Detective Comics #140
"The Riddler!"
October, 1948
Bill Finger: Script
Dick Sprang: Pencils
Charles Paris: Inks
This one is for puzzle fans! There are three riddles to be solved! Who
is the newest costumed character to match wits with the Dynamic Duo? Who
is the criminal mastermind who uses the likes of riddles, jigsaws,
acrostics, and other types of puzzles to challenge Batman and Robin? Who
has designed a maze of doom where the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder
are soon trapped? The answer to all of these riddles is... "The
Riddler!"
The criminal career of Edward Nigma began with the announcement of a
school history contest. Each student would receive a jigsaw to assemble,
with the first one to do so winning a prize. Priding himself on his own
name of E. Nigma, the student thought that this would be a sure thing.
After school had let out for the day, Edward Nigma unlocked the teacher's
desk... and saw what the assembled puzzle would look like. The following
day found Edward Nigma the prize winner in his class, and he was
determined to learn how to solve other puzzles. Nigma soon gained a
reputation as a puzzle expert among his fellow students, who were unaware
that he cheated. When a friend is unable to solve the bent-nail puzzle
in five minutes, Edward palms the rigged puzzle, and uses a regular
puzzle to solve it. The lad who cheated at puzzles grew up to become a
puzzle expert... who still cheated. A customer is asked to solve a
Chinese puzzle for pay, and if he doesn't solve it, he must pay E. Nigma.
Unbeknownst to the player, each piece was marked with invisible ink, and
by wearing dark glasses, Nigma is able to see where each piece fits.
Being a carnival player soon loses its attraction for Edward Nigma, who
decides to baffle the likes of the police and Batman by committing puzzle
crimes. Each of his crimes will be a battle of wits between him and the
law - with the puzzles fixed as always. The first thing to do is to find
the right costume. The birth of one of the strangest criminals, the
treacherous trickster known as the Riddler! That evening, the Gotham
City crowd are watching the new advertising sign, presented by the Cross
Cleaning Co. with crossword puzzles. Inside the sign's control room, the
operator prepares the No. 1 horizontal clue about a wingless Australian
bird.
The hapless operator soon finds himself caught in the knots of the
Loudini Rope, as the Riddler arrives to present the Caped Crusader with a
puzzle guaranteed to make him cross. The Dynamic Duo are patrolling the
city when they see the Riddler's challenge on the advertising sign. 1
Horizontal - a water utensil. 2 Vertical - a public way. 1 Vertical - a
formal dinner. When they enter the control room, they find the bound
operator, and the Riddler is long gone.
Accepting the challenge, Batman knows that a five-letter word for a water
"utensil" is a basin. Robin knows that a six-letter word for "a public
way" beginning with S is street. The Boy Wonder tries to solve the
seven-letter word for a formal dinner, starting with B. The Caped
Crusader knows that it's a banquet, and this would mean the Basin Street
Banquet as the Riddler's crime clue. The civic charity banquet is being
held in a hotel on Basin Street, and Robin is pleased that they've solved
the puzzle rather quickly. The Mayor of Gotham City is delivering his
speech, when the Dynamic Duo enter in search of the Riddler. While they
confer with Hizzoner, a policemen tells them about a burst water main
flooding a nearby bank. Batman knows that a flooded bank means a
bank-wet, and that they've been tricked. With the bank only a few doors
away, they may be able to stop him.
A diver has been seen in the vault, with the Caped Crusader ordering the
exits to be guarded. When he surfaces, the Riddler will be caught.
Underwater, the costumed criminal pays no heed to the alarms, and is able
to unlock the combination to the vault door. After opening the water
drain, he is swept along the sewers, leaving the authorities to find his
escape hatch when the water's receded. At the Riddler's lair, he
concocts a plan to baffle the Batman. The following day finds several
trucks parked outside police headquarters, with a letter for the
Commissioner.
A giant puzzle contains the clue for the Riddler's next crime, if they
solve it in time. The crew received a phone call and picked up their
loads at a vacant lot. The giant pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are
uncovered and are to be assembled at the football stadium. The Caped
Crusader directs the police officers in the assembling of the giant
puzzle. After a time, the assembled answer is before them. "Tonight I
Shall Rob The Eagle's Nest. The Riddler!" The picture is of an eagle's
eyrie, and Batman knows about the Eyrie nightclub atop a downtown
skyscraper.
While the Boy Wonder heads for the nightclub, the Caped Crusader heads
off to check on something else. There is no sign of the Riddler at the
Eyrie, but at the mansion of a rich art aficionado, there is much to be
found. The "eagle's nest" clue referred to the home of Harrison Eagle,
the millionaire collector, who has just been collected by the Prince of
Puzzlers. Batman had figured out the crooked game, but the Riddler has
left him a puzzle to remember him by. Mr. Eagle is being slowly
smothered by a gag, and unless the Caped Crusader frees him, he'll die.
A smoke bomb delivers the punch line for a departing riddle, "Where was
Batman when the lights went out?"
When the smoke clears, the Caped Crusader heads for the puzzle, knowing
that he may not find the solution in time. Seeing the nicks on some of
the steel rods surrounding the captive millionaire, Batman follows the
pattern, and finds his way to Harrison Eagle. On a rooftop, the Dynamic
Duo compare notes on their latest adversary. At the Higgins Canned Corn
Company, the Riddler is readying another clue for our heroes.
The following morning finds an out-of-control truck making its way down a
Gotham City street with amazing speed. The Batmobile manages to cut off
the runaway, with the Dynamic Duo surveying the giant corn cob for a
clue. "Why is corn hard to escape from?" The puzzle reminds the Boy
Wonder of cornmeal, bad jokes, and maize. The Caped Crusader knows that
maize is another name for corn, and that a maze is hard to escape from.
The glass maze at the Pleasure Pier Amusement Park will be their next
stop.
On the pier, the Riddler is stealing the receipts with the aid of an
a-cross-stick. The costumed criminal dashes off into the maze, with
Batman and Robin in pursuit.
Within the glass labyrinth, the Boy Wonder encounters pain when he runs
into a pane, and the Riddler slips out by the trail he's marked. Now out
of the maze, he seals the exit, and leaves the Dynamic Duo with no way
out. The gloating Count of Conundrums has hidden a bomb with the maze,
with the fuse set to go off in half an hour, and the Dynamic Duo with it.
Unable to break through the shatterproof glass, they must find the
original entrance. The Caped Crusader uses his belt-buckle to mark the
glass panels they've been through. Minutes later, they have searched
through the maze for an exit which no longer exists. Robin sees that the
Riddler is enjoying their predicament.
They have one chance left. Batman tells Robin to gather up the carpet
from the floor, and place it against the panel. After using a match,
they watch as the fire's heat expands the metal frame, and the pane is
pushed out. With the bomb about to go off, the Dynamic Duo dive for
safety, but the Riddler finds himself trapped at the other end of the
pier. He has lost... he has lost the game! After the explosion, a
question mark from the Riddler's costume is found floating in the water.
The Boy Wonder believes that he's drowned, but Batman figures that this
is a puzzle to tide them over until next time.
This story was reprinted in Batman From the 30s To The 70s, which I got
as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago. Thanks, Jen!
Bill Finger used his love of puns to come up with Edward Nigma, the
Riddler.
Although Nigma used crooked puzzles on his friends, they couldn't nail
him for it.
As an adult, he continued his shady dealings at a carnival.
Thanks to some careful puns, the Riddler leaves the Dynamic Duo all wet,
and vaults to safety.
A giant puzzle provides Batman and Robin with an eagle-eye view of the
Prince of Puzzles next crime.
In "A Riddling Controversy" (2/9/67), the Dynamic Duo must free the
wealthy exiled dictator Anthony Aguila from an explosive puzzle set by
the Riddler (John Astin).
One for corny conundrums, the Riddler can't resist playing "cob and
robbers" with the Caped Crusader.
A variation of the corn clue was seen on the "If You're So Smart, Why
Aren't You Rich?" episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
With his deathtrap in pieces, the Riddler soon found himself without
pier.
In Detective Comics Annual #8: "Questions Multiply The Mystery!" (1995)
by Chuck Dixon, Kieron Dwyer, Richmond Lewis, and Albert DeGuzman, the
Riddler got revamped.
He failed to keep his friends in the palm of his hand, and got nailed for
it.
His puzzle crimes were met with indifference, until the arrival of Batman
caught his attention.
This Review Is Dedicated To The Memory Of Frank Gorshin, R.I.P.
Steve Chung
"The Review!"
The archives of the Silver Age Reviews Yahoo Group, celebrating that classic era of comic books published between 1956 and 1972! (And occasionally beyond!)
Adventure Comics #259: "Green Arrow's Mystery Pupil!"
Adventure Comics #259
"Green Arrow's Mystery Pupil!"
April, 1959
Ed Herron (Script)
Lee Elias (Pencils And Inks)
The Green Arrow is in a showdown -- such as those in the old west. His
opponent is Vance -- his student. While the Ace Archer will not take a
human life -- Vance will. A newspaper ad attracts the attention of Green
Arrow and Speedy... They have come in answer to the summons of someone
who has a million dollar check for the bowman's favorite charity... if he
trains him to become an ace archer like him. Not one to refuse money for
charity, Green Arrow accepts the offer. The targets have already been
arranged on the grounds, and class is ready to begin.
The first lesson in the fundamentals of Archery... two feathers can good
distance for an arrow, but three feathers increase its accuracy. The
pound-pull is all about the number of pounds necessary to draw a taut
bowstring. THWUNK! With the wind and the shadows, the student makes his
first bull's-eye. Proving to be a bright student, the lessons progress
with the introduction of Green Arrow's trick arrows... The net arrow,
with a fine silk net rolled up inside of the shaft... a triggering
mechanism within the shaft releases the net after being fired... and a
"lion" is netted as fast as a rifle would bag it. A section on the shaft
of the next arrow has a rubberized fabric and a capsule of compressed air
inside of it. In the air, the capsule is released, and the rubberized
segment expands -- until it becomes a balloon arrow... It can be used
for long distance messages or to get attention when lost.
Other trick arrows are soon shown from the quiver... The rain arrow,
used to put out fires. The smoke arrow... to serve as a smoke screen.
The sun-arrow with its brightness created by gases released from inside
the shaft. After many weeks of training... Vance has become a fine
bowman, and has mastered the art of the trick arrows. The teacher has
one final piece of advice. Green Arrow always keeps his back to the sun
-- and in his opponent's eyes. This gives him the advantage, and he vows
never to use an arrow to kill anyone. That night, Oliver Queen and Roy
Harper are at home, and are about to go out on patrol. In the city, the
guards of an armored car have found themselves within a smoke screen.
The startled citizens watch as a bowman in a crimson costume swings away
with the payroll. While on the street in their Arrowcar, the Ace Archers
soon see the crimson-clad bowman. The catapult is activated, with the
two of them landing on the roof. TWANG Green Arrow fires off a boxing
glove arrow... BIFF! The crimson-clad bowman has done the same, then
fires off another arrow, complete with balloon and rope ladder for a fast
getaway. Seeing that the Crimson Archer has used the same trick arrows
as theirs, Speedy figures that he must be Hector Vance. Green Arrow
doesn't understand why a multi-millionaire would be content with a
thousand dollars. Whoever their new foe is, they hope to see more of
him.
The balloon arrow lands at Vance's estate, with the multi-millionaire
remembering his days as Herb Vraney, the kingpin racketeer. This was
before the Green Arrow found Vraney in Glenville -- and broke up his
gang. After his time in prison, the former kingpin had his face altered,
and found the loot he had hidden before he went to jail. He was
determined to have Green Arrow defeated with his own weapons. The
Crimson Archer now knows the Battling Bowman's one weakness, and after
taunting his foe, their next meeting will take place in Glenville. Thus,
Hector Vance will once again become the true kingpin once more. The
nights pass, with the Crimson Archer leaving his mark on the city. Dawn
finds the crimson-clad bowman in the suburbs of Glenville. Green Arrow
and Speedy step out of their Arrowcar, where their opponent introduces
himself as Hector Vance. Those residents who are already awake, are
startled to see the tableau occurring on the street. The Crimson Archer
wants to have a duel to decide which of them is the best bowman. At that
moment, the rays of the sun fall directly on the eyes of Green Arrow.
Vance has made certain to use this to his advantage, and keeps the sun
behind him.
ZING The Crimson Archer fires off some near misses, knowing that his
fellow bowman won't kill, but he will. With the sun in his eyes, Green
Arrow rolls onto the ground, and fires off the smoke-arrow. Soon, the
smoke-trail forms a cloud between the sun and the two archers. TWANG!
ZIP! ZIP! Now, G.A. has got a fighting chance. Flame arrows soon have
the heroic bowman surrounded by a wall of flames. TWANG! A
specially-treated rain arrow puts an end to the potential hotfoot.
K-POW! K-POW! Vance's gun-arrows come complete with real bullets.
Since his opponent has got a large advantage, Green Arrow uses the
sun-arrow, and now it is the Crimson Archer who can't see. The
rope-arrow soon has things wrapped up, with the Ace Archer learning from
his mistake, and using it to trap Vance. With the Crimson Archer in
custody, Roy reads about Hector Vance's fingerprints revealing his
identity as Herb Vraney. Oliver smokes his pipe, knowing that the loot
has been found, and his "student" will never use another trick arrow
again.
This story was reprinted in World's Finest Comics #154 (December, 1965).
The Editor's Round Table chose this from Green Arrow's 200 adventures as
being his greatest.
As a multi-millionaire, Hector Vance is a pipe-smoker who wears a yellow
jacket with matching ascot, and brown pants.
Nowadays, multi-millionaires tend to host reality TV shows, not become
super-heroes and super-villains.
I'd be interested to hear if any of these trick arrows could possibly
exist in real life.
The Crimson Archer's costume matches that of Green Arrow.
Other heroes and villains who share the same appearance include:
Superman/Bizarro, Batman/Owlman, Flash/Reverse-Flash, and Green
Lantern/Power Ring.
The Composite Superman had the combined appearance of the Man of Steel
and the Caped Crusader, but also possessed the super-powers of the Legion
of Super-Heroes.
Another villain who has had his share of plastic surgery is Two-Face.
Wilson Fisk was the Kingpin of Crime in the Marvel Universe of the Silver
Age.
Steve Chung
"Green Arrow's Mystery Review!"
"Green Arrow's Mystery Pupil!"
April, 1959
Ed Herron (Script)
Lee Elias (Pencils And Inks)
The Green Arrow is in a showdown -- such as those in the old west. His
opponent is Vance -- his student. While the Ace Archer will not take a
human life -- Vance will. A newspaper ad attracts the attention of Green
Arrow and Speedy... They have come in answer to the summons of someone
who has a million dollar check for the bowman's favorite charity... if he
trains him to become an ace archer like him. Not one to refuse money for
charity, Green Arrow accepts the offer. The targets have already been
arranged on the grounds, and class is ready to begin.
The first lesson in the fundamentals of Archery... two feathers can good
distance for an arrow, but three feathers increase its accuracy. The
pound-pull is all about the number of pounds necessary to draw a taut
bowstring. THWUNK! With the wind and the shadows, the student makes his
first bull's-eye. Proving to be a bright student, the lessons progress
with the introduction of Green Arrow's trick arrows... The net arrow,
with a fine silk net rolled up inside of the shaft... a triggering
mechanism within the shaft releases the net after being fired... and a
"lion" is netted as fast as a rifle would bag it. A section on the shaft
of the next arrow has a rubberized fabric and a capsule of compressed air
inside of it. In the air, the capsule is released, and the rubberized
segment expands -- until it becomes a balloon arrow... It can be used
for long distance messages or to get attention when lost.
Other trick arrows are soon shown from the quiver... The rain arrow,
used to put out fires. The smoke arrow... to serve as a smoke screen.
The sun-arrow with its brightness created by gases released from inside
the shaft. After many weeks of training... Vance has become a fine
bowman, and has mastered the art of the trick arrows. The teacher has
one final piece of advice. Green Arrow always keeps his back to the sun
-- and in his opponent's eyes. This gives him the advantage, and he vows
never to use an arrow to kill anyone. That night, Oliver Queen and Roy
Harper are at home, and are about to go out on patrol. In the city, the
guards of an armored car have found themselves within a smoke screen.
The startled citizens watch as a bowman in a crimson costume swings away
with the payroll. While on the street in their Arrowcar, the Ace Archers
soon see the crimson-clad bowman. The catapult is activated, with the
two of them landing on the roof. TWANG Green Arrow fires off a boxing
glove arrow... BIFF! The crimson-clad bowman has done the same, then
fires off another arrow, complete with balloon and rope ladder for a fast
getaway. Seeing that the Crimson Archer has used the same trick arrows
as theirs, Speedy figures that he must be Hector Vance. Green Arrow
doesn't understand why a multi-millionaire would be content with a
thousand dollars. Whoever their new foe is, they hope to see more of
him.
