New Gods Book Two - Advent Of Darkness!

It's always tricky when anyone other than the original creator touches such personal projects like the Fourth World. But that was Kirby's scheme from the beginning, to kick off books like New Gods and Mister Miracle and then hand them over to other talents under his guidance. Well, his guidance might be missing, but those characters have been done by a host of talents in the decades since Kirby was forced to step away from them. 

After an epic story, we get a few single-issue efforts. In the first Orion seeks to track down and stop a serial killer named "The Poet". This story just goes to show how ineffective Orion can be in an operation requiring some element of stealth. 

In a second Orion is forced to battle against a human being who gains the power of the ancient gods, if only for a short time. A man who thinks he's made for greater things can prove to be a great menace. Rick Hoberg steps in to take on the pencil chores in this issue. 

We then are treated to another epic tale. In this one the menace of Darkseid is overshadowed by the return of the one god in whose shadow he will always live, his father Yuga Khan. Yuga Khan disappeared searching for the Souce but returns after uncounted years to take vengeance on those who killed his wife, before once again seeking the ultimate secret. His power is immense, far greater than Darkseid's and even the forces of New Genesis fall before his with little effort. He is a menace who we can only hope defeats himself. For his part Orion learns something about the nature of fathers and sons. I should also point out that this saga was a crossover of sorts with the revamped L.E.G.I.O.N. series of the time. We see only Lar Gand (better known as Mon-El) in the issues of the New Gods. 

The twenty-second issue of the run is my favorite so far as it tells the story of Metron and how his longing for knowledge brought tragedy and death to New Genesis. Rick Hoberg is the artist and does a great job on his issue which features a rejuvenated Stepppenwolf. We also meet a woman who might have been Metron's love in a different universe. 

Mark Evanier does a very clever job of telling a story of a gay man with AIDS in this tale which mentions neither homosexuality nor the loathsome disease. We meet a man who makes the ultimate sacrifice for others, others who reject him for what he is. In a story drawn by newcomer Steve Erwin we get a delicate but robust story which talks of things which regrettably were forbidden in many quarters in this time period. 

The Forever People show up as guest-stars in a two-part tale that introduces us all to Maya, the latest addition to the clan and the daughter of Beautiful Dreamer and Big Bear. In Maya is the target of Desaad  who wants to pressure the Forever People to doing what he wants. But they resist of course, and he sends deadly creatures from Apokolips to create havoc in the form of a nuclear disaster. It's all Orion can do to fend off the threats and the team calls upon the Infinity Man in their moment of desperation. 

The next issue is a follow up to the previous two as Orion and Lightray attempt to track down some denizens of Apokolips seeking to escape. A young boy learns to to some extent the real meaning of death while an ancient god from the zombie-like "Dreggs" finds resurrection. 

The series closes out with a two-part tale that features Lightray who seeks to bring back to life a young woman whose death seems especially pointless. His attempts to revive her bring danger to the world as a whole. By the story's end, the happy-go-lucky Lightray has a somewhat more sober attitude to life in general, though he is no less optimistic. 

And that closes the book on this second New Gods revival. There were some really good stories in this run. The introduction of a new Forager and of Darkseid's father Yuga Khan in particular stand out. But the best creation is "The Dreggs". These shambling echoes of the old gods offer up a great deal of story potential and make perfect sense in the Fourth World as a whole. I was less taken with Evanier's concept of the "Anti-Life Equation" which seemed erratically explained and even at some points rejected. The ideal of free will was central to the themes of Kirby's Fourth World and making the Anti-Life equation something other than the simple ability to control others utterly seems to undermine his aims. But on the whole, these are better than I expected. 

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The Amazing Zoo Crew!

There's something impeccably charming about funny animal comics. They were once upon a time a staple of the industry, as animals of all sorts stood in for humans in both comics and animation. Mighty Mouse, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, Super Rabbit, even the later Thunderbunny are all great characters. Pitching a story containing a rabbit or a duck and then having all manner of mayhem unleashed upon the poor creature was a neat trick to remove the effort from the immediacy of concern that humans might be injured in the production of the product. Nowadays we lavish overweening concern for animals, enraptured with a Disney-inspired adoration for the cuteness of  all creatures great and small, which neither know nor especially care that we find them adorable. But funny animal comics faded when the average age of a comic book reader slipped from six to sixteen and the randy adventures of superheroes came to dominate the concerns of the four-color worlds. Animals ceased to talk and went about their business.

Then came Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew. Roy Thomas grew weary of his years in service at Might Marvel and especially so since his time as a largely independent force at the publisher was cast into doubt by the rise of Jim Shooter, an editor with an eye to making the MU a unified edifice once again. The man Kirby once dubbed "Houseroy" brought to DC his adoration for the Justice Society of America and his success with Conan the Barbarian. The former he resurrected in the pages of All-Star Squadron and the latter he attempted to imitate in the pages of Arak. But less remembered I suspect, maybe not, was the feature he co-produced with Scott Shaw.

