Earth-Prime Day!

Julie Schwartz was born on this date in 1915. He was among the earliest science fiction fanboys and published a sci-fi fanzine called The Time Traveler with buddy Mort Weisinger. The two ended up working in the comics business as editors primarily for DC Comics. Schwartz oversaw the updating of the DC Universe in the Silver Age. 

When I was a new fan my comic book tastes were broad and inclusive, limited only by my meager cash resources. I read Marvel, Charlton, Harvey, Gold Key, Archie, and of course DC. The first DC character I latched onto was the Flash and the very first Flash story I read had him go to Earth Prime, and not only was I not confused by this parallel Earth story, I was utterly fascinated, and it remains one of my all-time favorite DC stories.

"The Flash--Fact or Fiction?" is not strictly a crossover tale, but this 1968 classic does introduce the world of Earth Prime, our world where comic book heroes are just that, the stuff of comics. The Flash ends up here after clashing with an alien creature named the "Nok" which has escaped from a space zoo transport. The Nok attacks the Flash propelling him into another dimension and another Earth on which he discovers he's just a comic book hero like Jay Garrick is on Earth-1. Flash needs his Cosmic Treadmill to return home but has no resources so he visits the DC Comics offices and meets up with Julie Schwartz. Schwartz is soon convinced of the fantastic situation and helps Flash, who quickly puts together a treadmill and rushes back to Earth-1 to defeat the Nok. I've not mentioned Schwartz in these reports, since his role as editor is largely an invisible one, but as it turns out none of the crossover stories would have happened without him. All of the stories I've taken a look at happened in books he edited and he had a hand in plotting all of them I'd reckon. So it's fitting that he actually turns up in one of the crossovers, and it all started so to speak with this Flash story.

 

Later in the Flash series, Cary Bates, the book's writer ends up on Earth-1 also, where he helps out the Flash too. This 1974 story sets up in a manner of speaking the big crossover which would happen only a few months later in 1975.

 

"Where On Earth Am I?" was written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin and drawn by the ever reliable Dick Dillin who is joined by his longtime inker Frank McLaughlin. The cover is by Ernie Chua/Chan. The story begins in the office of Julie Schwartz where Bates and Maggin are hashing out the latest Justice League plot. They are stuck but Bates remembers the Cosmic Treadmill that Schwartz has and soon enough has used it and has disappeared. He turns up on Earth-2 and he is changed, having villainous thoughts and superpowers as well. He uses his new powers to help some robbers escape Johnny Thunder and Robin. Back on Earth Prime Schwartz and Maggin decide to send Maggin to get Bates, but Maggin ends up in the ocean on Earth-1 where he is saved by Aquaman. Quickly Aquaman gets him to the League satellite headquarters where Maggin convinces the League members Batman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Black Canary of the truth of his story by revealing their secret identities. His story is confirmed by the Flash who turns up. On Earth-2 the Justice Society (Hourman, Wonder Woman, Dr.Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder, and Robin) are battling some out of control plants and defeated by same controlled by the evil Bates. The League meanwhile decides to go to Earth-2 after it is determined Bates has gone there and they immediately encounter six villains (Icicle, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Gambler, Shade, and Wizard) stealing some aircraft from a Navy carrier. They quickly subdue the villains only to discover that the baddies are the Justice Society members in disguise and further that the defeated heroes are dead. Cary Bates takes credit for the scheme in the final panel.

 

"Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!" is again by the Bates, Maggin, Dillin, and McLauglin team. Ernie Chua/Chan supplies one of his best ever covers for the series. The story picks up with the League members memorializing the fallen JSofA members. Cary Bates is still in the middle of his crime spree and we discover that he works for the six villains seen in part one. A mysterious misty presence though makes itself known and plans vengeance for the fallen Society. The League is filling in for the dead Society members until they can figure something else out. Elliot S! Maggin is captured by Bates and imprisoned in a gigantic bubble gum bubble. The League is attracted to a black portal which takes them to the villains while the Spectre makes his presence known. A battle rages between the heroes and the villains with the heroes losing because they are haunted by the guilt of the fallen Society members who they killed while in the guise of the very villains they now fight. The Spectre implores the highest powers to allow him to revive the fallen JSofA members while Maggin tries to undermine the powers of Bates by insulting his writing skills. The combined efforts weaken the effects of the guilt on the Leaguers and the Society members suddenly appear hale and hearty. Quickly the villains are beaten and even more quickly Bates and Maggin are sent back to Earth Prime where Julius Schwartz is waiting anxious to get the next story out.