The balloon arrow lands at Vance's estate, with the multi-millionaire
remembering his days as Herb Vraney, the kingpin racketeer. This was
before the Green Arrow found Vraney in Glenville -- and broke up his
gang. After his time in prison, the former kingpin had his face altered,
and found the loot he had hidden before he went to jail. He was
determined to have Green Arrow defeated with his own weapons. The
Crimson Archer now knows the Battling Bowman's one weakness, and after
taunting his foe, their next meeting will take place in Glenville. Thus,
Hector Vance will once again become the true kingpin once more. The
nights pass, with the Crimson Archer leaving his mark on the city. Dawn
finds the crimson-clad bowman in the suburbs of Glenville. Green Arrow
and Speedy step out of their Arrowcar, where their opponent introduces
himself as Hector Vance. Those residents who are already awake, are
startled to see the tableau occurring on the street. The Crimson Archer
wants to have a duel to decide which of them is the best bowman. At that
moment, the rays of the sun fall directly on the eyes of Green Arrow.
Vance has made certain to use this to his advantage, and keeps the sun
behind him.
ZING The Crimson Archer fires off some near misses, knowing that his
fellow bowman won't kill, but he will. With the sun in his eyes, Green
Arrow rolls onto the ground, and fires off the smoke-arrow. Soon, the
smoke-trail forms a cloud between the sun and the two archers. TWANG!
ZIP! ZIP! Now, G.A. has got a fighting chance. Flame arrows soon have
the heroic bowman surrounded by a wall of flames. TWANG! A
specially-treated rain arrow puts an end to the potential hotfoot.
K-POW! K-POW! Vance's gun-arrows come complete with real bullets.
Since his opponent has got a large advantage, Green Arrow uses the
sun-arrow, and now it is the Crimson Archer who can't see. The
rope-arrow soon has things wrapped up, with the Ace Archer learning from
his mistake, and using it to trap Vance. With the Crimson Archer in
custody, Roy reads about Hector Vance's fingerprints revealing his
identity as Herb Vraney. Oliver smokes his pipe, knowing that the loot
has been found, and his "student" will never use another trick arrow
again.
This story was reprinted in World's Finest Comics #154 (December, 1965).
The Editor's Round Table chose this from Green Arrow's 200 adventures as
being his greatest.
As a multi-millionaire, Hector Vance is a pipe-smoker who wears a yellow
jacket with matching ascot, and brown pants.
Nowadays, multi-millionaires tend to host reality TV shows, not become
super-heroes and super-villains.
I'd be interested to hear if any of these trick arrows could possibly
exist in real life.
The Crimson Archer's costume matches that of Green Arrow.
Other heroes and villains who share the same appearance include:
Superman/Bizarro, Batman/Owlman, Flash/Reverse-Flash, and Green
Lantern/Power Ring.
The Composite Superman had the combined appearance of the Man of Steel
and the Caped Crusader, but also possessed the super-powers of the Legion
of Super-Heroes.
Another villain who has had his share of plastic surgery is Two-Face.
Wilson Fisk was the Kingpin of Crime in the Marvel Universe of the Silver
Age.
Steve Chung
"Green Arrow's Mystery Review!"
Rex #41, "Wonder Dog of Space!" (etc)
ADVENTURES OF REX THE WONDER DOG #41; DC Comics; Sept.-Oct. 1958; Whitney
Ellsworth listed as editor (but I think Julius Schwartz did the actual hands-on
editing); featuring DC's wonder canine in two adventures, "Four-Footed Fire
Fighter!" and the more outre "Wonder Dog of Space!" Not to mention the
incomparable Detective Chimp in "Bobo, Sleuth on Skis!" On the cover which looks
like Gil Kane art with possibly Joe Giella inks, illustrating the "Fire
Fighter" story, Rex is holding a rope in his teeth and lowering a man down from
the roof of a burning building.
Review by Bill Henley
This comic book from 1958 technically falls into the traditional Silver Age,
but REX was really a product of the interregnum between Golden and Silver
Ages. Still, the Julie Schwartz-edited title was in some ways a precursor of
the Silver Age, and in particular the second story in this issue could almost
have been titled "Four-Footed Silver Age Superhero!"
First, though, we have the lead story, which is more of a traditional type
of REX story. There are no credits, but the art is by Kane and probably
Giella, and the script, I'm guessing, is Robert Kanigher. The splash page is
another angle on the scene of Rex helping the man climb down a burning building
by rope, and the caption tells us, "All Rex the Wonder Dog was interested in
was peace and quiet! But he soon found there was no rest for a hero-- in the
blazing action tale-- FOUR-FOOTED FIRE FIGHTER!" As our story opens, the
Dennis family, owners of Rex, are traveling cross country by car when their auto
overheats and they are obliged to stop for repairs at the home of a friendly
farm family. Their son Andy is a "camera bug" who is delighted by the
visit of "the most famous dog in the world" since he figures he can win a prize
in the "Adventure Snaps Contest" by shooting a photo of the Wonder Dog in
action. But action is not what Rex wants at the moment. and as the dog sits on
his rump goofing off, Andy complains, "Why doesn't Rex do something-- instead
of just sitting there?" Rex's young master Danny Dennis replies, "You can't
just MAKE exciting things, Andy! They have to HAPPEN!" And as the kid
shutterbug follows Rex around, our wonder dog starts to get annoyed, with a
thought balloon, "I don't like that black box pointed at me all the time!" Andy
and Rex are mutually frustrated, as Rex wants to just lie down and relax (he
sounds like my lazy dog who I can barely get to get up and go for a walk) and
Andy can't catch Rex doing anything more exciting than swatting his paw at an
annoying hornet. But then things liven up, as Rex accidentally knocks over
the hornets' nest and both dog and boy are attacked by a swarm of angry
insects. Fleeing the hornets, Andy falls into a nearby river and is swept by the
current towards a waterfall. Rex. of course, leaps into the river after him
and, grabbing Andy by the collar, manages to pull him to shore. Andy's
reaction is, "What's the good of that sensational rescue? I dropped my camera!"
What gratitude.
Later, Andy is still following Rex around in search of an "action" shot,
when the two of them attract the attention of an angry bull in a farm field.
Rex pushes the boy out of the bull's path, only to hear the complaint, "What
did you make me drop my camera for?" (Rex is a better man, er. dog, than I
am.....at this point I'd trot away and let the bull gore the @#$%^&! punk kid.)
With the bull still on the warpath, Rex leaps onto its back and does a
canine rodeo act until the thrashing bovine is led far enough away for Andy to be
out of danger. But after retrieving his camera Andy is still obsessed with
getting an action photo, and Rex flees from him, finally climbing a ladder
into a barn loft where he can nap on soft hay. But not for long, as Andy finds
Rex and urges him to get up and do something exciting. (How about going for
your throat, kid....would that be exciting enough?) Just then, a bolt of
lightning strikes through the window of the barn loft, and Rex finds himself
suddenly able to flee from Andy at seven times the speed of light....no, not
really (that's another Julie Schwartz-edited comic). Actually, the lightning
sets the barn afire, and boy and dog are trapped too high to jump. Rex finds
a coil of rope, but there is nothing to tie it to. Dauntlessly, Rex grabs
the end of the rope in his teeth and "strains every muscle" in order to hold it
as Andy climbs downward....and as he climbs, Andy points his camera upward
to at last catch Rex in action. He gets more shots as Rex makes his own
leaping escape from the fire, and has his prize-winning photo. When Rex later
sees the photo printed in a newspaper, his thought is, "Hmmm....thought I
looked better than that!" (How about that....a dog with body image issues.)
Following an educational filler on "Know Your Pet" and another titled "Hear!
Hear!" on the hearing abilities of various animals (didja know that a sound
that a human can hear 175 yards away can be heard by a dog a mile away? So
why can't my dog hear me when I call her across the room unless I'm saying
"Cookie"?) we have the latest case of Sheriff's Deputy Bobo aka Detective
Chimp. Like all Detective Chimp stories this one was pencilled and inked by
Carmine Infantino (who in later years claimed this was his all time favorite
feature to draw) and I think written by John Broome. Bobo's ostensible master and
boss, the Sheriff of Oscaloosa County, informs us, "Take the coldest winter
Florida has ever known-- add to it a real snowstorm and several pairs of skis
bought by the unpredictable Bobo at an auction-- and you have the recipe for
a thrilling adventure tale!" On the splash, Bobo is schussing down a slope
in pursuit of a couple of crooks, going "WUK--!" which the thought balloon
informs us translates to "HALT-- in the name of the LAW!" while one of the
hoods shouts, "It's the sheriff's deputy! He's overtaking us!" and the other
overconfidently replies, "So what? We can handle a DUMB CHIMP!" The sheriff
and his "deputy" are attending an auction where one of the items up for bid is
a set of skis and snowshoes, presumably of no use to Floridians unless they
go for a winter vacation up North. Apparently no one is planning such a
trip, and there are no bids until Bobo raises his paw with a 50 cent piece held
in it. The auctioneer is obliged to accept any bid, and so Bobo is the proud
owners of the skis and snowshoes, despite the sheriff's loud complaint,
"Bobo, for the love of Pete-- what are you going to do with (them) here in
Florida--?" "KRIK! KRIK!" (meaning) "Don't worry, Boss! Somehow-- somewhere--
sometime-- I'll find a use for this stuff!"
Later in the auction, the auctioneer starts to present a rather more
valuable item, a pearl necklace with matching earrings, only to find the display box
empty. Apparently thieves have gotten away with the jewelry, but as the
sheriff begins his hunt, there is a sudden cold snap and the first snowstorm in
living memory in Oscaloosa County. The sheriff hopes the snow will block
traffic and keep the jewel thieves from getting out of town, but his deputy has
other concerns, as he grabs his new acquisitions and happily goes skiing in
between palm trees down a nearby slope. Meanwhile, the two jewel thieves are
indeed trapped in town until they notice Bobo skiing around and get the idea
of stealing his skis to make their getaway. The crooks manage to overpower
Bobo and swipe two pairs of his skis, but little do they know he has yet
another set back at the sheriff's office which he grabs to set out on their trail.
"I'll show those guys they can't steal from DETECTIVE CHIMP and get away
with it!" When Bobo does catch up with the crooks, however, he runs into an
unexpected setback as he "skis right into a powerhouse punch" by one of them.
(Considering that chimps are much stronger than humans, it must have been
quite a punch indeed.) Fortunately for Bobo, some local kids are nearby
delighting in the unexpected chance to play in the snow, and when they see their
idol in trouble they come to his rescue, as "a human wave of enraged teenagers
engulf's the crooks". The sheriff is delighted though mystified to find that
Bobo and his fan club have captured the jewel thieves, and he resolves that
"if skiing helps you catch crooks, that's one hobby I'm going to take up
too!" (Whenever I read one of these Detective Chimp stories, I always figure
that if I were a citizen of Oscaloosa County, I'd vote to fire the sheriff, who
seems to be more or less useless, and elect Bobo sheriff in his place.)
After a text page on "Canine Explorers" including the Russian Sputnik dog
Laika and the Husky-Malamute mascot of the South Pole research station, Rex
does some really far-out exploring in "Wonder Dog of Space!" This story looks
to me to be drawn by Kane with Bernard Sachs inks and probably written by
Broome. On the splash page, a group of alien warriors are watching Rex balance
on a tightrope and laughing, "Ha! Ha! This canine creature from the planet
Earth is very amusing!" Little do they know that Rex has his own serious agenda;
"I must keep up this act until I discover what treachery the evil king is up
to!" At the Dennis home on Earth, Rex is oddly excited by the sight of a
shooting star. Then an "odd-looking man" shows up at the Dennis door, and
though Danny Dennis is puzzled by his alien appearance, Rex joyfully recognizes
him as Xtar, the man from another world whom the wonder dog met in a previous
story (in the June 1958 issue, a footnote informs us) and who can communicate
with Rex by telepathy. "I've come to ask for Rex's help again-- to save my
world of Yquem!" (The name Yquem for an alien planet showed up in another
John Broome-written story-- it was the meeting place for the Green Lantern
Corps in "The Strange Trial of Green Lantern" in a GL issue.) Rex agrees
telepathically to face the dangers of space to help his alien friend, and on the way
to Yquem Xtar explains that Yquem is divided into two nations, the
democratic Porus, of which Xtar is the head of the secret service, and Da-ab, ruled by
power-hungry King Makos. Poros and Da-ab are having a peace conference, but
Xtar fears that King Makos plans treachery. But he figures that Rex can
sniff out any evil plots with his ability to hear the thoughts of Yquemians,
while appearing only to be a harmless animal.
Upon arriving on Yquem, Rex is presented as a "gift" to King Makos. "It is
called a DOG and it is from the distant planet Earth!" "Of what use is this
lowly creature to me?" Rex proves his worth with a series of "amusing
tricks" such as somersaulting, tightrope walking, and running a maze blindfolded by
scent alone. Duly impressed, Makos adopts Rex as his "favorite pet" and
keeps him at his side constantly. "Scent of evil about that king! But I must
pretend to like him! And never show that I understand more than the simplest
commands!" As he balances a top on his nose, Rex finds that "It's hard work
to keep a king amused!" But his efforts hit paydirt when he is left in the
room while Makos and his chief henchmen unfold a plot to arrest and seize the
President of rival nation Poros and proclaim Makos king of all Yquem. Later,
locked in a room, Rex finds his only means of escape is to make from a
palace balcony a longer leap to the ground than he has ever made before. He takes
the chance, and manages to land unharmed by somersaulting and landing on his
feet. Running to the Porus embassy, Rex telepaths the details of Makos'
plot to Xtar, and instead of sending their president for a "state visit", Porus
sends batteries of "Porusian K-guns" to target Makos' palace. Makos is
forced to surrender, but demands to know how Xtar learned of his plot. "Your
ex-majesty, meet the secret operative who spied on you and exposed you! REX--
the WONDER DOG OF EARTH!" Before returning Rex to Earth, Xtar reveals that the
citizens of both Yquem nations have voted to unite under the democratic
leadership of Porus' President rather than the tyranny of Makos. "You helped
save my world, Rex! Perhaps one day we can return the favor for your world!"
"It'll be good to be home-- and see my master again!"
REX was nearing the end of his run at this point, but the remaining issues
followed the pattern of this one, with a mundane earthbound type canine
adventure in the front of the book and a sci-fi tale at the back. In issue #43,
Rex became "The Smallest Dog on Earth" as he and his "scientist-friend" John
Rayburn were shrunk down to midget size. (Ironically, when REX was cancelled a
while later, regular artist Gil Kane asked for a new feature to replace it
on his schedule, and that ended up being the Atom, another shrinking
scientist. And an early sample drawing of the Atom shows him riding on a dog who
looks a lot like Rex.) In #44, Rex went to another alien planet, the "World of
Human Pets1" REX #45 takes him to the "World of Giant Dogs!" And in #46, the
last issue, the Wonder Dog faces the "Mystery of the Magnetic Monsters!"
Much later, in an early 1980's issue of DC COMICS PRESENTS, Gil Kane and fan
writer Mike Tiefenbacher produced a story, "Whatever Happened to Rex the Wonder
Dog (and Detective Chimp?" in which a rejuvenated Rex dons a dog-sized
spacesuit to become the first dog on the moon. But that must have been kind of an
anticlimax for him, as he had already traveled much farther out in space in
these stories.
Ellsworth listed as editor (but I think Julius Schwartz did the actual hands-on
editing); featuring DC's wonder canine in two adventures, "Four-Footed Fire
Fighter!" and the more outre "Wonder Dog of Space!" Not to mention the
incomparable Detective Chimp in "Bobo, Sleuth on Skis!" On the cover which looks
like Gil Kane art with possibly Joe Giella inks, illustrating the "Fire
Fighter" story, Rex is holding a rope in his teeth and lowering a man down from
the roof of a burning building.
Review by Bill Henley
This comic book from 1958 technically falls into the traditional Silver Age,
but REX was really a product of the interregnum between Golden and Silver
Ages. Still, the Julie Schwartz-edited title was in some ways a precursor of
the Silver Age, and in particular the second story in this issue could almost
have been titled "Four-Footed Silver Age Superhero!"
First, though, we have the lead story, which is more of a traditional type
of REX story. There are no credits, but the art is by Kane and probably
Giella, and the script, I'm guessing, is Robert Kanigher. The splash page is
another angle on the scene of Rex helping the man climb down a burning building
by rope, and the caption tells us, "All Rex the Wonder Dog was interested in
was peace and quiet! But he soon found there was no rest for a hero-- in the
blazing action tale-- FOUR-FOOTED FIRE FIGHTER!" As our story opens, the
Dennis family, owners of Rex, are traveling cross country by car when their auto
overheats and they are obliged to stop for repairs at the home of a friendly
farm family. Their son Andy is a "camera bug" who is delighted by the
visit of "the most famous dog in the world" since he figures he can win a prize
in the "Adventure Snaps Contest" by shooting a photo of the Wonder Dog in
action. But action is not what Rex wants at the moment. and as the dog sits on
his rump goofing off, Andy complains, "Why doesn't Rex do something-- instead
of just sitting there?" Rex's young master Danny Dennis replies, "You can't
just MAKE exciting things, Andy! They have to HAPPEN!" And as the kid
shutterbug follows Rex around, our wonder dog starts to get annoyed, with a
thought balloon, "I don't like that black box pointed at me all the time!" Andy
and Rex are mutually frustrated, as Rex wants to just lie down and relax (he
sounds like my lazy dog who I can barely get to get up and go for a walk) and
Andy can't catch Rex doing anything more exciting than swatting his paw at an
annoying hornet. But then things liven up, as Rex accidentally knocks over
the hornets' nest and both dog and boy are attacked by a swarm of angry
insects. Fleeing the hornets, Andy falls into a nearby river and is swept by the
current towards a waterfall. Rex. of course, leaps into the river after him
and, grabbing Andy by the collar, manages to pull him to shore. Andy's
reaction is, "What's the good of that sensational rescue? I dropped my camera!"