The Zoo Crew was a delightful attempt to satirize superheroes and at the same time in the tradition of the best funny animal comics, to create a book which was exciting in its own way.

As was the custom at the time, the team debuted inside an actual issue of the hit New Teen Titans comic, insuring a large audience for the title. This is a great idea and I'm stunned it's not used more often, even today to garner interest in new titles.

That story combined the wild artwork of Scott Shaw with the more traditional work of Ross Andru to create a real blend of styles that served to showcase the distinctiveness of the funny animal world. To read this classic go here.

It was  a successful kick off and the debut issue landed not long thereafter. Here the covers for what are some fantastic issues which poke fun at the popular culture of the day as well as exceedingly familiar tropes from comics.  Later in the run, Rick Hoberg takes on the art chores.

After the title was cancelled it was revived later in a weird trilogy of tales which take the Zoo Crew into the combined worlds of OZ and Wonderland. These are exotic and totally strange comics, and pretty well done to boot the creative team of E. Nelson Bridwell, Joey Cavaleri and artist Carol Lay.

After that the Captain and his Crew went to rest in the mists of comic oblivion until recently when they were dusted off and brought back into a post-Crisis DCU as part of the myriad realities which form that multiverse.

The Zoo Crew defies attempts to make them extinct, the funny animal is a tough breed indeed. I own all of the originals save for the most recent stuff. The Showcase volume for the original series is delightful and I need to get a copy of the more recent "Final Ark" story line for my very own.

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The Invaders - Winning It All!

The Invaders wrapped up its run with some action-filled stories which called back many of the flamboyant characters which had been created over the few years of production. In these issues you do get the sense that Roy Thomas knew the comic was shutting down and was closing the books a bit on some of the story lines with the help of Don Glut. Long gone is Frank Robbins who will in a few months leave comic books entirely to head out to Mexico and a long life of fine art painting. Taking over the regular art chores is Alan Kupperberg with some assistance by Rick Hoberg from time to time. The regular inker is a Bullpen veteran returned to the fold after many years away, the great Chic Stone. Some of the artwork in these issues is by Don Heck when work he'd done some time before for a proposed Liberty Legion comic is taken and framed by new stuff from the new Invaders art team.

Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott

The Invaders (Cap, Subby, and Torch) are called back to the United States, New York City in particular where they are soon found by The Whizzer. He tells them that the Liberty Legion has been captured by an iron-clad foe called The Iron Cross, a German super-patriot who fights on the side of the Nazis. His goal is to capture his former colleague who developed the intimidating armor and make it even more potent.

Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott

The team face off against The Iron Cross and he proves a sturdy opponent. It takes all the team can muster to finally free the Liberty Legion and save the day.

Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott

When they finally do so, they find that their number have increased by two as The Whizzer and Miss America join up for the time being, presaging the All-Winners Squad which will debut after the war is over.

Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott

This team then falls under the spell of the vivacious and seductive Lady Lotus who is assembling a super team of villains to further her schemes to advance the Japanese war cause. Her first conquest is Merrano the U-Man who she hypnotizes from afar to join her.

Alan Kupperberg and Joe Sinnott

Her goal is to tempt the Golden Girl of the Kid Commandos to join her in her schemes. That fails when Gwenny Sabuki rejects Lotus utterly,  but not before the former teenage sidekicks need some help from The Invaders themselves.

  Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott

Then the Invaders team is alerted to the revived threat of Baron Blood, who likewise has been recruited hypnotically by Lady Lotus. We check in on Union Jack and Spitfire who battle the Baron only to lose track of him as he heads for the U.S. and a rendezvous with his new mistress.

Al Milgrom

There he joins U-Man, Master Man, and Warrior Woman to form the Super-Axis, all fighting under the hypnotic sway of Lady Lotus. The battle is furious and lengthy but in the end as they must the Invaders win the day and the villains are captured for the police who are faced with the challenge of keeping hold of the villains, all captured save Lady Lotus.  Afterwards the team returns to London, England to continue their primary mission to "invade" Fortress Europa and stop the Axis forces. Our final  image of the Invaders in this extra-lengthy finale is the team of Cap, Torch, Subby, Spitfire, and Union Jack charging off to face the next threat the war will bring their way shouting their evocative battle cry "Okay Axis - Here We Come!"

Meanwhile the defeated Lady Lotus hides out in New York's Chinatown where she encounters the Yellow Claw who informs her that while she did okay he plans to do better with time and patience.

And that's a wrap folks on the grand experiment to bring to a Bronze Age audience the revised and extended adventures of the Golden Age heroes.  The book closes with a delightful two-page spread by Kupperberg of all the heroes and most of the villains who have appeared in the series during its impressive run.

But Roy Thomas is not done with The Invaders, not yet -- though it will take several years. More tomorrow. 

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