This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the 1976 return of DC ‘s Teen Titans team after a few year hiatus.
TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #44 (Nov 1976)
Title: The Man Who Toppled the Titans
Villain: Dr. Light
Synopsis: Dr. Light captures four of the former members of the Teen Titans – Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Speedy (should be called Red Arrow to avoid confusion about his m.o.). He wants to use them as bait in a trap to kill the Justice League.
Malcolm Duncan, the black friend of the Teen Titans, decides that he will need superpowers to save the former teammates. He dons the exo-skeleton and shield of the Golden Age superhero the Guardian.
As the new Guardian he frees Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Speedy. The five of them defeat Dr. Light and decide to stay together to revive the Teen Titans team. Continue reading
FLASH COMICS Vol 1 #1 (Jan 1940)
Jay’s love interest Joan Williams asks him to find her father, who has been abducted by enemy spies called the Faultless Four and led by the French Sir Satan. The Frenchman and his British, Russian and Slavic colleagues want her retired major father to reveal the secrets of America’s new Atomic Bombarder.
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #8 (Dec 1941)
The island is inhabited by THE Amazons from Greco-Roman myths and they are still ruled over by Queen Hippolyta. The Queen’s daughter Princess Diana nurses Trevor back to health and falls in love with him but while he was recovering, Hippolyta used magic to probe Steve’s mind.
ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #48 (Mar 1940)
NOTE: Over the years, changes would make it so that Miraclo granted Rex Tyler the strength of 50 men. Due to parental concerns about promoting drug use since Rex popped Miraclo pills, for a time it was changed to a Miraclo RAY that would increase Hourman’s strength. Other times it was retconned so that Hourman’s costume was enchanted and it was the source of his powers.
MISS LIBERTY
SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1976)
Identical invitations are received by the supervillains called Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Sinestro and others. Everyone but Catwoman accepts. When they are all assembled in the aforementioned Citadel they meet the new woman using the Star Sapphire nom de guerre. They also meet their butler, Carstairs.
FLASH VS HIS ROGUES GALLERY – I looked at the 1960s to 1980s stories in which Flash did battle with many of his foes assembled during their Semi-Annual Convention of Flash Villains and its related mayhem.
BLACK LIGHTNING – Beginning in the 1970s, High School teacher Jefferson Pierce became the costumed superhero called Black Lightning. He used his new powers to fight crime and other dark forces in Metropolis’ Suicide Slums.
BATMAN: THE REAL YEAR ONE
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #400 (June 1970)
The anguished Langstrom realizes he must go into seclusion until he can devise a cure for his condition. That night he happens by as Batman interrupts the Blackout Gang’s attempt to rob a Gotham museum.
SWAMP THING Vol 1 #3 (March 1973)
Alec’s body was dumped in the swamp, where the bio-restorative chemicals his body had been soaked in interacted with his own anatomy, the mud and the plant life in the swamp, letting him rise from the dead as a murk-monster. The Swamp Thing retained Alec Holland’s intelligence but could not speak for the first several issues.