What gratitude.
Later, Andy is still following Rex around in search of an "action" shot,
when the two of them attract the attention of an angry bull in a farm field.
Rex pushes the boy out of the bull's path, only to hear the complaint, "What
did you make me drop my camera for?" (Rex is a better man, er. dog, than I
am.....at this point I'd trot away and let the bull gore the @#$%^&! punk kid.)
With the bull still on the warpath, Rex leaps onto its back and does a
canine rodeo act until the thrashing bovine is led far enough away for Andy to be
out of danger. But after retrieving his camera Andy is still obsessed with
getting an action photo, and Rex flees from him, finally climbing a ladder
into a barn loft where he can nap on soft hay. But not for long, as Andy finds
Rex and urges him to get up and do something exciting. (How about going for
your throat, kid....would that be exciting enough?) Just then, a bolt of
lightning strikes through the window of the barn loft, and Rex finds himself
suddenly able to flee from Andy at seven times the speed of light....no, not
really (that's another Julie Schwartz-edited comic). Actually, the lightning
sets the barn afire, and boy and dog are trapped too high to jump. Rex finds
a coil of rope, but there is nothing to tie it to. Dauntlessly, Rex grabs
the end of the rope in his teeth and "strains every muscle" in order to hold it
as Andy climbs downward....and as he climbs, Andy points his camera upward
to at last catch Rex in action. He gets more shots as Rex makes his own
leaping escape from the fire, and has his prize-winning photo. When Rex later
sees the photo printed in a newspaper, his thought is, "Hmmm....thought I
looked better than that!" (How about that....a dog with body image issues.)
Following an educational filler on "Know Your Pet" and another titled "Hear!
Hear!" on the hearing abilities of various animals (didja know that a sound
that a human can hear 175 yards away can be heard by a dog a mile away? So
why can't my dog hear me when I call her across the room unless I'm saying
"Cookie"?) we have the latest case of Sheriff's Deputy Bobo aka Detective
Chimp. Like all Detective Chimp stories this one was pencilled and inked by
Carmine Infantino (who in later years claimed this was his all time favorite
feature to draw) and I think written by John Broome. Bobo's ostensible master and
boss, the Sheriff of Oscaloosa County, informs us, "Take the coldest winter
Florida has ever known-- add to it a real snowstorm and several pairs of skis
bought by the unpredictable Bobo at an auction-- and you have the recipe for
a thrilling adventure tale!" On the splash, Bobo is schussing down a slope
in pursuit of a couple of crooks, going "WUK--!" which the thought balloon
informs us translates to "HALT-- in the name of the LAW!" while one of the
hoods shouts, "It's the sheriff's deputy! He's overtaking us!" and the other
overconfidently replies, "So what? We can handle a DUMB CHIMP!" The sheriff
and his "deputy" are attending an auction where one of the items up for bid is
a set of skis and snowshoes, presumably of no use to Floridians unless they
go for a winter vacation up North. Apparently no one is planning such a
trip, and there are no bids until Bobo raises his paw with a 50 cent piece held
in it. The auctioneer is obliged to accept any bid, and so Bobo is the proud
owners of the skis and snowshoes, despite the sheriff's loud complaint,
"Bobo, for the love of Pete-- what are you going to do with (them) here in
Florida--?" "KRIK! KRIK!" (meaning) "Don't worry, Boss! Somehow-- somewhere--
sometime-- I'll find a use for this stuff!"
Later in the auction, the auctioneer starts to present a rather more
valuable item, a pearl necklace with matching earrings, only to find the display box
empty. Apparently thieves have gotten away with the jewelry, but as the
sheriff begins his hunt, there is a sudden cold snap and the first snowstorm in
living memory in Oscaloosa County. The sheriff hopes the snow will block
traffic and keep the jewel thieves from getting out of town, but his deputy has
other concerns, as he grabs his new acquisitions and happily goes skiing in
between palm trees down a nearby slope. Meanwhile, the two jewel thieves are
indeed trapped in town until they notice Bobo skiing around and get the idea
of stealing his skis to make their getaway. The crooks manage to overpower
Bobo and swipe two pairs of his skis, but little do they know he has yet
another set back at the sheriff's office which he grabs to set out on their trail.
"I'll show those guys they can't steal from DETECTIVE CHIMP and get away
with it!" When Bobo does catch up with the crooks, however, he runs into an
unexpected setback as he "skis right into a powerhouse punch" by one of them.
(Considering that chimps are much stronger than humans, it must have been
quite a punch indeed.) Fortunately for Bobo, some local kids are nearby
delighting in the unexpected chance to play in the snow, and when they see their
idol in trouble they come to his rescue, as "a human wave of enraged teenagers
engulf's the crooks". The sheriff is delighted though mystified to find that
Bobo and his fan club have captured the jewel thieves, and he resolves that
"if skiing helps you catch crooks, that's one hobby I'm going to take up
too!" (Whenever I read one of these Detective Chimp stories, I always figure
that if I were a citizen of Oscaloosa County, I'd vote to fire the sheriff, who
seems to be more or less useless, and elect Bobo sheriff in his place.)
After a text page on "Canine Explorers" including the Russian Sputnik dog
Laika and the Husky-Malamute mascot of the South Pole research station, Rex
does some really far-out exploring in "Wonder Dog of Space!" This story looks
to me to be drawn by Kane with Bernard Sachs inks and probably written by
Broome. On the splash page, a group of alien warriors are watching Rex balance
on a tightrope and laughing, "Ha! Ha! This canine creature from the planet
Earth is very amusing!" Little do they know that Rex has his own serious agenda;
"I must keep up this act until I discover what treachery the evil king is up
to!" At the Dennis home on Earth, Rex is oddly excited by the sight of a
shooting star. Then an "odd-looking man" shows up at the Dennis door, and
though Danny Dennis is puzzled by his alien appearance, Rex joyfully recognizes
him as Xtar, the man from another world whom the wonder dog met in a previous
story (in the June 1958 issue, a footnote informs us) and who can communicate
with Rex by telepathy. "I've come to ask for Rex's help again-- to save my
world of Yquem!" (The name Yquem for an alien planet showed up in another
John Broome-written story-- it was the meeting place for the Green Lantern
Corps in "The Strange Trial of Green Lantern" in a GL issue.) Rex agrees
telepathically to face the dangers of space to help his alien friend, and on the way
to Yquem Xtar explains that Yquem is divided into two nations, the
democratic Porus, of which Xtar is the head of the secret service, and Da-ab, ruled by
power-hungry King Makos. Poros and Da-ab are having a peace conference, but
Xtar fears that King Makos plans treachery. But he figures that Rex can
sniff out any evil plots with his ability to hear the thoughts of Yquemians,
while appearing only to be a harmless animal.
Upon arriving on Yquem, Rex is presented as a "gift" to King Makos. "It is
called a DOG and it is from the distant planet Earth!" "Of what use is this
lowly creature to me?" Rex proves his worth with a series of "amusing
tricks" such as somersaulting, tightrope walking, and running a maze blindfolded by
scent alone. Duly impressed, Makos adopts Rex as his "favorite pet" and
keeps him at his side constantly. "Scent of evil about that king! But I must
pretend to like him! And never show that I understand more than the simplest
commands!" As he balances a top on his nose, Rex finds that "It's hard work
to keep a king amused!" But his efforts hit paydirt when he is left in the
room while Makos and his chief henchmen unfold a plot to arrest and seize the
President of rival nation Poros and proclaim Makos king of all Yquem. Later,
locked in a room, Rex finds his only means of escape is to make from a
palace balcony a longer leap to the ground than he has ever made before. He takes
the chance, and manages to land unharmed by somersaulting and landing on his
feet. Running to the Porus embassy, Rex telepaths the details of Makos'
plot to Xtar, and instead of sending their president for a "state visit", Porus
sends batteries of "Porusian K-guns" to target Makos' palace. Makos is
forced to surrender, but demands to know how Xtar learned of his plot. "Your
ex-majesty, meet the secret operative who spied on you and exposed you! REX--
the WONDER DOG OF EARTH!" Before returning Rex to Earth, Xtar reveals that the
citizens of both Yquem nations have voted to unite under the democratic
leadership of Porus' President rather than the tyranny of Makos. "You helped
save my world, Rex! Perhaps one day we can return the favor for your world!"
"It'll be good to be home-- and see my master again!"
REX was nearing the end of his run at this point, but the remaining issues
followed the pattern of this one, with a mundane earthbound type canine
adventure in the front of the book and a sci-fi tale at the back. In issue #43,
Rex became "The Smallest Dog on Earth" as he and his "scientist-friend" John
Rayburn were shrunk down to midget size. (Ironically, when REX was cancelled a
while later, regular artist Gil Kane asked for a new feature to replace it
on his schedule, and that ended up being the Atom, another shrinking
scientist. And an early sample drawing of the Atom shows him riding on a dog who
looks a lot like Rex.) In #44, Rex went to another alien planet, the "World of
Human Pets1" REX #45 takes him to the "World of Giant Dogs!" And in #46, the
last issue, the Wonder Dog faces the "Mystery of the Magnetic Monsters!"
Much later, in an early 1980's issue of DC COMICS PRESENTS, Gil Kane and fan
writer Mike Tiefenbacher produced a story, "Whatever Happened to Rex the Wonder
Dog (and Detective Chimp?" in which a rejuvenated Rex dons a dog-sized
spacesuit to become the first dog on the moon. But that must have been kind of an
anticlimax for him, as he had already traveled much farther out in space in
these stories.
Thor #157: "Behind Him... Ragnarok!"
Thor #157
"Behind Him... Ragnarok!"
October, 1968
Now Let's See Whether Even
STAN LEE + JACK KIRBY
Aided By
VINCE COLLETTA and SAM ROSEN
Can Get Us Out Of This One!
If the monstrous Mangog should reach Asgard, and draws the Odinsword, all
living within the universe will be destroyed! Only the Mighty Thor
remains to face him... and face him the Son of Odin shall.
Mangog knows that the Uru hammer can stop any living being, but Mangog is
far more than any mere living being. Mangog has the power of an entire
race. Mjolnir is hurled back towards its master... with a strength as
that which resides in Thor's right arm. If his hammer has failed... then
what will prevail? Still does it fly... almost claiming the lives of the
Warriors Three. Mjolnir returns to its master... and when he turns to
face Mangog once more... Thor finds that the monster has gone. All will
be lost if he should reach Asgard before them.
Brave Balder finds that the lovely Karnilla seeks his death, for hers is
a selfish love, and if he will not be hers... then Balder will be for
none other. There is still a chance for him to be spared, but the brave
one will not live if Asgard should die. Although the Queen of the Norns
is beautiful, it is a beauty of evil which would have him desert Odin.
Having been spurned for the final time, Karnilla decides that Balder must
die.
The warriors opposing the brave one are moved, as well as freed from her
spell. Now they stand together as Asgardians all. Although they may be
destroyed by Karnilla's sorcery, the warriors will not lift their hand
against their brother. Since the Asgardians will not do her bidding, she
banishes them from her sight. The Queen of the Norns has loved but one.
So noble is he of heart and spirit that not all of her sorcery could gain
him. Balder is now free to fight for the glory of Asgard, while Karnilla
is alone with her tears.
Balder and his fellow warriors are returned to the golden realm, but
Mangog is fast approaching. Now armed, they are determined to fight on.
Asgard lies directly ahead of Mangog, who seeks to avenge the deaths of
billion upon billions. As easily as he shatters yon mountain... so shall
he shatter the realm eternal. Even now, he can sense their fear... and
knows that their time has come.
No matter what defenses have been hastily erected above, Mangog will
arrive from below. With the strength of a billion billion beings at his
behest... solid rock is no more an obstacle than the air itself. With
the monster ahead of them, and almost at the gates, only Thor can
possibly reach him in time. The God of Thunder must soar alone, but the
Warriors Three will race close behind him. The tunneling echoes have
almost died, and Thor must fly now.
Having tunneled beneath the golden walls, Mangog surfaces within the
inner city, and lifts the column of eternal flame as if it were a match.
Since Ragnarok means their end, the monster would bring them the taste of
things to come... with his strength, he will soon draw the Odinsword...
and undo the universe entire. BUHROOM! It looks as if the end has come,
and with the fall of the realm, Ragnarok will be upon them.
Hope appears in the form of the battalion of reinforcements lead by
Balder the Brave. FOR ASGAAAARD! FOR THE REALM ETERNAL!
Against this vast cavalry... one opponent... who possesses the power of a
billion billion beings!! A power which can barely be understood... but
nonetheless is felt!!
At this very moment... the Son of Odin soars through the sky... in his
pursuit of the universe's salvation. His Uru hammer has brought him to
the back of his enemy, and the time is now. Even so, his right arm has
been seized by a talon, and the monster boasts that not even a thousand
Thors can stop Mangog now.
Before Ragnarok falls... so shall the Thunder God. Balder charges the
monster, while Guntharr leaps upon Mangog's back. The warrior prays that
Odin guide his aim. In the time that the monster searches for his unseen
foe, Balder is able to reach Thor.
With his right arm injured, Thor holds his hammer in his left hand, and
has Balder lead him to his horse. The Thunder God rides for the
Odinsword, just as the cosmic bolt is unleashed. The mightiest of all
Asgard's arsenal is fired at Mangog. SHOOM! Although struck, the
creature still stands. Thor knows that more than the realm is in danger.
The universe entire may die... unless the Odinsword remains sheathed.
The warriors keep firing, as the Son of Odin heads for the royal chamber,
and the final stand. The servitor sees that Mangog has beaten the
legions, and is getting closer. The God of Mischief bids that his
servitor be silent. All others may die, save he. He plans to awaken the
All-Father, but it is the sleep of life, and only Odin may end his
slumber. Loki turns to flee, uncaring about what will happen to his
subjects, and fearful for his very life.
He runs into his half-brother, who tells him to leave, but there will be
a reckoning should Asgard fall. With Ragnarok, all gods will fall, and
Thor will die. Lady Sif and the faithful Recorder have found the God of
Thunder. He had come from Rigel to record what happens next, and learns
that if the giant sword should be unsheathed, this will be the final hour
of all who live.
The Recorder senses that Mangog has breached the outer defenses, with
Lady Sif and Thor prepared to make their stand. They see that the wall
have begun to fall, with Sif grateful to be at Thor's side, and her heart
ever belonging to him. Mangog sees the Odinsword, with Thor bidding the
lady to stay behind him, but Sif would be at his side. They are as one
sword... one mind... one purpose... one destiny... for now... and
forever.
Even such as they are no match for one with the power of a billion,
billion beings. The time has come for Mangog's revenge... with a single
blow, he will crush all opposition. RRROK! The three are knocked off
their feet by the tremendous impact. Sif knows that he must not reach
the sword, but who will stop him? Only the Son of Odin stands between it
and the bestial would-be destroyer.
His injured right arm causes his Uru hammer to strike with less force
than it should, but as they are as a gnat's sting to Mangog, still does a
gnat strive on. Now the monster's tail keeps the Thunder God at bay, as
Mangog prepares to draw the Odinsword, and let Ragnarok fall!! The
Recorder sees the beginning of the final end. Shock waves of cosmic
force have begun to be felt... but the Thunder God has not surrendered.
Although his cause seems lost... still he fights on. His cries of
defiances are heard throughout the royal chamber. The Rigellian Recorder
sees that Thor's battle is not in vain. Beneath his pain there is a
method. Behind the madness... a plan. He is using his own power as the
God of Thunder to call forth a mounting fury.
The Recorder sees the reason why. Only the All-Father, along with his
son may yet thwart Ragnarok. The storm created by Thor allows Odin to
awaken safely from the Odinsleep. Having awoken from his slumber, the
All-Father has arrived, with power scepter in hand. The powerful ray
strikes Mangog, freezing him in place. The words of Odin are now spoken.
Some time ago, the monster's race had been placed under an Odinspell.
By imperial decree, that spell is now broken. As Mangog grows weaker...
weaker... an energy mass rises from him.
The Mighty Mangog was a mere illusion, a living prison where his race
resided. The sentence has been ended, and as the monster fades away...
that race shall live once more. The All-Father comforts his son on the
victory, for he had fought with an Odin's Spell in human form, and fought
it... like a god. They watch as the end comes into view... an entire
race has done its time... and a billion, billion beings are now free to
live in peace once more. Such is the judgement and the will of Odin. He
has spoken!!
Ragnarok will not come on this day. With the sheathing of the sword...
the danger is gone, and the golden realm continues on. Lady Sif is among
the living, she who has carries the heart of Thor... she lives. The lady
is pleased to be in the arms of the Thunder God, and both are free to
face what may come. Balder the Brave has sheathed his own sword and all
Asgardians stand triumphant. The end, as the warriors of Asgard salute
their ruler... All-Father Odin... and the golden realm.