This is not the greatest story ever told by any means. The writers seem a bit too intrigued with showing off their wit and not clearly hammering out the plot details such as they are. Perhaps they considered the story just so absurd that there was no need to sweat the small stuff, but it hurts. The motivations of the characters are poorly examined. It is the Wizard who is controlling Bates, but that is not at all really clear and is supposed more than stated. Further the League and the Society don't come off in these stories looking all that competent. The Spectre's role is very offbeat, with him essentially performing a deus ex machina ending which solve the whole mess. Maybe the writers were playing with the cliches of the storytelling and making these elements explicit, but the whole story is a jumble.

But that doesn't undermine for me, the sheer fun of Earth-Prime, the comic book universe that exists right out my window. 

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The Clown Prince Of Crime!

The Joker is likely the most famous villain in all of comics. Thanos got a fantastic boost from his key role in the Marvel movies, but even that doesn't counteract the fame the Joker got from his TV show appearances played by Casear Romero, his first movie appearance portrayed by Jack Nicholson, and the mesmerizing second coming presented by Heath Ledger. The Joker even has his own movie. And once upon a time, he had his own Bronze Age comic book. Let's take a walk down memory lane with the Clown Prince of Crime. 

The popularity of Batman's number one nemesis the Joker is proven when DC saw fit to give the "Clown Prince of Crime" is own ongoing series. DC already had tried Secret Society of Super-Villains and Marvel had Marvel Super-Villain Team-Up, but this time one bad guy got the top billing. In the first issue under a handsome Dick Giordano cover, the team of Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick and Giordano bring us "The Joker's Double Jeopardy" in which he and Two-Face both escape from Arkham Asylum and contend with one another to prove who is the better baddie. They both get recaptured, so I guess it's still up for grabs. 

Then the Joker is busted out by Willie the Weeper who seeks advice from the smiling villain about he can stop crying so much when he commits a crime. The two team up to steal some platinum and it's a wild scheme with a barrage of double-crosses. This one is titled "The Sad Saga of Willie Weeper" and was written by O'Neil, with art by Novick and inker Jose Luis Garcia-Lozpez. Ernie Chan's cover is a powerful one. Two Arkham guards who get fired for letting the Joker escape are in this story. They are Benny Khiss and Marvin Fargo. 

Chan steps in as artist with help from inker Garcia-Lopez for the story 'The Last Ha-Ha" in which the Joker has to contend with The Creeper. This one was written by O'Neil and features as fantastic cover by Giordano. I should mention the Joker has a regular hide-out called the Ha-Hachienda. 

In "A Gold Star for the Joker" the mirthful murderer travels to Star City where he kidnaps Dinah Lance because he's smitten with her and decides he must either marry her or kill her. Green Arrow of course gets involved in this story by Elliot Maggin featuring pencils by Garcia-Lopez and inks by Vinnie Colletta. Ernie Chan supplies the cover. Dinah never becomes Black Canary in this issue for reasons I will never understand. One would've thought seeing the Canary in the Joker's clutches would've garnered more fan interest. Why would they pass up a chance to show off those fishnets baby?

Under another Chan cover we find a convoluted story titled "The Joker Goes Wilde" by writer Marty Pasko. Irv Novick returns as penciller with Tex Blaisdell on inks. With one exception this will be the art team for the balance of the nine-issue run. The story has the Joker contending with the Royal Flush Gang to get possession of a legendary painting which supposedly points the way to riches. Venerable science fiction writer Alfred Bester is given some credit for having something to do with the story, but it's not clear what. I assume the story references in some a story Bester wrote for DC in the Golden Age, but this is never spelled out. 

Denny O'Neil and Novick and Blaisdell are back for "Sherlock Stalks the Joker" under a clever cover by Chan. When an actor named Clive Sigerson is knocked on the noggin during one of the Joker's heists, he thinks he's the real Sherlock Holmes and dedicates himself to tracking down the cackling prince of crime. The yarn is filled with puns which call back to classic stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's a goofy romp, ideal for the Joker's series. 

