Tag Archives: DC Comics

TEEN TITANS: THE 1976 REVIVAL

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

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FLASH: YEAR ONE (1940)

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the early adventures of the original Flash, Jay Garrick.

FLASH COMICS Vol 1 #1 (Jan 1940)

Title: Origin of the Flash

Villains: The Faultless Four

Synopsis: College senior Jay Garrick foolishly smokes while conducting atomic experiments with hard water/ heavy water. This exposes him to fumes which put him in a coma for a time. After regaining consciousness, Jay gradually becomes aware that he now has powers related to super-speed.

He graduates from Midwestern University and at age 21 starts work as an assistant professor at New York City’s Coleman University. He adopts the costumed identity of the Flash to fight the forces of evil, starting with a protection racket.

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.

Joan learns that Jay Garrick is secretly the Flash as he rounds up the Faultless Four and frees her father. Continue reading

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WONDER WOMAN: YEAR ONE

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the first year of Wonder Woman stories in the 1940s. 

ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #8 (Dec 1941)

Title: Introducing Wonder Woman

Villains: Nazis

Synopsis: When a pair of Nazi spies hijack an experimental American aircraft, U.S. Army Captain Steve Trevor pursues them and seizes control of the vessel from them.

The Nazis are driven off, but Captain Trevor crash-lands and washes ashore at Paradise Island in the Mediterranean Sea. 

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.

She learned about the ongoing World War and felt that a champion from Paradise Island should accompany Steve Trevor back to the human world to help combat the Axis Nations. Diana won the all-Amazon tournament to become that champion.

Hippolyta bestows on the princess her paraphernalia like her wrist bands, tiara, invisible plane and costume based on the flag of Steve Trevor’s homeland (but not yet her lasso). The queen also granted her the title Wonder Woman. She and Captain Trevor left Paradise Island together for human lands. Continue reading

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HOURMAN: HIS EARLY STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the Golden Age stories of DC’s Hourman.

ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #48 (Mar 1940)

Title: Presenting the Hourman

Villains: Jewel thieves Randall and Kennedy

Synopsis: At Bannerman Laboratories, chemist Rex Tyler secretly concocts a new drug he calls Miraclo. That drug grants him the strength and speed of 10 men for one hour. Rex adopts the costumed identity Hourman and advertises in the paper that people can seek him out if they need help.

In this debut story, Hourman recovers a woman’s stolen jewels and brings down the two-man theft ring. The city in which he operates is named Appleton.

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.

        Ultimately, it always came back to Miraclo being a designer drug that Rex Tyler had concocted. In modern DC stories it is even said that the formula powering Batman’s foe Bane is an offshoot of Miraclo.      Continue reading

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MISS LIBERTY: REVOLUTIONARY WAR SUPERHEROINE

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at DC’s Revolutionary War superheroine Miss Liberty since the 4th of July is coming up.

MISS LIBERTY

Secret Identity: Bess Lynn

First Appearance: Tomahawk #81 (August 1962)

Origin: Nurse Bess Lynn decided she could further help the American Rebel cause in Massachusetts and its department of Maine by employing her other skills in the costumed identity of Miss Liberty. Bess was a blonde but wore a black wig in her costumed form.

Powers: Miss Liberty had secretly trained herself to be the equal of any man in armed or unarmed combat. She was a dead shot with her pistols and often used lit powder horns as makeshift grenades to hurl at Redcoats, their Native American allies and Hessians.   

This heroine was also very skilled with a sword and had mastered trick riding on her horses. Continue reading

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SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS (1976) DARKSEID, MANHUNTER AND MORE

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist comic book post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the early stories of a 1970s DC Comics series.

SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS Vol 1 #1 (Jun 1976)

Title: Attend – Or Die

Villain Roster: Captain Cold, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Copperhead, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire II, the Wizard, Manhunter III, Shadow Thief and Captain Boomerang

Comment: “What are we, some kind of Secret Society of Super-Villains?” (Had to be said.)

Synopsis: Captain Cold and Mirror Master pull off a large jewel robbery and while dividing up their loot they get an invitation to join the title “Society” at a place called the Sinister Citadel in San Francisco.

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.

Suddenly, the Justice League members burst in and attack, but the villains fight and destroy what turn out to be robotic duplicates of the League. The costumed Manhunter III enters the room and tells the villains they passed their initiation by wiping out the robots. He calls himself a representative for their anonymous “host.”

NOTE: Their host is really Darkseid, as will be made clear soon. This third person using the Manhunter alias is one of the “evil” Paul Kirk clones whose organization the Council was thwarted by the lone “good” Paul Kirk clone, who also destroyed all the evil clones. (Paul Kirk was the original Manhunter from DC’s 1940s comic books.) Continue reading

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DC SUPERHEROES OF THE SIXTIES TO EIGHTIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog picks up from last weekend’s look at DC’s 30s-50s characters by examining some of their 60s-80s heroes. 

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.

Readers got some landmark tales as the Scarlet Speedster took on his recurring foes like Mirror Master, the Trickster, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Captain Boomerang, the Golden Glider and others. Click HERE.

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.

Black Lightning faced a variety of villains, like the Whale, Syonide, Cyclotronic Man, Steel Fist, the Annihilist and the criminal organization called the 100. Click HERE. Continue reading

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DC SUPERHEROES: THIRTIES TO SIXTIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at assorted DC characters from the 1930s to 1960s. DC fans have mentioned how Marvel-heavy my posts can be, but I also cover DC and independents.

BATMAN: THE REAL YEAR ONE

As fans know, this figure debuted in the May 1939 issue of Detective Comics and over the next 12 months he earned an eponymous second series.

The first appearances of the Joker, Catwoman, Hugo Strange and others were featured. Continue reading

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MAN-BAT: HIS EARLY STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at DC’s character Man-Bat.

det 400DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #400 (June 1970)

Title: Challenge of the Man-Bat

Villains: The Blackout Gang

Synopsis: Kirk Langstrom, a Gotham City zoologist, makes his first appearance in this issue. Langstrom was using genetic components from bats to try restoring hearing to the deaf, but the formula instead wound up transforming him into a human-sized bat creature.

mb torsoThe 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.

Man-Bat helps Batman defeat and capture the gang and reveals to the curious hero that he is not wearing a costume before departing, leaving the caped crusader stunned.  Continue reading

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SWAMP THING: HALLOWEENISH COVERS

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at some of DC’s Swamp Thing covers that fit the Halloween Season. 

st 3SWAMP THING Vol 1 #3 (March 1973)

Title: The Patchwork Man

Villains: Dr. Anton Arcane and his Patchwork Man

NOTE: Scientist Alec Holland developed a bio-restorative chemical formula to help plant and animal life survive under hostile environmental conditions. A group of villains called the Conclave wanted the formula for their own purposes and murdered Alec and his wife Linda when they would not sell them that formula.

        part of st 1 coverAlec’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.

Synopsis: The Swamp Thing was searching through the laboratory of his foe, Anton Arcane, genetic engineer and sorcerer combined. He winds up battling another of Arcane’s macabre creations, the Patchwork Man, one of the villain’s Un-Men.  Continue reading

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