On the cover of Thor #157, Ragnarok may be behind him, but Mangog is in
front of him, and Thor's caught in one of his talons.
Mangog looks like a cross between a mad bull and a lobster, with teeth
which only an orthodontist would love.
At the time of this story, the Queen of the Norns has a hairstyle and
wardrobe which has her resembling Katherine Hepburn.
All this talk of having the power of a billion, billion beings makes me
think of Carl Sagan.
Spending his time keeping the throne warm, Loki soon finds himself in the
hot seat, with the arrival of Mangog.
The Rigellian Recorder is one of my favorite characters, and he knows how
to give a dramatic play-by-play of the proceedings.
With the release of a billion, billion beings, the price of rent and
housing are certain to go up.
In "The Hammer Strikes" letters page, Bill Henley Jr. of Springfield,
Ohio writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
My recent perusal of your latest Thor effort, #153 (one of the best in
recent months, incidentally), hath in sooth inspired me to write in and
probably thoroughly bore you with my ideas of the origin and nature of
everyone's favorite Norse deity and his fellow Asgardians. Firstly, my
idea about Asgard itself is that rather than being an "imaginary" world
dependent for existence on the belief of mortals as Bill Cantey
postulates in #153, the weird-looking flat planet (or whatever it is that
you portray Asgard as existing on) is part of a separate time-space
continuum in which the forces of magic are an important factor of
existence. The Asgardians have used these powers to become immortal and
superior to the humans here on Midgard, as well as most of the other
beings on the Asgard-world. Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, is actually a
magic space-time warp between the two universes of Earth and Asgard. My
theory about how and why Dr. Blake became Thor when he found that walking
stick in Norway is thus: at some time in the past Thor was nearly killed
by some foe (possibly Loki). However, Odin managed to save him by
transferring his life-essence into Mjolnir the hammer. This Odin changed
into the wooden stick, took the stick to Midgard, and arranged things so
Thor would eventually be reincarnated through some worthy mortal. The
rest we know. One thing about the Thor series which interests me is the
way the personality of Thor and the nature of his adventures has
gradually changed from being a pretty ordinary superhero fighting
ordinary villains on Earth to an old-time fantasy hero fighting unusual
villains in Asgard and other far-out places. I have figured out a reason
for this phenomenon, as follows: when Dr. Blake first became Thor through
the walking stick, the physical body of Thor was recreated but the
original personality of Thor still lay dormant; Dr. Blake still dominated
to a large part. For a while as a result, Blake thought of Thor largely
as simply a more powerful form which he used to satisfy his altruistic
impulses. However, as Blake spent more time in Thor's guise, the
original personality began to reappear and reassert itself. This
resulted in a temporary conflict between the Blake and Thor
personalities, which numbered among its results the more tumultuous
aspects of the Thor-Blake-Jane Foster romance. Soon, though, the Thor
personality became dominant, until even now when our hero is in the Blake
guise he tends to retain the personality and motives of Thor. Recently
you've been showing an unfortunate tendency to get the technical details
of your stories mixed up. Two examples: In the Destroyer story in issues
#150-52, Sif got all frazzled because she was unable to tell Thor that
her life-force was in the Destroyer's body instead of that of some
villain, owing to the fact that the Destroyer could not speak. This
would be okay, except in both of his previous appearances, (ishes
#118-119 and Annual #2) the Destroyer was perfectly capable of speaking
with the voice of whosoever's Life-force inhabited it. Also in #153, you
had Thor almost change back to Dr. Blake after 60 seconds without his
hammer in the Asgard world! This is wrong - it has been demonstrated
before that Thor must be continuously in contact with Mjolnir to remain
Thor only in Midgard. In Asgard, there is no difference one way or the
other. Finally, about the argument on whether or not to bring back Tales
of Asgard, I vote no. The strip was good while it lasted, but when
toward the last you were reduced to swiping plots from the Arabian
Knights and Odin knows what not else, it got just a little ridiculous.
The five pages can be better used in the regular Thor series now, I
think."
This Review Is Dedicated To Bill Henley, Who Continues To Provide His Own
Interesting Reviews On SAR.
Steve Chung
"Behind Him... Review!"
"Behind Him... Ragnarok!"
October, 1968
Now Let's See Whether Even
STAN LEE + JACK KIRBY
Aided By
VINCE COLLETTA and SAM ROSEN
Can Get Us Out Of This One!
If the monstrous Mangog should reach Asgard, and draws the Odinsword, all
living within the universe will be destroyed! Only the Mighty Thor
remains to face him... and face him the Son of Odin shall.
Mangog knows that the Uru hammer can stop any living being, but Mangog is
far more than any mere living being. Mangog has the power of an entire
race. Mjolnir is hurled back towards its master... with a strength as
that which resides in Thor's right arm. If his hammer has failed... then
what will prevail? Still does it fly... almost claiming the lives of the
Warriors Three. Mjolnir returns to its master... and when he turns to
face Mangog once more... Thor finds that the monster has gone. All will
be lost if he should reach Asgard before them.
Brave Balder finds that the lovely Karnilla seeks his death, for hers is
a selfish love, and if he will not be hers... then Balder will be for
none other. There is still a chance for him to be spared, but the brave
one will not live if Asgard should die. Although the Queen of the Norns
is beautiful, it is a beauty of evil which would have him desert Odin.
Having been spurned for the final time, Karnilla decides that Balder must
die.
The warriors opposing the brave one are moved, as well as freed from her
spell. Now they stand together as Asgardians all. Although they may be
destroyed by Karnilla's sorcery, the warriors will not lift their hand
against their brother. Since the Asgardians will not do her bidding, she
banishes them from her sight. The Queen of the Norns has loved but one.
So noble is he of heart and spirit that not all of her sorcery could gain
him. Balder is now free to fight for the glory of Asgard, while Karnilla
is alone with her tears.
Balder and his fellow warriors are returned to the golden realm, but
Mangog is fast approaching. Now armed, they are determined to fight on.
Asgard lies directly ahead of Mangog, who seeks to avenge the deaths of
billion upon billions. As easily as he shatters yon mountain... so shall
he shatter the realm eternal. Even now, he can sense their fear... and
knows that their time has come.
No matter what defenses have been hastily erected above, Mangog will
arrive from below. With the strength of a billion billion beings at his
behest... solid rock is no more an obstacle than the air itself. With
the monster ahead of them, and almost at the gates, only Thor can
possibly reach him in time. The God of Thunder must soar alone, but the
Warriors Three will race close behind him. The tunneling echoes have
almost died, and Thor must fly now.
Having tunneled beneath the golden walls, Mangog surfaces within the
inner city, and lifts the column of eternal flame as if it were a match.
Since Ragnarok means their end, the monster would bring them the taste of
things to come... with his strength, he will soon draw the Odinsword...
and undo the universe entire. BUHROOM! It looks as if the end has come,
and with the fall of the realm, Ragnarok will be upon them.
Hope appears in the form of the battalion of reinforcements lead by
Balder the Brave. FOR ASGAAAARD! FOR THE REALM ETERNAL!
Against this vast cavalry... one opponent... who possesses the power of a
billion billion beings!! A power which can barely be understood... but
nonetheless is felt!!
At this very moment... the Son of Odin soars through the sky... in his
pursuit of the universe's salvation. His Uru hammer has brought him to
the back of his enemy, and the time is now. Even so, his right arm has
been seized by a talon, and the monster boasts that not even a thousand
Thors can stop Mangog now.
Before Ragnarok falls... so shall the Thunder God. Balder charges the
monster, while Guntharr leaps upon Mangog's back. The warrior prays that
Odin guide his aim. In the time that the monster searches for his unseen
foe, Balder is able to reach Thor.
With his right arm injured, Thor holds his hammer in his left hand, and
has Balder lead him to his horse. The Thunder God rides for the
Odinsword, just as the cosmic bolt is unleashed. The mightiest of all
Asgard's arsenal is fired at Mangog. SHOOM! Although struck, the
creature still stands. Thor knows that more than the realm is in danger.
The universe entire may die... unless the Odinsword remains sheathed.
The warriors keep firing, as the Son of Odin heads for the royal chamber,
and the final stand. The servitor sees that Mangog has beaten the
legions, and is getting closer. The God of Mischief bids that his
servitor be silent. All others may die, save he. He plans to awaken the
All-Father, but it is the sleep of life, and only Odin may end his
slumber. Loki turns to flee, uncaring about what will happen to his
subjects, and fearful for his very life.
He runs into his half-brother, who tells him to leave, but there will be
a reckoning should Asgard fall. With Ragnarok, all gods will fall, and
Thor will die. Lady Sif and the faithful Recorder have found the God of
Thunder. He had come from Rigel to record what happens next, and learns
that if the giant sword should be unsheathed, this will be the final hour
of all who live.
The Recorder senses that Mangog has breached the outer defenses, with
Lady Sif and Thor prepared to make their stand. They see that the wall
have begun to fall, with Sif grateful to be at Thor's side, and her heart
ever belonging to him. Mangog sees the Odinsword, with Thor bidding the
lady to stay behind him, but Sif would be at his side. They are as one
sword... one mind... one purpose... one destiny... for now... and
forever.
Even such as they are no match for one with the power of a billion,
billion beings. The time has come for Mangog's revenge... with a single
blow, he will crush all opposition. RRROK! The three are knocked off
their feet by the tremendous impact. Sif knows that he must not reach
the sword, but who will stop him? Only the Son of Odin stands between it
and the bestial would-be destroyer.
His injured right arm causes his Uru hammer to strike with less force
than it should, but as they are as a gnat's sting to Mangog, still does a
gnat strive on. Now the monster's tail keeps the Thunder God at bay, as
Mangog prepares to draw the Odinsword, and let Ragnarok fall!! The
Recorder sees the beginning of the final end. Shock waves of cosmic
force have begun to be felt... but the Thunder God has not surrendered.
Although his cause seems lost... still he fights on. His cries of
defiances are heard throughout the royal chamber. The Rigellian Recorder
sees that Thor's battle is not in vain. Beneath his pain there is a
method. Behind the madness... a plan. He is using his own power as the
God of Thunder to call forth a mounting fury.
The Recorder sees the reason why. Only the All-Father, along with his
son may yet thwart Ragnarok. The storm created by Thor allows Odin to
awaken safely from the Odinsleep. Having awoken from his slumber, the
All-Father has arrived, with power scepter in hand. The powerful ray
strikes Mangog, freezing him in place. The words of Odin are now spoken.
Some time ago, the monster's race had been placed under an Odinspell.
By imperial decree, that spell is now broken. As Mangog grows weaker...
weaker... an energy mass rises from him.
The Mighty Mangog was a mere illusion, a living prison where his race
resided. The sentence has been ended, and as the monster fades away...
that race shall live once more. The All-Father comforts his son on the
victory, for he had fought with an Odin's Spell in human form, and fought
it... like a god. They watch as the end comes into view... an entire
race has done its time... and a billion, billion beings are now free to
live in peace once more. Such is the judgement and the will of Odin. He
has spoken!!
Ragnarok will not come on this day. With the sheathing of the sword...
the danger is gone, and the golden realm continues on. Lady Sif is among
the living, she who has carries the heart of Thor... she lives. The lady
is pleased to be in the arms of the Thunder God, and both are free to
face what may come. Balder the Brave has sheathed his own sword and all
Asgardians stand triumphant. The end, as the warriors of Asgard salute
their ruler... All-Father Odin... and the golden realm.
On the cover of Thor #157, Ragnarok may be behind him, but Mangog is in
front of him, and Thor's caught in one of his talons.
Mangog looks like a cross between a mad bull and a lobster, with teeth
which only an orthodontist would love.
At the time of this story, the Queen of the Norns has a hairstyle and
wardrobe which has her resembling Katherine Hepburn.
All this talk of having the power of a billion, billion beings makes me
think of Carl Sagan.
Spending his time keeping the throne warm, Loki soon finds himself in the
hot seat, with the arrival of Mangog.
The Rigellian Recorder is one of my favorite characters, and he knows how
to give a dramatic play-by-play of the proceedings.
With the release of a billion, billion beings, the price of rent and
housing are certain to go up.
In "The Hammer Strikes" letters page, Bill Henley Jr. of Springfield,
Ohio writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
My recent perusal of your latest Thor effort, #153 (one of the best in
recent months, incidentally), hath in sooth inspired me to write in and
probably thoroughly bore you with my ideas of the origin and nature of
everyone's favorite Norse deity and his fellow Asgardians. Firstly, my
idea about Asgard itself is that rather than being an "imaginary" world
dependent for existence on the belief of mortals as Bill Cantey
postulates in #153, the weird-looking flat planet (or whatever it is that
you portray Asgard as existing on) is part of a separate time-space
continuum in which the forces of magic are an important factor of
existence. The Asgardians have used these powers to become immortal and
superior to the humans here on Midgard, as well as most of the other
beings on the Asgard-world. Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, is actually a
magic space-time warp between the two universes of Earth and Asgard. My
theory about how and why Dr. Blake became Thor when he found that walking
stick in Norway is thus: at some time in the past Thor was nearly killed
by some foe (possibly Loki). However, Odin managed to save him by
transferring his life-essence into Mjolnir the hammer. This Odin changed
into the wooden stick, took the stick to Midgard, and arranged things so
Thor would eventually be reincarnated through some worthy mortal. The
rest we know. One thing about the Thor series which interests me is the
way the personality of Thor and the nature of his adventures has
gradually changed from being a pretty ordinary superhero fighting
ordinary villains on Earth to an old-time fantasy hero fighting unusual
villains in Asgard and other far-out places. I have figured out a reason
for this phenomenon, as follows: when Dr. Blake first became Thor through
the walking stick, the physical body of Thor was recreated but the
original personality of Thor still lay dormant; Dr. Blake still dominated
to a large part. For a while as a result, Blake thought of Thor largely
as simply a more powerful form which he used to satisfy his altruistic
impulses. However, as Blake spent more time in Thor's guise, the
original personality began to reappear and reassert itself. This
resulted in a temporary conflict between the Blake and Thor
personalities, which numbered among its results the more tumultuous
aspects of the Thor-Blake-Jane Foster romance. Soon, though, the Thor
personality became dominant, until even now when our hero is in the Blake
guise he tends to retain the personality and motives of Thor. Recently
you've been showing an unfortunate tendency to get the technical details
of your stories mixed up. Two examples: In the Destroyer story in issues
#150-52, Sif got all frazzled because she was unable to tell Thor that
her life-force was in the Destroyer's body instead of that of some
villain, owing to the fact that the Destroyer could not speak. This
would be okay, except in both of his previous appearances, (ishes
#118-119 and Annual #2) the Destroyer was perfectly capable of speaking
with the voice of whosoever's Life-force inhabited it. Also in #153, you
had Thor almost change back to Dr. Blake after 60 seconds without his
hammer in the Asgard world! This is wrong - it has been demonstrated
before that Thor must be continuously in contact with Mjolnir to remain
Thor only in Midgard. In Asgard, there is no difference one way or the
other. Finally, about the argument on whether or not to bring back Tales
of Asgard, I vote no. The strip was good while it lasted, but when
toward the last you were reduced to swiping plots from the Arabian
Knights and Odin knows what not else, it got just a little ridiculous.
The five pages can be better used in the regular Thor series now, I
think."
This Review Is Dedicated To Bill Henley, Who Continues To Provide His Own
Interesting Reviews On SAR.
Steve Chung
"Behind Him... Review!"
Thor #160: "And Now... Galactus!"
Thor #160
"And Now... Galactus!"
January, 1969
So Starts A
Staggering
New Saga By:
STAN
(The Man)
LEE
and
JACK
(King)
KIRBY
Embellishment:
VINCE
COLLETTA
Lettering:
SAM ROSEN
The God of Thunder has seen an other-wordly object land on a nearby
rooftop. As Thor heads for the site, the reader is promised appearances
by The Fantastic Recorder, The Living Planet Ego, the Outer-Space
Colonizers, and many more surprises to come...
Since the object has fallen in a precise course... the Son of Odin
believes that it is far more than a fallen object. It must be some sort
of starship. His eyes soon see the space vessel, one which appears
strangely familiar to him. Despite an empty cabin, Thor senses the
presence of another, and hears the approaching footsteps behind him. The
ship's owner greets him, with the Thunder God wondering why he's been
singled out.
It is Tana Nile, a colonizer from Rigel. She has come not on a mission
of conquest, but because there is great danger threatening not only
galaxies, but the universe as well. Recalling the prowess of the Mighty
Thor. she has come to ask for his aid, and he accepts her plea. Even so,
Tana Nile is warned by the Son of Odin that this had not be some sort of
deceit. He will soon learn that the threat is all-too real.
In the Golden Realm of Asgard, the Recorder has been welcomed by the
All-Father, who would learn more about him. The creation from Rigel has
been designed to think and record. He requires neither rest nor food...
and is completely devoid of emotion. Odin regards the living memory
device with his royal gaze. Lady Sif has come to ask permission to join
Thor on Midgard. The Recorder has just received a signal from his
homeworld of Rigel for his return. The All-Father denies Sif's request,
and knows that his son must face it by himself. Even as the Lady begins
to ask about her beloved's safety, Odin will hear no more.