DC was on a Sherlock Holmes thing because a few months earlier they'd put out a Sherlock Holme de facto one-shot. Maybe this story was a way to embed Holmes into the DCU, though actually that had been done decades earlier by Gardner Fox. 

Superman's arch-nemesis and former Joker partner Lex Luthor shows up in "Luthor - You're Driving Me Sane" by O'Neil, Novick and inker Frank McLaughlin. The cover is by Chan. The Joker and Lex Luthor exchange personalities when the Joker interrupts one of Lex's attempts to gain control of Green Lantern's ring. Hal Jordan makes a one-panel cameo. Needless to say, neither of them is happy though Lex does seem to use the opportunity unleash some of his darker aspects. 

Maggin, Novick and Blaisdell team up to give us "The Scarecrow's Fearsome Face-Off" in which the two Batman villains battle it out under another slick Chan cover. When the Joker impersonates the Scarecrow in a crime, the latter is annoyed and seeks vengeance. Eventually the two manipulators of emotion face off. This issue gives names to a trio of young men who have been the Joker's entourage in the latter part of the series. The are Southpaw, Tooth, and Sonny November who alas doesn't make through this issue. 

The same creative team of Maggin, Novick, Blaisdell, and Chan wrap up the series when Catwoman shows up in "The Cat and the Clown". The series wraps up as both the Catwoman and the Joker attempot to kidnap Benny Springer and his cat Hiawatha. Springer proves to be a worthy adversary for both the Bat-villains as the story rumbles along. The Joker kills a good number of folks in this series, though I don't have an exact number. For all the hijinks and general light-heartedness of the series his deadly nature is never forgotten. It's not really a spoiler to say that the Joker is back in Arkham as he was when the series started. We all know it's only a matter of time. 

And that's a wrap. Tomorrow stuff not about the Joker. Be sure to check out all three of today's posts, and I sincerely hope your April Fool's Day has been a dandy! No Foolin'!

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Shazam! The World's Mightiest Mortal - Volume One!

It's one of the grandest ironies in the history of comic books I think that when DC Comics acquired the rights to publish the long-defunct Captain Marvel comic character they were forbidden to use the actual name "Captain Marvel" as the title because Marvel Comics had slipped in and used the name for their "Space-Born Super-Hero". It's ironic because it was DC which had driven Captain Marvel off the stands after years of a lawsuit suggesting the character was a mere copy of Superman. It was a hardball legal maneuver that was merely a ploy to stifle a character was actually in some years outselling DC's Man of Steel. So when the mavens at DC wanted to make hay on the character they were immediately hamstrung. 

Thanks to DC's lawsuit the only time I'd seen Captain Marvel before his debut was in the pages of The Great Comic Book Heroes by Jules Feiffer and then only on a single page. Feiffer wasn't even allowed to reprint a complete story because of the lawsuit. 

 

When DC finally delivered the new comic named Shazam, the old/new hero Captain Marvel was introduced by Superman himself, almost as if to say it's okay now, you can enjoy the adventures of this rip-off of me, all is forgiven. To really make the project jump DC plied original artist C.C. Beck back into comics to take the art chores. Denny O'Neil and Elliot S Maggin wrote the scripts. The art felt much simpler than that of any other DC comic at the time, many of which had taken on more realistic aspects such as the darker Batman books. Beck gave us very simple backgrounds and warm fuzzy characters who almost felt like they'd come from the pages of Peter Rabbit. 

The twenty-year gap was explained away by a single story which said that Billy Batson and the immediate cast of the vintage Fawcett comics had been put into suspended animation by the evil Dr.Sivana who got himself and his kids caught up in it also. This gimmick was good enough and we started having adventures. But it's clear that DC wanted to tap into a younger audience with Shazam, kids perhaps more likely pick up the latest Richie Rich comic than House of Mystery. 

There was a charm to these early stories and Beck's artwork was handsome enough, but it lacked verve. The stories were whimsical, but there was never any real sense of danger for the assembled Marvel Family who took on the likes of the Sivanas and other no-goodniks. 

Shazam was a pretty book, but isolated from the larger DCU it was easy to ignore, as I did originally only picking up the comic with the fourth issue. I remember being entertained by it, but it read quite quickly and the new stories seemed to have less heft than the reprints which DC used to fill out the book from time to time. 

I picked up the comic intermittently, put off by the well-crafted by cutesy covers that suggested this was a mere kiddie book. I was not really grokking the potential glory of the title. 

