamorpho, but his work on that series was definitive. 

The stories by Haney for Metamorpho were bizarre with wild villains, but the status quo takes a tumble when The Element Girl is introduced. Here appearance here is try-out and the editors seemingly leave it up to the fans to determine if she shall return. 

The Element Girl does indeed return and stays a part of the series right to the end. With her addition the romance between Rex Mason and Sapphire Stagg becomes a true triangle. Poor Java always imagines that Sapphire will fall for him, but he's obviously deluded. 

The Thunderer gives the Element Man all he can handle in a wild two-part tale as the series gets even more amped with a more frenetic style showing up. This is also the last issue that Paris inks. 

The status quo of the Metamorpho series takes a hit when Sapphire suddenly marries a rich playboy and the Element Man is recruited for his skills as explorer Rex Mason. We learn that there has been another Element Man in ages past and Metamorpho falls into the clutches of an ageless and ruthless queen who looks just like Sapphire. 

The seventeenth issue of Metamorpho is the final one and thanks to the art of Jack Sparling it looks nothing like the previous installments. Unfortunately the series ends abruptly with a mysterious figure having taken great pains to see to it that Metamorpho suffers by framing him for murder. The Element Man and the the Element Girl vow to be a team unto themselves, but alas we will never see what became of this alliance. 

The Showcase volume closes out with three guest-star appearances by Metamorpho. Alas these stories all occur early in the continuity of the series but are presented as extras at the end. I should have taken greater care and read them in continuity, but still they are fun outings. The two appearances in The Brave and the Bold bring Metamorpho in contact with the Metal Men (a similar concept) and Batman (the Bat-Hulk is a crazy idea). Both of these stories are written by Bob Haney. Haney didn't write the Justice League of America story, that fell to Gardner Fox. All three of these extra issues were drawn by Mike Sekowsky. This Metamorpho volume was one of the earliest in the Showcase Presents series and one of the most entertaining. 

The stories have been made available in full color in the DC Finest series. 

And on a final note, I enjoyed Metamorpho's appearance in the most recent Superman movie. 

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Father's Day -The Super Sons!

The Super-Son stories by Bob Haney and Dick Dillin in some selected issues of World's Finest are a delight. Bob Haney had the uncanny knack to make even the most ludicrous concept click, and he did that with these tales of the offspring of the World's Finest team. The mothers of these fine young men are kept in the shadows but most likely are Lois Lane (of course) and Kathy Kane (Batwoman). The idea I guess was to keep the iconic looks of Superman and Batman but infused with a younger more unrestrained youthful vigor. Dick Dillin (assisted by a cavalcade of inkers - Henry Scarpelli, Vince Colletta, Tex Blaisdell, John Calnan) draws these two young heroes with the clean handsome faces he's so adept at depicting. These boys are heroes but brimming with idealism (not unlike the youth of their day) but often are betrayed by their lack of experience. 

The boys are revealed ultimately, many years after the actual end of the series to have been products of a computer program which predicted a world with the kids of the Cape and the Cowl. It's a nice rationale, but something in me prefers the Haney approach of unapologetic rip-roarin' storytelling. Haney didn't need to explain the hows because his stories rolled along at such a clip that you often didn't have time to ask.

Here are the covers for the appearances of the boys including some of their later post-crisis looks. The trade which reprints these stories is a real gem, something any fan of the DC Bronze Age can enjoy.

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