After bidding farewell to the All-Father, the audience is ended, and the
Recorder is on his way. Lady Sif wishes to learn the nature of the
danger Thor will be confronting. The Rigellian creation does not share
the information with her, and takes his leave of Asgard.
How could mere words serve to describe the imminent threat of... the one
called... Galactus!!
In another part of space... the Mighty Thor learns about the
planet-eater... Galactus... The God of Thunder knows that he is above
good and evil. As long as Galactus lives... he hungers... and he must
consume... the energies of worlds. Having heard of him, the Son of Odin
had thought Galactus to be a legend. If what Tana Nile has told him is
true, Thor now knows the name of his foe. This particular foe may prove
to be mightier than even the Asgardian. Further words are not spoken,
for something has just struck their spaceship. The sounds of pounding
grow ever closer to them.
CRASH! A bare arm has just broken through into the ship, and Thor
wonders if this be... Galactus? The colonizer recognizes the intruder as
a Taurian, one who has survived the destruction of his world by the
planet-eater. He wants the ship, but the Thunder God has threatened to
use his Uru hammer. Tana Nile sees that the Taurian is maddened, and is
told to seek cover before he attacks. She knows that Taurus was a planet
with the heaviest gravity in the space sector. His imposing frame may be
able to withstand any opposition, even that of Mjolnir.
If even the Son of Odin should fail with his show of force, Tana Nile is
ready to employ her own talents..!! The Taurian now feels the power of a
Rigellian mind blast, but his helmet has protected him, and the colonizer
is now completely defenseless. Before he can get any closer, the
intruder is sent flailing backwards by a left uppercut from the Mighty
Thor. Having felt the measure of the alien... the God of Thunder has no
need to pull his punches -- as he might against lesser opponents.
The Taurian's helmet is removed, and as Tana Nile prepares to unleash
another mind blast, the alien seeks mercy from them. With the
destruction of his planet... his race now gone, he does not know what
madness had possessed him. The Son of Odin takes pity on the survivor,
just as their ship reaches the desolation zone. The colonizer activates
the viewer and they see debris... which were once pieces of long-dead
planets.
From the sheer sight of such destruction... many spaceships abandon their
former homes for the vastness of outer space. The Mighty Thor cannot
believe that one was responsible for all of this. He vows in the
All-Father's name to seek out Galactus, and make him pay... in full!
The object of Thor's search has just parted the great hull, and thrusted
out the visi-sphere into space. Galactus would learn more about the
space around him.
He has traveled through here before... for nothing remains... save
lifeless husks which once were thriving worlds. He senses thought
waves... subtle in nature, but keen in intelligence. He would learn
more! What Galactus learns... he will consume!! Only in the great
unknown do threats exist!
At the outer perimeter of the galaxy... there is a presence... firing
sheer force in hopes of killing Galactus. He has never before seen so
insolent an action... so pathetic a deed! He may not know who would be
his destroyer, but the would-be slayer will be brought under. None may
attack Galactus with impunity! He does not wish harm to any life-forms!
He only consumes that he may live! As those who exist... he must have
food... and not be deprived! Is it his fault for the price of his
hunger? The large... and the small... must consume what they must...
Only for Galactus -- a planet may satisfy his hunger! Even a being such
as he may be impressed by what lies ahead.
Although he had sought to remain hidden... he has been found by the
planet-eater... at last! Ego The Living Planet has reappeared!
Even as they meet... Thor and Tana Nile have arrived on Rigel, where they
learn about the shield which kept the planet hidden from Galactus. With
the passage of time, the shield has been weakened. The Colonizers of
Rigel cannot wait to be found... and consumed! Even though they had met
first as enemies, the Rigellians seek common ground with the Thunder God.
For if Galactus should consume Rigel... fair Asgard will meet its end
soon. Even so, the Son of Odin need not battle alone. He will have a
companion... one who is worthy to be at his side. The Recorder knows
that Galactus commands power beyond belief, but they shall not shirk
their duty. Both he and Thor shake hands, for the Thunder God can think
of no better friend. Although he claims to possess none of the human
emotions... the Recorder finds his micro-circuits warmed by the words of
friendship. The Rigellian wonders about the creation... it is a machine
and machines cannot feel... but... Even the Colonizers of Rigel do wonder
sometimes about the Living Recorder. He senses that Galactus awaits
them.
Thor and the Recorder are to travel in a ship designed to home in on
Galactus. Tana Niles offers her prayers to the Son of Odin, who vows to
use his godly might in the task which lies ahead. The spaceship heads
for the Black Galaxy -- where Ego the Living Planet is in orbit, and the
Thunder God sees many ships leaving through space. If such as they
should fail, then those who flee will not survive for long.
The Recorder sees that one of the ships has altered its course and is
following them, but Thor insists on staying on course. Inside the
survivor ship... the crew senses that the spaceship may lead them to
sanctuary on another world. Those who were among the first of Galactus'
victims have been wandering through space in hopes of having their
revenge. Although they may wander throughout all time... they will never
desert their quest.
The spaceship they have been watching is heading for an unknown world.
The leader of the wanderers asks that they vote on following it, with the
fateful vote being "Aye!" As the many pieces of the galactic puzzle fall
into place... Ego bids that Galactus turn back, for he is the one who has
the will and the power within the Black Galaxy. The planet-eater is
unimpressed by the Living Planet's words, and strikes out with the flames
from a thousand suns.
Even so, Ego surrounds himself with a protection of solid cold, which
negates the fiery blast. Ego... who carries the attack power of an
entire world!! Such sheer power is enough to shatter the barren
planetoids surrounding him, just as the Rigellian spaceship finds itself
caught within the shocking stress. The ship soon shatters within the
airless void, with two figures thrown into harsh space... and to float...
aimlessly in a silent vacuum...
On the cover of Thor #160, the God of Thunder whirls enchanted Mjolnir,
and the threat of Galactus looms ever closer...
Tana Nile is wearing a pink uniform, while the male colonizers wear
green-colored ones.
The Recorder is a favorite of mine, having first read him during Len Wein
and Walt Simonson's run on Thor in 1977.
Even though he is a creation from another world, the All-Father treats
his son's ally with respect.
There are several splash pages in the issue, with many opportunities for
readers to savor the art by Jack "King" Kirby.
The Taurian is a hardy character, and is those such as he were consumed
by the planet-eater, then what are the chances for Thor and the Recorder?
The sight of the many spaceships abandoning their homeworlds reminds me
of the TV series, "Battlestar Galactica."
When you're mighty Galactus, you don't use a monitor... you use a
visi-sphere!
The scary thing about Galactus, other than his choice of headgear, is
that you don't see his eyes.
Within his own ship, the Big G. has rolled up his sleeves, and is ready
to confront his unseen foe.
For a hidden Living Planet, Ego looks like he could use a shave.
After shaking hands with the Mighty Thor, the Recorder skillfully avoids
his creators on the matter of his own emotions.
In 1982, the Living Recorder would team up with another immortal in his
own miniseries... "Hercules, Prince of Power."
In her own way, Tana Nile shows her affection for the Son of Odin, and
wishes him well on his fateful journey.
The Wanderers turned up during Mark Waid's and Mike Wieringo's run on
Fantastic Four.
Thor, Galactus, and Ego the Living Planet appeared on the 1990's
Fantastic Four animated series during its second season.
John Rhys-Davies, Tony Jay, and Kay E. Kuter provided the voices for the
respective characters.
Steve Chung
"And Now... Review!"
"And Now... Galactus!"
January, 1969
So Starts A
Staggering
New Saga By:
STAN
(The Man)
LEE
and
JACK
(King)
KIRBY
Embellishment:
VINCE
COLLETTA
Lettering:
SAM ROSEN
The God of Thunder has seen an other-wordly object land on a nearby
rooftop. As Thor heads for the site, the reader is promised appearances
by The Fantastic Recorder, The Living Planet Ego, the Outer-Space
Colonizers, and many more surprises to come...
Since the object has fallen in a precise course... the Son of Odin
believes that it is far more than a fallen object. It must be some sort
of starship. His eyes soon see the space vessel, one which appears
strangely familiar to him. Despite an empty cabin, Thor senses the
presence of another, and hears the approaching footsteps behind him. The
ship's owner greets him, with the Thunder God wondering why he's been
singled out.
It is Tana Nile, a colonizer from Rigel. She has come not on a mission
of conquest, but because there is great danger threatening not only
galaxies, but the universe as well. Recalling the prowess of the Mighty
Thor. she has come to ask for his aid, and he accepts her plea. Even so,
Tana Nile is warned by the Son of Odin that this had not be some sort of
deceit. He will soon learn that the threat is all-too real.
In the Golden Realm of Asgard, the Recorder has been welcomed by the
All-Father, who would learn more about him. The creation from Rigel has
been designed to think and record. He requires neither rest nor food...
and is completely devoid of emotion. Odin regards the living memory
device with his royal gaze. Lady Sif has come to ask permission to join
Thor on Midgard. The Recorder has just received a signal from his
homeworld of Rigel for his return. The All-Father denies Sif's request,
and knows that his son must face it by himself. Even as the Lady begins
to ask about her beloved's safety, Odin will hear no more.
After bidding farewell to the All-Father, the audience is ended, and the
Recorder is on his way. Lady Sif wishes to learn the nature of the
danger Thor will be confronting. The Rigellian creation does not share
the information with her, and takes his leave of Asgard.
How could mere words serve to describe the imminent threat of... the one
called... Galactus!!
In another part of space... the Mighty Thor learns about the
planet-eater... Galactus... The God of Thunder knows that he is above
good and evil. As long as Galactus lives... he hungers... and he must
consume... the energies of worlds. Having heard of him, the Son of Odin
had thought Galactus to be a legend. If what Tana Nile has told him is
true, Thor now knows the name of his foe. This particular foe may prove
to be mightier than even the Asgardian. Further words are not spoken,
for something has just struck their spaceship. The sounds of pounding
grow ever closer to them.
CRASH! A bare arm has just broken through into the ship, and Thor
wonders if this be... Galactus? The colonizer recognizes the intruder as
a Taurian, one who has survived the destruction of his world by the
planet-eater. He wants the ship, but the Thunder God has threatened to
use his Uru hammer. Tana Nile sees that the Taurian is maddened, and is
told to seek cover before he attacks. She knows that Taurus was a planet
with the heaviest gravity in the space sector. His imposing frame may be
able to withstand any opposition, even that of Mjolnir.
If even the Son of Odin should fail with his show of force, Tana Nile is
ready to employ her own talents..!! The Taurian now feels the power of a
Rigellian mind blast, but his helmet has protected him, and the colonizer
is now completely defenseless. Before he can get any closer, the
intruder is sent flailing backwards by a left uppercut from the Mighty
Thor. Having felt the measure of the alien... the God of Thunder has no
need to pull his punches -- as he might against lesser opponents.
The Taurian's helmet is removed, and as Tana Nile prepares to unleash
another mind blast, the alien seeks mercy from them. With the
destruction of his planet... his race now gone, he does not know what
madness had possessed him. The Son of Odin takes pity on the survivor,
just as their ship reaches the desolation zone. The colonizer activates
the viewer and they see debris... which were once pieces of long-dead
planets.
From the sheer sight of such destruction... many spaceships abandon their
former homes for the vastness of outer space. The Mighty Thor cannot
believe that one was responsible for all of this. He vows in the
All-Father's name to seek out Galactus, and make him pay... in full!
The object of Thor's search has just parted the great hull, and thrusted
out the visi-sphere into space. Galactus would learn more about the
space around him.
He has traveled through here before... for nothing remains... save
lifeless husks which once were thriving worlds. He senses thought
waves... subtle in nature, but keen in intelligence. He would learn
more! What Galactus learns... he will consume!! Only in the great
unknown do threats exist!
At the outer perimeter of the galaxy... there is a presence... firing
sheer force in hopes of killing Galactus. He has never before seen so
insolent an action... so pathetic a deed! He may not know who would be
his destroyer, but the would-be slayer will be brought under. None may
attack Galactus with impunity! He does not wish harm to any life-forms!
He only consumes that he may live! As those who exist... he must have
food... and not be deprived! Is it his fault for the price of his
hunger? The large... and the small... must consume what they must...
Only for Galactus -- a planet may satisfy his hunger! Even a being such
as he may be impressed by what lies ahead.
Although he had sought to remain hidden... he has been found by the
planet-eater... at last! Ego The Living Planet has reappeared!
Even as they meet... Thor and Tana Nile have arrived on Rigel, where they
learn about the shield which kept the planet hidden from Galactus. With
the passage of time, the shield has been weakened. The Colonizers of
Rigel cannot wait to be found... and consumed! Even though they had met
first as enemies, the Rigellians seek common ground with the Thunder God.
For if Galactus should consume Rigel... fair Asgard will meet its end
soon. Even so, the Son of Odin need not battle alone. He will have a
companion... one who is worthy to be at his side. The Recorder knows
that Galactus commands power beyond belief, but they shall not shirk
their duty. Both he and Thor shake hands, for the Thunder God can think
of no better friend. Although he claims to possess none of the human
emotions... the Recorder finds his micro-circuits warmed by the words of
friendship. The Rigellian wonders about the creation... it is a machine
and machines cannot feel... but... Even the Colonizers of Rigel do wonder
sometimes about the Living Recorder. He senses that Galactus awaits
them.
Thor and the Recorder are to travel in a ship designed to home in on
Galactus. Tana Niles offers her prayers to the Son of Odin, who vows to
use his godly might in the task which lies ahead. The spaceship heads
for the Black Galaxy -- where Ego the Living Planet is in orbit, and the
Thunder God sees many ships leaving through space. If such as they
should fail, then those who flee will not survive for long.
The Recorder sees that one of the ships has altered its course and is
following them, but Thor insists on staying on course. Inside the
survivor ship... the crew senses that the spaceship may lead them to
sanctuary on another world. Those who were among the first of Galactus'
victims have been wandering through space in hopes of having their
revenge. Although they may wander throughout all time... they will never
desert their quest.
The spaceship they have been watching is heading for an unknown world.
The leader of the wanderers asks that they vote on following it, with the
fateful vote being "Aye!" As the many pieces of the galactic puzzle fall
into place... Ego bids that Galactus turn back, for he is the one who has
the will and the power within the Black Galaxy. The planet-eater is
unimpressed by the Living Planet's words, and strikes out with the flames
from a thousand suns.
Even so, Ego surrounds himself with a protection of solid cold, which
negates the fiery blast. Ego... who carries the attack power of an
entire world!! Such sheer power is enough to shatter the barren
planetoids surrounding him, just as the Rigellian spaceship finds itself
caught within the shocking stress. The ship soon shatters within the
airless void, with two figures thrown into harsh space... and to float...
aimlessly in a silent vacuum...
On the cover of Thor #160, the God of Thunder whirls enchanted Mjolnir,
and the threat of Galactus looms ever closer...
Tana Nile is wearing a pink uniform, while the male colonizers wear
green-colored ones.
The Recorder is a favorite of mine, having first read him during Len Wein
and Walt Simonson's run on Thor in 1977.
Even though he is a creation from another world, the All-Father treats
his son's ally with respect.
There are several splash pages in the issue, with many opportunities for
readers to savor the art by Jack "King" Kirby.
The Taurian is a hardy character, and is those such as he were consumed
by the planet-eater, then what are the chances for Thor and the Recorder?
The sight of the many spaceships abandoning their homeworlds reminds me
of the TV series, "Battlestar Galactica."
When you're mighty Galactus, you don't use a monitor... you use a
visi-sphere!
The scary thing about Galactus, other than his choice of headgear, is
that you don't see his eyes.
Within his own ship, the Big G. has rolled up his sleeves, and is ready
to confront his unseen foe.
For a hidden Living Planet, Ego looks like he could use a shave.
After shaking hands with the Mighty Thor, the Recorder skillfully avoids
his creators on the matter of his own emotions.
In 1982, the Living Recorder would team up with another immortal in his
own miniseries... "Hercules, Prince of Power."
In her own way, Tana Nile shows her affection for the Son of Odin, and
wishes him well on his fateful journey.
The Wanderers turned up during Mark Waid's and Mike Wieringo's run on
Fantastic Four.
Thor, Galactus, and Ego the Living Planet appeared on the 1990's
Fantastic Four animated series during its second season.
John Rhys-Davies, Tony Jay, and Kay E. Kuter provided the voices for the
respective characters.
Steve Chung
"And Now... Review!"
Thor #161: "Shall A God Prevail?"
Thor #161
"Shall A God Prevail?"
February, 1969
Produced
and Immortalized
By:
STAN JACK
(The Man) (King)
LEE KIRBY
Embellishment:
VINCE COLLETTA
Lettering:
SAM ROSEN
While in search of Galactus, the God of Thunder and the Recorder now find
themselves floating in airless space, in the aftermath of their
spaceship's destruction between the planet-eater and the Living Planet.
As they float in silence, the universe shudders...!
Even as Thor and the Rigellian creation are caught in the icy grip of
space, a spacecraft approaches their position.
Seeing the two who have survived the opening salvo between Galactus and
Ego, they are to be brought onboard.