Characters like Tawky Tawny seemed to be from a different kind of comic book universe, one filled with friendly ghosts.

The title found its real footing with me as a reader when DC's wonderful 100-page format was used for the first time. Here we got some of the new but a great deal more of the vintage Fawcett material. The old stories were quaint but felt more insistent. 

There were some signs of improvement also when the back-ups with Captain Marvel Jr. started with art by others like Dick Giordano and Dave Cockrum who brought a more familiar look to the pages. 

Bob Oksner in particular seemed to have a gift for drawing pretty girls and Mary Marvel was no exception. His art became a highlight of the book. The arrival of E. Nelson Bridwell to help write the book was a harbinger of things to come as well. 

After a year it seemed that C.C. Beck's work was diminishing. I'd learn later that he'd rather disliked his tenure on this new Captain Marvel book, finding the stories somewhat goofy. I  couldn 't disagree with him, but I was also happy to see him drift away from the book to make room for others like Kurt Schffenberger (a Fawcett original) and more work by Oksner and others. 

The title improved immensely when it became a 100-pager full time. The packages were filled with good modern stories and great vintage ones. Each package felt hefty and full of delight. Now it must be said that the new collections do not give the reader any of the original Fawcett material, only the new stuff produced in the early 70's. 

But reading those Bronze Age stories now after many decades, I enjoy them much better than I did at the time. The goofiness doesn't offend my constricted fanboy feelings as it did back in the day, and I'm much more open to a lighter tone than I was back in the day. Even Beck's somewhat childlike approach doesn't brace me as it did back then. These are warm pages with bright happy characters who at the time might not have fitted into a universe filled with Batmen and Man-Bats, but they have a whimsy that still feels fresh. 

Turns out though the books hadn't caught on with my kind and the book fell into a period of decline or reprint before a big change came. That change was brought on by the adventure a new TV show. More on that next time. 

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Classic Crisis #26 - Masters Of The Multiverse!

When I was a new fan my comic book tastes were broad and inclusive, limited only by my meager cash resources. I read Marvel, Charlton, Harvey, Gold Key, Archie, and of course DC. The first DC character I latched onto was the Flash and the very first Flash story I read had him go to Earth Prime, and not only was I not confused by this parallel Earth story, I was fascinated and it remains one of my all-time favorite DC stories.

"The Flash--Fact or Fiction?" is not strictly a crossover tale, but this 1968 classic does introduce the world of Earth Prime, our world where comic book heroes are just that, the stuff of comics. The Flash ends up here after clashing with an alien creature named the "Nok" which has escaped from a space zoo transport. The Nok attacks the Flash propelling him into another dimension and another Earth on which he discovers he's just a comic book hero like Jay Garrick is on Earth-1. Flash needs his Cosmic Treadmill to return home but has no resources so he visits the DC Comics offices and meets up with Julie Schwartz. Schwartz is soon convinced of the fantastic situation and helps Flash, who quickly puts together a treadmill and rushes back to Earth-1 to defeat the Nok. I've not mentioned Schwartz in these reports, since his role as editor is largely an invisible one, but as it turns out none of the crossover stories would have happened without him. All of the stories I've taken a look at happened in books he edited and he had a hand in plotting all of them I'd reckon. So it's fitting that he actually turns up in one of the crossovers, and it all started so to speak with this Flash story.

 

Later in the Flash series, Cary Bates, the book's writer ends up on Earth-1 also, where he helps out the Flash too. This 1974 story sets up in a manner of speaking the big crossover which would happen only a few months later in 1975.

 

"Where On Earth Am I?" was written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin and drawn by the ever reliable Dick Dillin who is joined by his longtime inker Frank McLaughlin. The cover is by Ernie Chua/Chan. The story begins in the office of Julie Schwartz where Bates and Maggin are hashing out the latest Justice League plot. They are stuck but Bates remembers the Cosmic Treadmill that Schwartz has and soon enough has used it and has disappeared. He turns up on Earth-2 and he is changed, having villainous thoughts and superpowers as well. He uses his new powers to help some robbers escape Johnny Thunder and Robin. Back on Earth Prime Schwartz and Maggin decide to send Maggin to get Bates, but Maggin ends up in the ocean on Earth-1 where he is saved by Aquaman. Quickly Aquaman gets him to the League satellite headquarters where Maggin convinces the League members Batman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Black Canary of the truth of his story by revealing their secret identities. His story is confirmed by the Flash who turns up. On Earth-2 the Justice Society (Hourman, Wonder Woman, Dr.Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder, and Robin) are battling some out of control plants and defeated by same controlled by the evil Bates. The League meanwhile decides to go to Earth-2 after it is determined Bates has gone there and they immediately encounter six villains (Icicle, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Gambler, Shade, and Wizard) stealing some aircraft from a Navy carrier. They quickly subdue the villains only to discover that the baddies are the Justice Society members in disguise and further that the defeated heroes are dead. Cary Bates takes credit for the scheme in the final panel.

