Going Down Danger Street!

At first, I intended to give a no-holds barred issue by issue review of Danger Street. The limited series takes the often-forgotten heroes featured in the thirteen issues of First Issue Special, a Showcase-style series DC made use of in the Bronze Age. Not all of the heroes in the series were throwaways such as Warlord which went on to become a big hit for DC. The New Gods also have been revived time and again over the decades. Mainstays like The Creeper, Dr. Fate and Metamorpho find life now again in the pages of DC Comics. And even Manhunter has been used and to my mind somewhat abused over time. But others such as Atlas, The Green Team, The Outsiders (not the Batman version), Lady Cop, Starman (not the Earth II versions), and Codename: Assassin have been little used to say the least. 

But after reading the series, I don't want to spoil in anyway what proved to be a pretty compelling yarn. This is a stew for sure, disparate characters thrown into a cooker pressure and then left to simmer. One is often left to wonder if the result will taste any good at all. I can say this brew has a heady taste indeed. The best I can say is that Tom King has created a story which is the Brothers Grimm meet Quentin Tarantino. We have a Princess (Lady Cop) and three Princes (Warlord, Starman, and Metamorpho), four Young Lads (Dingbats of Danger Street), an Ogre (The Creeper), a Giant (Atlas), two Knights (Manhunter and Codename: Assassin), some Monsters (The Green Team), some Rogues (The Outsiders), and sundry Dragons (The New Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips). 

The story is narrated by the Helmet of Fate, which it turns out plays a key part in the saga as well. Characters arrive from all over and tumble into one another's lives. Some are connected in ways we never imagined. Some seem destined to clash. Most are just trying to survive another day. To describe the interactions and fates of the various heroes and assorted characters would be the spoil some terrific surprises. But it is sufficient to say that not everyone gets out alive. 

Here are the sundry covers for this series.  

Highly Recommended. 

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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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