The Recorder and the Son of Odin are drawn within the pressurized
confines of a vacu-cylinder, which leads to swift travel through a
pneumatic-tube, and to the core of the starship. The therapeutic
properties of the vita-liquid soon works its function on the two
survivors. The Wanderers know that they must be revived, especially
since it was their starship which was heading for a definite goal. It is
time for the Wanderers to make this goal their own.
At this moment, the planet-eater and the Living Planet are engaged in
single combat. Ego's destructi-blasts batter at Galactus' visi-sphere
with the might of a world behind it.
Mighty Galactus has never faced such an enemy as the Living Planet, nor
has he not realized final triumph before. In the eyes of Ego, he is but
one being, while he is a world unto himself. In all of the universe,
Galactus is alone. Although he has employed heralds on numerous
occasions, the devourer of worlds will uses his power to bring many
planetoids together with a single burst of the power cosmic.
The Living Planet is caught in the meteoric swarm, with the planet-eater
striking again and again. Surely Ego will not be able to withstand such
an attack. Galactus soon sees several solid energy tentacles spring
forth, seizing him in their unyielding grip.
Within the starship of the Wanderers, Thor and the Recorder find
themselves to be among the living. While they rested, their language was
studied by translato-ray. After introducing themselves to the God of
Thunder and his companion, the leader speaks of their hopes of finding
the destroyer of worlds. Since he has seen much and has recorded it, the
Recorder fulfills his primary function by warning them to abandon their
quest.
The Thunder God is known even to those who have survived the destruction
of their homeworlds. Inside the chamber of decision, the leader asks his
fellow Wanderers if Thor will have to face Galactus alone. Although they
unanimously agree to help in the battle, the Son of Odin tells them that
even their collective might would be found wanting. With the galactic
upheaval in close proximity, the crew are called to their stations, and
the object of their quest has been found.
Fiery planetoids begin to strike their starship. The God of Thunder
commands them to reverse course so that they may survive. Even as the
steps are being taken by the crew, Thor and the Recorder move
stealthfully towards their common foe. The hatch is opened, and even an
immortal of Asgard may be impressed by what he sees before him.
World and devourer of worlds are locked in battle, when the God of
Thunder strikes. Galactus has freed himself from the tentacles, and
calls upon comets to strike back at Ego. The Rigellian creation
continues recording the imminent triumph of Galactus, but Thor is now
ready to act. The Recorder adjusts his perma-circuits for precise
recording, with the results to be filed away inside his electronic brain.
Even so, he warns his friend that he does not wish to record the death
of the Odinson.
For Thor, whatever happens next can only be his father's will. He throws
Mjolnir -- for ASGAARD! The mighty uru hammer makes its way towards its
intended target, striking him with the force of the heavens. Another has
dared to defy the will of Galactus. He has felt pain, for the first time
in ages. The one who has dared to contemplate such a deed... will pay
for it.
Seeing that the devourer of worlds still stands, Thor now knows that his
enchanted hammer is not enough. With this failure, the Rigellian
creation knows that there will be nothing left for him to record. When
next Mjolnir flies, the God of Thunder flies with it. BTONNNG! Galactus
sees that a human gnat has decided to vex him. A gnat in possession of a
god's power.
Thor is allowed to speak on, for what does it matter if he claims to be a
god? What is mighty Galactus but power incarnate!! The Son of Odin
finds himself thrown towards the Living Planet with enough force to end
even his immortal life. He is met by another force, one which causes the
world beneath him to slow his fall.
The Wanderers and the Recorder greet Thor, having been drawn there by
Ego. The God of Thunder listens as his companion asks if he will
withdraw, so that he may escape what will befall all of them. No, Thor
will fight alongside his friends until the very end. The leader of the
Wanderers believes that the Devourer has won, and his people's quest has
all been in vain. With the uru hammer in his possession, the Odinson
still has the power necessary for victory.
From their starship, a stand is assembled, and Mjolnir is placed there.
After bidding the Wanderers to find shelter, Thor readies himself for
what must be done. In the All-Father's name, he commands that his own
strength become one with his enchanted hammer. The resulting power is
unleashed and sent towards Galactus.
Within the span of a second, the energy of an immortal reaches the
Planet-eater with waves of force. The waves send him backwards into the
shuddering shelter of the visi-sphere. Even so, the energy flow
continues, forcing Galactus to enter his own starship, which has been
drifting on the edge of the galaxy. The pain continues to grow in
intensity, and weakens him until he must retreat... or die! With the
departure of the starship, the Recorder concludes that Thor has won the
battle. Asgard is praised and the universe continues its own existence.
With the destruction of their starship, the Wanderers are without a
world, and life on the Living Planet looks to be a harsh one. In answer
to this, the planet begins to change its appearance, and a lush world
appears in place of the formerly barren one. Ego appears in humanoid
form, thanking Thor for a second chance at life, and offers sanctuary to
the Wanderers. They are home -- until the very end of time.
On the cover of Thor #161, Galactus and Ego are having a meeting of the
minds, with the Thunder God caught in the middle.
Asgardians and Rigellian Recorders are made of sterner stuff than mere
mortals, and do not suffer the pangs of explosive decompression.
A two-page tableau features the drawn figures of Thor, Recorder, and the
starship amid a decidedly three-dimensional background.
Drawn as if by tractor beam into the heart of a ship, the two heroes
receive a medical treatment bath, while assorted aliens watch their
progress closely.
I wonder if George Lucas happened to read this particular issue of Thor?
On page five, the Living Planet tells Galactus that he is far from
"invisible" within his flying visi-sphere.
Did Ego actually mean to say "invincible" or did the visi-sphere have
stealth capabilities?
Both planet and planet-eater apparently enjoy the sound of their own
voices, even while battling in airless space.
In the 1970s, Jack Kirby came up with the character of Mister Machine,
who later became known as Machine Man.
It'd be interesting to have both X-51 and his fellow artificial being
meet.
If nothing else, the Recorder could pull up an appropriate dance list,
and play deejay at parties.
If there's a galactic upheaval ahead, you just know that Galactus has
just lost his lunch.
The Living Planet tries to play catcher with living tentacles of energy,
but the Devourer of Worlds is a mean pitcher with many comets at his beck
and call.
You must be anvil or hammer.
In this story, the God of Thunder was a regular Rodgers and Hammerstein
with mighty Mjolnir.
Thor tries to play ball with Galactus, but is used by him to play some
hardball with Ego.
The Odinson makes his stand and has open mike night with his enchanted
hammer.
With the threat over, Ego makes the Wanderers an offer, and they say to
themselves... What A Wonderful World...
In The Hammer Strikes letters page, Glenn Cooper of Bedford, Mass writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
Hurray for Bill Henley, Jr. His theory of the location of Asgard and how
Thor could be in Asgard as a boy and still be brought to life by Don
Blake is the most thought-out, carefully-constructed, and reasonable
theory yet presented. I nominate him for consideration to be a Fearless
Front Facer. In answer to his question as to why Sif couldn't talk as
the Destroyer, the Norn Queen must have put a spell on Sif which made her
think she couldn't talk. She could have talked if she had resisted the
spell; but since she didn't realize there was a spell, she didn't fight
it. The one thing missing in Bill Henley's Asgard theory is "What is to
keep mortals from finding the Midgard end of the Rainbow Bridge and
following it to Asgard?" I have prepared an answer to that. When an
Asgardian comes to Earth, a vital essence remains in Asgard's time-space
continuum, although it is linked to the Asgardian. This essence allows
the Asgardian to find the Rainbow Bridge; (it shifts position often,
although it always has an end on Earth) and then allows him to travel
upon it back to Asgard. Please adopt Bill Henley's theory as fact and
give him the title of FFF along with a no-prize. And now, the three
words which shall soon ring out through Marveldom: Make EVERYBODY'S
Marvel!!!!!"
The editor replies:
"So be it, G.C.! Meanwhile, all the votes aren't in yet on the Henley
Hypothesis, but we're keeping our mailbox open. As for the all-embracing
title of Fearless Front Facer, this is a super-special absolutely
arbitrary no-title which the Bullpen gang intend to bestow from time to
time upon one who has, in our opinion, rendered an especial and
invaluable favor to Marveldom! We'll clue you in on procedure and
awardees when we iron out all the details ourselves, and it may well be
that Bill will be right up there in the winner's circle - but only time
will tell. Okay?"
This Review Is Dedicated To Fearless Front Facer Bill Henley, Jr.
From Fearless Face Fronter Steve Chung
"Shall A God Review?"
"Shall A God Prevail?"
February, 1969
Produced
and Immortalized
By:
STAN JACK
(The Man) (King)
LEE KIRBY
Embellishment:
VINCE COLLETTA
Lettering:
SAM ROSEN
While in search of Galactus, the God of Thunder and the Recorder now find
themselves floating in airless space, in the aftermath of their
spaceship's destruction between the planet-eater and the Living Planet.
As they float in silence, the universe shudders...!
Even as Thor and the Rigellian creation are caught in the icy grip of
space, a spacecraft approaches their position.
Seeing the two who have survived the opening salvo between Galactus and
Ego, they are to be brought onboard.
The Recorder and the Son of Odin are drawn within the pressurized
confines of a vacu-cylinder, which leads to swift travel through a
pneumatic-tube, and to the core of the starship. The therapeutic
properties of the vita-liquid soon works its function on the two
survivors. The Wanderers know that they must be revived, especially
since it was their starship which was heading for a definite goal. It is
time for the Wanderers to make this goal their own.
At this moment, the planet-eater and the Living Planet are engaged in
single combat. Ego's destructi-blasts batter at Galactus' visi-sphere
with the might of a world behind it.
Mighty Galactus has never faced such an enemy as the Living Planet, nor
has he not realized final triumph before. In the eyes of Ego, he is but
one being, while he is a world unto himself. In all of the universe,
Galactus is alone. Although he has employed heralds on numerous
occasions, the devourer of worlds will uses his power to bring many
planetoids together with a single burst of the power cosmic.
The Living Planet is caught in the meteoric swarm, with the planet-eater
striking again and again. Surely Ego will not be able to withstand such
an attack. Galactus soon sees several solid energy tentacles spring
forth, seizing him in their unyielding grip.
Within the starship of the Wanderers, Thor and the Recorder find
themselves to be among the living. While they rested, their language was
studied by translato-ray. After introducing themselves to the God of
Thunder and his companion, the leader speaks of their hopes of finding
the destroyer of worlds. Since he has seen much and has recorded it, the
Recorder fulfills his primary function by warning them to abandon their
quest.
The Thunder God is known even to those who have survived the destruction
of their homeworlds. Inside the chamber of decision, the leader asks his
fellow Wanderers if Thor will have to face Galactus alone. Although they
unanimously agree to help in the battle, the Son of Odin tells them that
even their collective might would be found wanting. With the galactic
upheaval in close proximity, the crew are called to their stations, and
the object of their quest has been found.
Fiery planetoids begin to strike their starship. The God of Thunder
commands them to reverse course so that they may survive. Even as the
steps are being taken by the crew, Thor and the Recorder move
stealthfully towards their common foe. The hatch is opened, and even an
immortal of Asgard may be impressed by what he sees before him.
World and devourer of worlds are locked in battle, when the God of
Thunder strikes. Galactus has freed himself from the tentacles, and
calls upon comets to strike back at Ego. The Rigellian creation
continues recording the imminent triumph of Galactus, but Thor is now
ready to act. The Recorder adjusts his perma-circuits for precise
recording, with the results to be filed away inside his electronic brain.
Even so, he warns his friend that he does not wish to record the death
of the Odinson.
For Thor, whatever happens next can only be his father's will. He throws
Mjolnir -- for ASGAARD! The mighty uru hammer makes its way towards its
intended target, striking him with the force of the heavens. Another has
dared to defy the will of Galactus. He has felt pain, for the first time
in ages. The one who has dared to contemplate such a deed... will pay
for it.
Seeing that the devourer of worlds still stands, Thor now knows that his
enchanted hammer is not enough. With this failure, the Rigellian
creation knows that there will be nothing left for him to record. When
next Mjolnir flies, the God of Thunder flies with it. BTONNNG! Galactus
sees that a human gnat has decided to vex him. A gnat in possession of a
god's power.
Thor is allowed to speak on, for what does it matter if he claims to be a
god? What is mighty Galactus but power incarnate!! The Son of Odin
finds himself thrown towards the Living Planet with enough force to end
even his immortal life. He is met by another force, one which causes the
world beneath him to slow his fall.
The Wanderers and the Recorder greet Thor, having been drawn there by
Ego. The God of Thunder listens as his companion asks if he will
withdraw, so that he may escape what will befall all of them. No, Thor
will fight alongside his friends until the very end. The leader of the
Wanderers believes that the Devourer has won, and his people's quest has
all been in vain. With the uru hammer in his possession, the Odinson
still has the power necessary for victory.
From their starship, a stand is assembled, and Mjolnir is placed there.
After bidding the Wanderers to find shelter, Thor readies himself for
what must be done. In the All-Father's name, he commands that his own
strength become one with his enchanted hammer. The resulting power is
unleashed and sent towards Galactus.
Within the span of a second, the energy of an immortal reaches the
Planet-eater with waves of force. The waves send him backwards into the
shuddering shelter of the visi-sphere. Even so, the energy flow
continues, forcing Galactus to enter his own starship, which has been
drifting on the edge of the galaxy. The pain continues to grow in
intensity, and weakens him until he must retreat... or die! With the
departure of the starship, the Recorder concludes that Thor has won the
battle. Asgard is praised and the universe continues its own existence.
With the destruction of their starship, the Wanderers are without a
world, and life on the Living Planet looks to be a harsh one. In answer
to this, the planet begins to change its appearance, and a lush world
appears in place of the formerly barren one. Ego appears in humanoid
form, thanking Thor for a second chance at life, and offers sanctuary to
the Wanderers. They are home -- until the very end of time.
On the cover of Thor #161, Galactus and Ego are having a meeting of the
minds, with the Thunder God caught in the middle.
Asgardians and Rigellian Recorders are made of sterner stuff than mere
mortals, and do not suffer the pangs of explosive decompression.
A two-page tableau features the drawn figures of Thor, Recorder, and the
starship amid a decidedly three-dimensional background.
Drawn as if by tractor beam into the heart of a ship, the two heroes
receive a medical treatment bath, while assorted aliens watch their
progress closely.
I wonder if George Lucas happened to read this particular issue of Thor?
On page five, the Living Planet tells Galactus that he is far from
"invisible" within his flying visi-sphere.
Did Ego actually mean to say "invincible" or did the visi-sphere have
stealth capabilities?
Both planet and planet-eater apparently enjoy the sound of their own
voices, even while battling in airless space.
In the 1970s, Jack Kirby came up with the character of Mister Machine,
who later became known as Machine Man.
It'd be interesting to have both X-51 and his fellow artificial being
meet.
If nothing else, the Recorder could pull up an appropriate dance list,
and play deejay at parties.
If there's a galactic upheaval ahead, you just know that Galactus has
just lost his lunch.
The Living Planet tries to play catcher with living tentacles of energy,
but the Devourer of Worlds is a mean pitcher with many comets at his beck
and call.
You must be anvil or hammer.
In this story, the God of Thunder was a regular Rodgers and Hammerstein
with mighty Mjolnir.
Thor tries to play ball with Galactus, but is used by him to play some
hardball with Ego.
The Odinson makes his stand and has open mike night with his enchanted
hammer.
With the threat over, Ego makes the Wanderers an offer, and they say to
themselves... What A Wonderful World...
In The Hammer Strikes letters page, Glenn Cooper of Bedford, Mass writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
Hurray for Bill Henley, Jr. His theory of the location of Asgard and how
Thor could be in Asgard as a boy and still be brought to life by Don
Blake is the most thought-out, carefully-constructed, and reasonable
theory yet presented. I nominate him for consideration to be a Fearless
Front Facer. In answer to his question as to why Sif couldn't talk as
the Destroyer, the Norn Queen must have put a spell on Sif which made her
think she couldn't talk. She could have talked if she had resisted the
spell; but since she didn't realize there was a spell, she didn't fight
it. The one thing missing in Bill Henley's Asgard theory is "What is to
keep mortals from finding the Midgard end of the Rainbow Bridge and
following it to Asgard?" I have prepared an answer to that. When an
Asgardian comes to Earth, a vital essence remains in Asgard's time-space
continuum, although it is linked to the Asgardian. This essence allows
the Asgardian to find the Rainbow Bridge; (it shifts position often,
although it always has an end on Earth) and then allows him to travel
upon it back to Asgard. Please adopt Bill Henley's theory as fact and
give him the title of FFF along with a no-prize. And now, the three
words which shall soon ring out through Marveldom: Make EVERYBODY'S
Marvel!!!!!"
The editor replies:
"So be it, G.C.! Meanwhile, all the votes aren't in yet on the Henley
Hypothesis, but we're keeping our mailbox open. As for the all-embracing
title of Fearless Front Facer, this is a super-special absolutely
arbitrary no-title which the Bullpen gang intend to bestow from time to
time upon one who has, in our opinion, rendered an especial and
invaluable favor to Marveldom! We'll clue you in on procedure and
awardees when we iron out all the details ourselves, and it may well be
that Bill will be right up there in the winner's circle - but only time
will tell. Okay?"
