This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero blog post here at Balladeer’s Blog will examine the milestone Bronze Age attempt to revive DC’s Golden Age hero Manhunter.
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #437 (November 1973) Later reprinted multiple times in Trade Paperback collections of the entire new Manhunter saga.
Title: The Himalayan Incident
Villains: The Council
Synopsis: Interpol Agent Christine St. Clair is assigned to locate the former Big Game Hunter Paul Kirk, who, decades earlier, had secretly become the costumed crimefighter called Manhunter. A new Manhunter has been reported around the world and Christine’s superior at Interpol wants the figure found due to his involvement with multiple assassinations.
Christine travels to Nepal to investigate this new Manhunter’s recent actions which saved the life of a wealthy philanthropist. Via flashbacks from her informant, she learns that the new Manhunter has been battling an organization which made several clones of Paul Kirk and has been using them to carry out the assassinations that Manhunter is blamed for because the clones wear blue costumes like his red one.
The lone “good” Manhunter clone is the one thwarting the evil clones whenever he can. Recently in Nepal, the good Manhunter saved the above-mentioned philanthropist in the tale told in flashback this issue. Continue reading
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the early stories during the time when Daredevil and the Black Widow were a team, like
DAREDEVIL & THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #92 (October 1972)
FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL Vol 1 #12 (March 1976)
POWER MAN Vol 1 #48 (December 1977)
Shades (at right) and Comanche, escaped cons who served time at Seagate Prison with Luke Cage back when he went by his real name Carl Lucas, were sent by Bushmaster to abduct Power Man’s girlfriend Dr. Claire Temple and her colleague Dr. Noah Burstein. They have done so and, per Bushmaster’s orders, they give Luke Cage/ Carl Lucas their boss’s ultimatum.
They make it clear to Power Man that to gain the release of those two doctors he has been close to for years, he must capture and deliver to Bushmaster one of his foes, private investigator Misty Knight. The villain doesn’t just send Shades and Comanche (at left) to abduct her because Misty’s associates, her investigative partner Colleen Wing and the superhero Iron Fist, stand beside her.
ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #461 (February 1979)
Synopsis: Bill Jensen, a corrupt former D.A. just released from prison, has been gifted with superpowers like the ability to shoot mystic energy blasts, conjure up unearthly fire, walk up walls, produce a force field and more. He refuses to reveal how he has gained these powers.
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #44 (November 1965)
Through a comic book coincidence, the Human Torch gets caught in the middle of a fight between the super villainess called Medusa and her fellow Inhuman called Gorgon.
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #70 (February 1978)
Those villains are helmeted criminals known by numbers instead of names and led by the mysterious Number 1. Strike Force has over a score of members, and they wield high-tech weaponry and equipment.
SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS Vol 1 #1 (May 1963)
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #64 (February 1977)
EERIE #57 (June 1974)
NOTE: Warren Publications are fondly remembered for their horror and sci-fi magazines like Creepy, Eerie, 1984 and Vampirella (at right). As magazines and not comic books, Warren’s output was not limited by the comics code and could therefore delve into adult themes and intense violence.