 

"Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!" is again by the Bates, Maggin, Dillin, and McLauglin team. Ernie Chua/Chan supplies one of his best ever covers for the series. The story picks up with the League members memorializing the fallen JSofA members. Cary Bates is still in the middle of his crime spree and we discover that he works for the six villains seen in part one. A mysterious misty presence though makes itself known and plans vengeance for the fallen Society. The League is filling in for the dead Society members until they can figure something else out. Elliot S! Maggin is captured by Bates and imprisoned in a gigantic bubble gum bubble. The League is attracted to a black portal which takes them to the villains while the Spectre makes his presence known. A battle rages between the heroes and the villains with the heroes losing because they are haunted by the guilt of the fallen Society members who they killed while in the guise of the very villains they now fight. The Spectre implores the highest powers to allow him to revive the fallen JSofA members while Maggin tries to undermine the powers of Bates by insulting his writing skills. The combined efforts weaken the effects of the guilt on the Leaguers and the Society members suddenly appear hale and hearty. Quickly the villains are beaten and even more quickly Bates and Maggin are sent back to Earth Prime where Julius Schwartz is waiting anxious to get the next story out.

This is not the greatest story ever told by any means. The writers seem a bit too intrigued with showing off their wit and not clearly hammering out the plot details such as they are. Perhaps they considered the story just so absurd that there was no need to sweat the small stuff, but it hurts. The motivations of the characters are poorly examined. It is the Wizard who is controlling Bates, but that is not at all really clear and is supposed more than stated. Further the League and the Society don't come off in these stories looking all that competent. The Spectre's role is very offbeat, with him essentially performing a deus ex machina ending which solve the whole mess. Maybe the writers were playing with the cliches of the storytelling and making these elements explicit, but the whole story is a jumble.

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The Twelve Labors Of Diana!

When Diana Prince decided that she wanted to once again become a "super-heroine" and leave the life of an adventurer-in-white, she was invited back into the Justice League of America, a grand team that she had in fact helped found. But for whatever reason, she felt that she did not qualify for membership. It was weird, but after an era when her unshakable confidence in herself was her only power we find an Amazon who seems to think she must prove to herself and consequently to her peers that she rates becoming a Leaguer all over again. To that end the heroes of the League agree to observe and report on Twelve of Diana's adventures and after she has demonstrated she can cut the mustard, then they will happily invite her back in.

The adventures are rather zany to say the least. Written by Cary Bates, Elliot S. Maggin, and Marty Pasko we get vintage Julie Schwartz "Be Original" classics which offer up bizarre premises and sometimes bewildering twists. Wonder stops an alien robot which makes the world too peaceful for its own good, she harnesses and corrals twin nuclear explosions, and battles old enemies like Mars the God of War and the Duke of Deception. There are rich guys who just want to see what happens when a man sets foot on Paradise Island and Chronos the Time Thief  does just that when he steals time or at least mankind's ability to perceive it. Things get really wild when a duplicate Wonder Woman appears to confuse everyone, even the Leaguers who attempt to dutifully report on WW's doings.

The artwork is top notch with talents like Curt Swan, John Rosenberger, Kurt Schaffenberger, Dick Giordano, and Jose Delbo on tap to do professional jobs all the way through. We have covers by Nick Cardy, Mike Grell, and Ernie Chua among others. Here are those covers by the way.












These "Twelve Labors" are fun DC stories of the era, missing the relevance many comics attempted to get at the time, but offering up some good old fashioned entertainment. Of course Wonder Woman passes the tests and returns to the League, but we knew that all along.

Wonder Woman is opening in theaters today. It looks good and I have plans to see it on my birthday next week. Looking forward to it.

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