This Review Is Dedicated To Fearless Front Facer Bill Henley, Jr.
From Fearless Face Fronter Steve Chung
"Shall A God Review?"
Thor #169: "The Awesome Answer!"
Thor #169
"The Awesome Answer!"
October, 1969
Written And Illustrated By:
STAN JACK
(The Man) and (King)
LEE KIRBY
Inking: Lettering:
GEORGE KLEIN ARTIE SIMEK
Deep out in space, the Devourer of Planets and the Son of Odin have
reached a temporary truce -- as Galactus begins to speak of his very
origins --
It has been a long search, one which could have stretched into eternity.
Thor was brought here, for the planet-eater has grown weary of the chase,
and of battle. The God of Thunder had heard about a vessel which had
crash landed untold ages ago. Where did it come from -- and what does it
have to do with -- Galactus? The vessel had served its purpose -- and
the result stands in front of the Asgardian. Even in the state of death,
life was soon to follow. There had been one witness to the crash -- the
one known to mortals as -- The Watcher.
The crew had died of radiation poisoning, but there is still a survivor
to be found. The one who lives had been closest to the explosion. This
survivor, reasons Thor, must have been the Devourer. The giant mentions
only that this was him before he came to be.
Not even one as knowledgeable as the Watcher could have known what he had
come across. How could he have been aware of the one who could destroy
an entire planet? As he shields himself from the flying debris, the God
of Thunder sees how the memory has angered Galactus. Thor believes that
he is powerful enough to challenge him.
Weary of taunts, and heeding only the hunger which rages inside him, even
the Devourer of Planets can show mercy to the Son of Odin. His is a
heavy heart -- and the weariness rests squarely upon his massive
shoulders. Thor would hear more about the survivor -- and what happened
to him. Along with the hunger -- are the memories.
They are the memories of a world -- a life -- lost forever. These belong
to the now-dead world called -- Taa.
The planet was far more advanced than any other, that words alone fail to
do it justice. Its people traveled and lived inside the thought-spheres.
Taa, an ever-changing ancient wonder for those who beheld it.
Not even such a paradise could endure -- forever. The traveler returns
from his journey and shares his world's fate with its people. It is a
dark time, for the planet of Taa is -- doomed! He has traveled to the
outskirts of the cosmos -- but the trip was -- in vain. There is no cure
for the plague which is creeping upon them.
The final preparations must be made, so that those of Taa may die in a
fitting manner. The plague arrived on the planet, with the greatest
minds in all the galaxy failing to find a cure. The visi-screen shows
those on other worlds being struck down. Each moment brings the plague
closer -- closer to Taa. All they can do is wait-- and observe.
Perhaps not all will die. Perhaps in some way, that which was Taa will
survive, and survive it shall. Only in such a destiny, may a way be
found. In the public square, the people have fallen to the plague, and
the heart of Taa knows fear.
Even with all of their skills, there is no cure. Without an antidote,
there must be one being who may be immune, and who can continue -- so
that Taa lives on. No survivors were to be found. In space, starships
crashed into one another, with no crew left at the controls. Even the
thought-spheres did not spare their owners from the plague. Where
billions had once lived -- only a few were now left. The end of an age
was nigh.
There were enough to assemble a crew, so that they may die in the air.
They would go where none have gone before. Their sun would provide their
funeral pyre. A friend wishes the traveler luck, before he expires, and
Taa is no more. The vessel makes its final flight -- its final gesture
-- into the very heart of the sun in their universe.
As their ship hurtled towards its final destination, the crew knew that
their deaths would not be due to the plague. Their wishes and prayers
had come true -- as the radiation burst through the heart of their
vessel. Each of them fell -- to die -- all-- but one. This one felt new
forces-- churning from within him. During all of this, the ship flew on
-- with no hand at the controls -- as it continues on through space.
It was at this point that the Watcher saw the vessel make a crash
landing. The God of Thunder believes that this was where Galactus was
born, but the story has not ended just yet. The Watcher had a strange
and awesome power of his own. He came to see what would happen, and was
bound by an oath not to interfere in the affairs of others. The Watcher
would study what had been--and what would be.
He saw an arm --carrying the glow of raw cosmic energy-- He saw the
power increase in intensity -- until it broke free--. Until it was
contained within a massive fireball-- of its own creation. In the
presence of such power -- power which could destroy a world, the Watcher
continued to observe. The power fed upon itself -- even as he continued
to watch. The hunger would soon come -- with only a planet enough to
feed it.
With his own power, the Watcher could destroy it -- before it becomes a
threat. Only his pledge of noninterference prevents him from doing so.
Now it is he who is seen as a danger, and the decision to strike must be
taken now. Even so, he must not. He cannot. If it is his destiny to
exist -- so that galaxies will die -- so be it. With its departure, the
Watcher knows that he may come to regret the decision made today. In
space, the newborn being places the others inside of a cylinder, and
sends them out into the endless void.
Now alone within his vessel, the last survivor of Taa begins his labors
-- using his power to create energy-regulating raiment. The ship would
soon become an incubator -- where he could rest -- and plan -- until he
reached maturity. The incubator continued its centuries-long orbit --
until the moment when he would emerge -- to meet the world as --
Galactus. The Son of Odin wonders what will happen to the future. As
long as the planet-eater continues to exist, then all will be in danger.
The giant warns him to stay his uru hammer, for there is no need for
battle. He is weary from the loneliness which has come upon him for
ages. Thor begins to whirl enchanted Mjolnir, now knowing that Galactus
meant no harm to living beings, but many have been the planet which have
fallen. As the Thunder God wonders what to do, All-Father Odin appears
in a vision, and tells his son that he has done well. With the mission
over -- the time of penance is done. Having learned what he needed to
know, Odin sends Thor back to Midgard.
On Earth, the Thermal Man continues its rampage through the heart of a
city. Without the Odinson, Hogun, Balder, Fandral, and Volstagg remain
to defend mankind. Not even warriors such as these are able to withstand
an assault from the creature's thermal blast.
Standing in triumph, it surveys its surroundings with cold eyes. The
creation designed to bring the United States to its knees -- continues on
its way. The citizens see the unliving giant continuing towards them,
but they are unaware that there is another who is now arriving -- as the
rooftops beckon -- for Thor has arrived on Earth once again.
On the cover of Thor #169, the monster and the man-god meet.
The awesome answer does not disappoint, and with the likes of Lee, Kirby,
Klein, and Simek, how could it?
The Watcher who discovered the downed ship was not Uatu, but one of his
ancestors.
As was the case in many Silver Age Marvel stories, radiation played a
part in the origin of another character.
The paradise of Taa, where its people rode in thought-spheres and
pneumatic tubes. It must have been like living in a giant pinball
machine.
The traveler/survivor of Taa was originally named Galen.
As was the case of the Watchers, those of Taa spent their time watching,
and studying their surroundings.
Upon their death, the thought-spheres fell to the ground, and cracked
open.
The giant sun of Taa looked more powerful than that of the planet
Krypton.
The motto of the Watchers: "We came... We saw... We watched."
The Thermal Man is a giant blue robot with three fingers on each hand.
Its blazing red eyes fire thermal blasts capable of taking down an army
of charging Asgardian warriors.
In order to take down such a monstrous menace, you need the right tool,
and Thor has got his enchanted hammer to nail this latest threat.
In "The Hammer Strikes" letters page, Bud Plant of San Jose, Calif.
writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
A vast improvement over the last half-dozen issues, was Thor #164, "Lest
Mankind Fall!" Thor is a Norse god, and is at his best among foes more
closely related to him, such as Pluto and Loki, rather than Galactus and
such science-fictional protagonists. Leave them to the FF, and let Thor
fight in a world of his own. Balder is, or should be, Thor's major
supporting character, and bringing him into the story would liven things
up quite a bit. Pluto is an excellent foe, and deserves a rematch since
Zeus decided to interfere in the battle. Possibly in a few issues, we
may see Thor and Balder in the Underworld, battling for their lives
against the evil hordes of Pluto.
Speaking of battle scenes, this issue's were great. Kirby surpassed
himself in his large panels of the fight between the mutates and the
Inhumans (and gods). The more people fighting, the better he does them,
but let's not over-do the full-page spreads. These are great for fight
scenes, but the one of Balder was unnecessary. All in all, this issue
was another fine job from Marvel. I hope "the being within" proves as
mysterious a foe as he appears to be. 'Nuff said!"
The editor replies:
"By now, Bud, you doubtless know that "the being within" was none other
than the awesome entity called Him... who, we're sure, filled your bill
as a truly mysterious and far-out foe for our Thunder God.
And don't worry about being deprived of seeing more of the Norse gods in
action, especially dashing Balder. As you've probably noticed in recent
issues, it seems that half the Scandinavian pantheon is here on Earth,
battling amok-running menaces... in more of those full-page battle scenes
that turn you on.
Just stick around, pal... we've got myths we haven't even used yet!"
Steve Chung
"The Awesome Review!"
"The Awesome Answer!"
October, 1969
Written And Illustrated By:
STAN JACK
(The Man) and (King)
LEE KIRBY
Inking: Lettering:
GEORGE KLEIN ARTIE SIMEK
Deep out in space, the Devourer of Planets and the Son of Odin have
reached a temporary truce -- as Galactus begins to speak of his very
origins --
It has been a long search, one which could have stretched into eternity.
Thor was brought here, for the planet-eater has grown weary of the chase,
and of battle. The God of Thunder had heard about a vessel which had
crash landed untold ages ago. Where did it come from -- and what does it
have to do with -- Galactus? The vessel had served its purpose -- and
the result stands in front of the Asgardian. Even in the state of death,
life was soon to follow. There had been one witness to the crash -- the
one known to mortals as -- The Watcher.
The crew had died of radiation poisoning, but there is still a survivor
to be found. The one who lives had been closest to the explosion. This
survivor, reasons Thor, must have been the Devourer. The giant mentions
only that this was him before he came to be.
Not even one as knowledgeable as the Watcher could have known what he had
come across. How could he have been aware of the one who could destroy
an entire planet? As he shields himself from the flying debris, the God
of Thunder sees how the memory has angered Galactus. Thor believes that
he is powerful enough to challenge him.
Weary of taunts, and heeding only the hunger which rages inside him, even
the Devourer of Planets can show mercy to the Son of Odin. His is a
heavy heart -- and the weariness rests squarely upon his massive
shoulders. Thor would hear more about the survivor -- and what happened
to him. Along with the hunger -- are the memories.
They are the memories of a world -- a life -- lost forever. These belong
to the now-dead world called -- Taa.
The planet was far more advanced than any other, that words alone fail to
do it justice. Its people traveled and lived inside the thought-spheres.
Taa, an ever-changing ancient wonder for those who beheld it.
Not even such a paradise could endure -- forever. The traveler returns
from his journey and shares his world's fate with its people. It is a
dark time, for the planet of Taa is -- doomed! He has traveled to the
outskirts of the cosmos -- but the trip was -- in vain. There is no cure
for the plague which is creeping upon them.
The final preparations must be made, so that those of Taa may die in a
fitting manner. The plague arrived on the planet, with the greatest
minds in all the galaxy failing to find a cure. The visi-screen shows
those on other worlds being struck down. Each moment brings the plague
closer -- closer to Taa. All they can do is wait-- and observe.
Perhaps not all will die. Perhaps in some way, that which was Taa will
survive, and survive it shall. Only in such a destiny, may a way be
found. In the public square, the people have fallen to the plague, and
the heart of Taa knows fear.
Even with all of their skills, there is no cure. Without an antidote,
there must be one being who may be immune, and who can continue -- so
that Taa lives on. No survivors were to be found. In space, starships
crashed into one another, with no crew left at the controls. Even the
thought-spheres did not spare their owners from the plague. Where
billions had once lived -- only a few were now left. The end of an age
was nigh.
There were enough to assemble a crew, so that they may die in the air.
They would go where none have gone before. Their sun would provide their
funeral pyre. A friend wishes the traveler luck, before he expires, and
Taa is no more. The vessel makes its final flight -- its final gesture
-- into the very heart of the sun in their universe.
As their ship hurtled towards its final destination, the crew knew that
their deaths would not be due to the plague. Their wishes and prayers
had come true -- as the radiation burst through the heart of their
vessel. Each of them fell -- to die -- all-- but one. This one felt new
forces-- churning from within him. During all of this, the ship flew on
-- with no hand at the controls -- as it continues on through space.
It was at this point that the Watcher saw the vessel make a crash
landing. The God of Thunder believes that this was where Galactus was
born, but the story has not ended just yet. The Watcher had a strange
and awesome power of his own. He came to see what would happen, and was
bound by an oath not to interfere in the affairs of others. The Watcher
would study what had been--and what would be.
He saw an arm --carrying the glow of raw cosmic energy-- He saw the
power increase in intensity -- until it broke free--. Until it was
contained within a massive fireball-- of its own creation. In the
presence of such power -- power which could destroy a world, the Watcher
continued to observe. The power fed upon itself -- even as he continued
to watch. The hunger would soon come -- with only a planet enough to
feed it.
With his own power, the Watcher could destroy it -- before it becomes a
threat. Only his pledge of noninterference prevents him from doing so.
Now it is he who is seen as a danger, and the decision to strike must be
taken now. Even so, he must not. He cannot. If it is his destiny to
exist -- so that galaxies will die -- so be it. With its departure, the
Watcher knows that he may come to regret the decision made today. In
space, the newborn being places the others inside of a cylinder, and
sends them out into the endless void.
Now alone within his vessel, the last survivor of Taa begins his labors
-- using his power to create energy-regulating raiment. The ship would
soon become an incubator -- where he could rest -- and plan -- until he
reached maturity. The incubator continued its centuries-long orbit --
until the moment when he would emerge -- to meet the world as --
Galactus. The Son of Odin wonders what will happen to the future. As
long as the planet-eater continues to exist, then all will be in danger.
The giant warns him to stay his uru hammer, for there is no need for
battle. He is weary from the loneliness which has come upon him for
ages. Thor begins to whirl enchanted Mjolnir, now knowing that Galactus
meant no harm to living beings, but many have been the planet which have
fallen. As the Thunder God wonders what to do, All-Father Odin appears
in a vision, and tells his son that he has done well. With the mission
over -- the time of penance is done. Having learned what he needed to
know, Odin sends Thor back to Midgard.
On Earth, the Thermal Man continues its rampage through the heart of a
city. Without the Odinson, Hogun, Balder, Fandral, and Volstagg remain
to defend mankind. Not even warriors such as these are able to withstand
an assault from the creature's thermal blast.
Standing in triumph, it surveys its surroundings with cold eyes. The
creation designed to bring the United States to its knees -- continues on
its way. The citizens see the unliving giant continuing towards them,
but they are unaware that there is another who is now arriving -- as the
rooftops beckon -- for Thor has arrived on Earth once again.
On the cover of Thor #169, the monster and the man-god meet.
The awesome answer does not disappoint, and with the likes of Lee, Kirby,
Klein, and Simek, how could it?
The Watcher who discovered the downed ship was not Uatu, but one of his
ancestors.
As was the case in many Silver Age Marvel stories, radiation played a
part in the origin of another character.
The paradise of Taa, where its people rode in thought-spheres and
pneumatic tubes. It must have been like living in a giant pinball
machine.
The traveler/survivor of Taa was originally named Galen.
As was the case of the Watchers, those of Taa spent their time watching,
and studying their surroundings.
Upon their death, the thought-spheres fell to the ground, and cracked
open.
The giant sun of Taa looked more powerful than that of the planet
Krypton.
The motto of the Watchers: "We came... We saw... We watched."
The Thermal Man is a giant blue robot with three fingers on each hand.
Its blazing red eyes fire thermal blasts capable of taking down an army
of charging Asgardian warriors.
In order to take down such a monstrous menace, you need the right tool,
and Thor has got his enchanted hammer to nail this latest threat.
In "The Hammer Strikes" letters page, Bud Plant of San Jose, Calif.
writes:
"Dear Stan and Jack,
A vast improvement over the last half-dozen issues, was Thor #164, "Lest
Mankind Fall!" Thor is a Norse god, and is at his best among foes more
closely related to him, such as Pluto and Loki, rather than Galactus and
such science-fictional protagonists. Leave them to the FF, and let Thor
fight in a world of his own. Balder is, or should be, Thor's major
supporting character, and bringing him into the story would liven things
up quite a bit. Pluto is an excellent foe, and deserves a rematch since
Zeus decided to interfere in the battle. Possibly in a few issues, we
may see Thor and Balder in the Underworld, battling for their lives
against the evil hordes of Pluto.
Speaking of battle scenes, this issue's were great. Kirby surpassed
himself in his large panels of the fight between the mutates and the
Inhumans (and gods). The more people fighting, the better he does them,
but let's not over-do the full-page spreads. These are great for fight
scenes, but the one of Balder was unnecessary. All in all, this issue
was another fine job from Marvel. I hope "the being within" proves as
mysterious a foe as he appears to be. 'Nuff said!"
The editor replies:
"By now, Bud, you doubtless know that "the being within" was none other
than the awesome entity called Him... who, we're sure, filled your bill
as a truly mysterious and far-out foe for our Thunder God.
And don't worry about being deprived of seeing more of the Norse gods in
action, especially dashing Balder. As you've probably noticed in recent
issues, it seems that half the Scandinavian pantheon is here on Earth,
battling amok-running menaces... in more of those full-page battle scenes
that turn you on.
Just stick around, pal... we've got myths we haven't even used yet!"
Steve Chung
"The Awesome Review!"
Action #387, "Even A Superman Dies!"
ACTION COMICS #387; April 1970; DC Comics; Mort Weisinger, editor, E. Nelson
Bridwell, assistant editor; in which "Even A Superman Dies!" Or does he?
It looks like it on the cover by Swan and Anderson, on which a super-aged
Superman lies on a table being examined by a medical robot which declares, "It's
no use...I cannot revive Superman! He is over ONE MILLION YEARS OLD....in
minutes he'll turn to dust!" A couple of human bystanders conclude, "If the
Healer failed, NO ONE can save him!"
Review by Bill Henley
In the previous two issues of ACTION and my previous two reviews, we saw how
Superman made a trip into the future in a defective Time Bubble and found
himself physically aging but nonetheless seemingly immortal and (thanks to the
evil Time Trapper) unable to travel backwards in time to his home era of 1970
A.D. Last issue, he was relegated to a "Home for Old Super-Heroes" and led
its inmates in a mission to save future Metropolis, but kept traveling into
the future in an attempt to find some purpose in his seemingly eternal life.
On the splash page of this story (by Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and an inker I
can't quite pin down, though it might be Jack Abel), he has found a purpose
indeed, as he singlehandedly splits a dried-out, dead Earth like an orange. "I
lived on after my home world Krypton exploded, and now I'm still alive when
Earth is a lifeless sphere! I've outlived TWO PLANETS! So I'll perform my
LAST super-deed....and my GREATEST...."
It is the year 801,970 A.D., and "Deep within the Milky Way galaxy",
Superman, flying through space, finds a string of five astronauts floating frozen in
icy spheres. He deduces that the spheres are serving as lifeboats after a
space crash, and rescues the spacefarers by pulling them towards a freak
"rainbow sun" which thaws them out. But our hero gets little satisfaction from
his feat; "This would have thrilled me ONCE, an eternity ago! Now, even the
most spectacular feats don't give me a charge! I'm just too tired of DOING MY
THING!" After being freed from their "preservo-spheres", the astronauts (who
are mere spring chickens by comparison, having been in the deep freeze only
5,000 years) pelt the Man of Steel with questions, but the grouchy old
Supercurmudgeon flies off without answering; "The ANSWERS are too painful for me to
talk about! I can only MOVE ON!" But despite the pain, Superman remembers
(and fills in new readers on) how he got in this situation, moving endlessly
forward in time looking for some kind of fulfillment, unable to return
backwards, as the gloating Time Trapper looks on.
Arriving at a time a full million years after his origin, Superman checks
out how Earth is doing and is shocked to discover that "After a million years
of pollution, war, and untold abuses from MAN....Earth has been simply USED
UP! It's just a contaminated globe of WASTE MATERIAL now!" Worse yet, a
couple of gigantic planet-sized robots approach Man's old homeworld; "Dead Planet
446 directly ahead!" The robots are helpfully marked (in 20th century
English script), "Galactic Sanitation Dept." But jaded though he may be, Superman
will have none of this; "Contaminated or not, Earth is still MY planet, and
I'm not going to see it DEMOLISHED for some 'Keep Space Beautiful' campaign!"
The robots are too large for even Superman to halt by brute force, so he
does an inside job, entering one of the robots' innards and using its components
to create an "ultra-battery" and creates a "super-positive charge" from
Supes' heat-vision energy. Then he enters the other robot and does the same
thing, creating another "super-positive charge". The result, since like charges
repel each other, is that both robots are hurled far into space in opposite
directions. With Earth saved from the immediate threat of the cosmic
trashcan, "Now to see if I can't give Earth some NEW LIFE-- and a NEW LOOK!"
Superman drills through the Earth thousands of times until it splits in half as per
the splash page. Why? Because though the Earth's internal fires have died
out, the minerals at the Earth's core are "fresh and uncontaminated". Fusing
the two half-spheres together at one edge, Superman creates a weird looking
planet (even weirder than the square Bizarro World) but one with a vast
expanse of two circular flat surfaces which can be made habitable for life again.
"Scouring a dozen planets in mere minutes", Superman finds one with the
right type of atmosphere for his New Earth and sucks it up to get the job done;
"It's a bit of a strain, but my lungs are strong enough to suck in this entire
cloud and compress it under SUPER-PRESSURE!" After supplying his new world
with air, Supes travels to still more worlds to collect water, plant life,
and finally animal life; "I'll have to restore the BALANCE OF NATURE on Earth!
I must choose only species of ALIEN ANIMALS that can exist and multiply in
the environment I've created. (The story doesn't specify how long this whole
process takes, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was six days....) Finally,
visiting a "young planet still in its prehistoric age", our hero finds it
inhabited by humanoids similar to primitive Earth-humans, and abducts a young
couple to become the progenitors of his new world. "Now, like ADAM and EVE,
that primitive couple will start another human race! I've given Earth a second
chance to flourish and prosper!"
(Maybe the Earth will, Supes, but I don't know about your new humans. The
Book of Genesis notwithstanding, two people isn't much of a gene pool to
repopulate a planet with. The children of your Adam and Eve are going to have to
resort to incest in order to "be fruitful and multiply", and any recessive
genes will run riot. I think you've gone senile after a million years, Supes,
if you think this plan to "repopulate the Earth" will work. And I don't even
want to think about the gravitational and orbital effects of that
sliced-apple Earth of yours.)
But as far as Superman is concerned, a brief satisfaction with his work is
quickly replaced by renewed despair; "There's NOTHING left for me to do now!
I've just performed the ULTIMATE feat of my super-career! All I can look
forward to now is an eternity of BOREDOM!" Perhaps not, for as he flies
dispiritedly through space a small purple spacecraft shaped like a grappling hook
comes up behind our hero; "SUPERMAN! We've searched a million years and
countless worlds for this moment! Now is the time for the KILL!" And the
spacecraft fires a blast of radiation through Superman's chest, leaving him
floating inert in space. "What is this strange, pint-size spacecraft? How could it
doom the immortal champion who was so invulnerable he apparently COULDN'T
die?" The answer lies in the distant past of the year 2000, where we find an
aged Lex Luthor visiting a "shrine" to Superman (probably the same Superman
museum that Perry White runs). Though the rest of the world has presumed
Superman dead for three decades, Luthor is convinced the Man of Steel still lives
somewhere in space or somewhen in time. And Luthor is still determined to be
the one to end Superman's life, even if he himself has to die before he
accomplishes this. When Luthor does die, shortly afterward, his "evil
psyche-energy" is drawn from his corpse to power his last invention, the "killer drone"
spacecraft which sets off across space on its million-year-long search for
Superman. Along the way, the drone powers itself by picking up additional
"evil psyche-force" from other bad hats such as executed criminals. (I guess
even Eveready batteries aren't enough to keep the drone going a million
years.) And it is this drone which has apparently blasted Superman to death-- not
realizing that, from the hero's point of view, it has done Superman a
tremendous favor rather than fulfilling Luthor's ancient vengeance.
But there's always someone around to gum up the works.... A spacegoing
robotic healeer detects a faint heartbeat in Superman's floating body, takes him
aboard its space station and struggles to fan the embers of life before
Superman can truly die and crumble to dust. The cover scene turns out to be a
cheat, as the robot healert actually succeeds in reviving Superman, but gets no
thanks from him. "I saved your life!" "WHAT? Why did you do a fool thing
like that? I'm over a million years old....I've outlived everything and
everybody I cared about.... I WANTED to die!" In "blind fury", Superman streaks
away from the space station in pursuit of a deadly "magnor-comet" which will
"disintegrate EVERYTHING in its path-- even YOU1" "That'll suit me FINE!"
(And so Superman sets out to literally commit suicide-- not just welcome a
natural death, or take on a super-foe hoping to die in battle, as Karate Kid of
the Legion once did.) As Superman flies toward the comet the killer drone
zeroes in on him again, but both are caught up in the backwash of the comet, and
while the drone is destroyed, Superman remains intact but is swept
irresistibly forward in time. 'I've traveled through the time-barrier before....but
nothing like this! I can't stop! I'll keep going until the END OF TIME!"
Superman blacks out, and when he regains consciousness he awakens to a most
unexpected sight....his Kryptonian mother Lara reaching out to him, with his
fathe Jor-El at her side. But when he tries to speak the words that come out
are those of the toddler Kal-El, begging to play with the puppy Krypto rather
than be put down for a nap. The plea is to no avail, and when little Kal
drifts off the sleep, he reawakens years later reliving the life of Superboy in
Smallville. Another blackout, and now young man Clark Kent is applying to
Perry White for a Daily Planet job. And so, the Man of Steel relives his life
until he reaches Jan. 12, 1970, the date on which he left on his ill-fated
time trip. "Will I have to do that AGAIN?" No, for he finds that the defective
Time-Bubble has already disappeared into the future. "Many scientists
believe that time CURVES BACK on itself-- that somewhere the past and future MEET!
I've just proved it! I went so far into the FUTURE, I reached my own PAST!
And I got a SECOND CHANCE, just as I gave Earth a second chance in the
future!"
This storyline combined considerable pathos and vast historical sweep with a
fair bit of good old Weisingerian silliness. I wonder if Weisinger
consciously saw it as symbolizing time and change with his own impending retirement
and the passing of the Superman comics on into other hands. Anyway, the story
raises a lot of questions that aren't really answered. Does Superman go on
living the rest of his life while still remembering his million-year-long
existence as an "immortal"? Considering all the time he spent being lonely and
mourning his old friends, especially Lois Lane, wouldn't you think he'd have
done something to develop a warmer relationship with her? Does his
experience mean that even without traveling forward in time, he is doomed to be
immortal and outlive his friends?
Also in this issue of ACTION is a Legion of Super-Heroes story which was
also intended as an ending of sorts, though it didn't turn out to be a permanent
one. The story is "One Hero Too Many!", and as I recall without digging out
my Legion index volume it was written by E. Nelson Bridwell and drawn by Win
Mortimer and Jack Abel. On the splash panel, a monitor board shows the
entire membership of the Legion at that point-- 26 members-- with a heading, "One
of these members will leave the Legion-- TODAY!" As the story opens, the
Legion is gifted with an experimental "warp-transport" device which enables
Karate Kid, the current Legion leader, to step onto a world a million
light-years away as if he were stepping into another room. But when he returns, the
most ominous, menacing figure imaginable appears with him. No, not an alien
monster from the faraway world.... not one of the Legion's old foes like
Mordru or Tharok or the Time Trapper.... something much worse than any of those.
He is recognized as "Wayland Banning, head of Earth's Bureau of Revenue and
Taxation", and he announces he has come to make sure the Legion is able to
pay the taxes on their new "warp-transport" gift before they accept it. Taxes?
What taxes? "But the Legion is a tax-free organization!" Karate Kid
protests. Not any more, for the current Legion totals 26 members, and "according
to Earth's law, all private clubs with more than 25 active members must pay
taxes!" And the Legion's status as a deputized "law-enforcement" group makes
no difference. The generous taxman gives the Legion 24 hours to either drop
on member and get down to the 25-member limit, or pay all its back taxes. (By
the way, the warp-transport device must have had some bugs in it-- I don't
think we ever saw it again, and the Legion continued to use tried but true
space cruisers when they went on missions to faraway worlds.)
And so, not having billions in back tax money to spare, the Legion is left
with the choice of which member to blackball. Timber Wolf nobly volunteers to
leave, on the grounds that he is the most recent member to join, but is
challenged by Chemical King (remember him?) who notes that he and TW joined at
the same time. The aggressive Wolf wrestles CK and juggles him in the air to
prove that he, Wolf, should have the right to quit, and then Bouncing Boy
bounces in declaring that his bouncing power is the "least useful" in the Legion
and he should go. Duo Damsel declares, "My power to split into two girls
isn't so hot!" (I think she has a point there) and volunteers to go. At this
point Karate Kid gets cheesed off and smashes the leader's rostrum with a
karate chop. "So you all want to be noble and hand in your resignations, eh?
Well, they're NOT ACCEPTED! If I let you all quit, we'[ll lose too much of our
strength at once!" BB suggests that as leader Karate Kid should be the one
to choose a member to drop, but KK refuses the responsibility, proposing to
leave the decision to chance. He invites all the members who are willing to
quit to write out their resignations and put them in a jar so that the choice
can be made by lot. But when KK tries to pull a paper out of the jar, the
slips are consumed in "rainbow fire". The only surviving resignation is that
of Dream Girl, who says she didn't resign, since she saw a vision of herself
on a Legion mission in the future. Several Legionnaires claim to have been
responsible for the rainbow flames and demand the right to resign.
Brainiac 5 proposes a new method of choosing who goes; his super-computer
will determine which Legionnaire performed the fewest super-feats in the past
year. The answer is Brainiac 5 himself, but the other members refuse to
accept his resignation; "You may not do many great feats, but the Legion depends
on your planning and inventions!" Supergirl, making a rare appearance at a
Legion meeting, proposes that by the standard of absenteeism she should be the
one to resign. Brainy is crushed by this idea, since he has a crush on
Supergirl, but she tells him, "We belong to different worlds...different eras!
Goodbye!" Suddenly, however, the Legion of Super-Pets (!) show up, and they
warn that if Supergirl leaves the human-type Legion, both Streaky the Supercat
and Comet the Superhorse will quit the Pet Legion as well, since they are
Supergirl's pets. "See, Supergirl? If you walk out, we lose TWO out of the
FIVE members of the Super-Pets! We can't let that happen!" Brainy proposes
that he reprogram his computer to determine which Legionnaire is "least helpful"
to the group. But when he tries to get an answer, a bolt of Kryptonite
energy from the computer's defense mechanism strikes Superboy. The Boy of Steel
confesses that he is the one who sabotaged the other resignation attempts,
because he wants to be the one to quit.... and when he hands in his
resignation, Karate Kid reluctantly accepts it. Superboy refuses to explain his reasons
for leaving to the group, but when Duo Damsel meets him on the way out, he
admits to her that he felt expendable because Mon-El has all his powers
without his Kryptonite weakness, and also because "I don't belong in this century!"
The same applies to Supergirl, of course, but Superboy didn't want her to
leave because of Brainiac's attraction to her. And so Superboy leaves for the
20th century for good, after giving Duo Damsel (who has a crush of her own
on him) a parting hug and kiss. The remaining Legionnaires create a golden
statue of Superboy, "the greatest super-hero," and when Brainy is asked who the
computer picked as the "least helpful Legionnaire", he says, "I cut it off
BEFORE it made its decision! Now, I don't WANT to know!" (My money's still
on Duo Damsel. Or maybe Chemical King, if only because nobody, including the
writers, ever understood how his power worked.)
Presumably the editorial thinking here was that since the Legion had been
demoted to backup status behind Superman in ACTION, there was no longer any
need to have Superboy as a regular Legionnaire in order to help the Legion carry
its own title. Superboy's resignation turned out to be relatively
short-lived, however. A few issues of ACTION later, new editor Murray Boltinoff
dropped the Legion from ACTION altogether-- but then moved the strip into the
SUPERBOY title itself, and by 1973 the Legion took over SUPERBOY. It would have
looked odd for Superboy not to appear at all in the title that was still
nominally his own, and so he rejoined the Legion.
Bridwell, assistant editor; in which "Even A Superman Dies!" Or does he?
It looks like it on the cover by Swan and Anderson, on which a super-aged
Superman lies on a table being examined by a medical robot which declares, "It's
no use...I cannot revive Superman! He is over ONE MILLION YEARS OLD....in
minutes he'll turn to dust!" A couple of human bystanders conclude, "If the
Healer failed, NO ONE can save him!"
Review by Bill Henley
In the previous two issues of ACTION and my previous two reviews, we saw how
Superman made a trip into the future in a defective Time Bubble and found
himself physically aging but nonetheless seemingly immortal and (thanks to the
evil Time Trapper) unable to travel backwards in time to his home era of 1970
A.D. Last issue, he was relegated to a "Home for Old Super-Heroes" and led
its inmates in a mission to save future Metropolis, but kept traveling into
the future in an attempt to find some purpose in his seemingly eternal life.
On the splash page of this story (by Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and an inker I
can't quite pin down, though it might be Jack Abel), he has found a purpose
indeed, as he singlehandedly splits a dried-out, dead Earth like an orange. "I
lived on after my home world Krypton exploded, and now I'm still alive when
Earth is a lifeless sphere! I've outlived TWO PLANETS! So I'll perform my
LAST super-deed....and my GREATEST...."
It is the year 801,970 A.D., and "Deep within the Milky Way galaxy",
Superman, flying through space, finds a string of five astronauts floating frozen in
icy spheres. He deduces that the spheres are serving as lifeboats after a
space crash, and rescues the spacefarers by pulling them towards a freak
"rainbow sun" which thaws them out. But our hero gets little satisfaction from
his feat; "This would have thrilled me ONCE, an eternity ago! Now, even the
most spectacular feats don't give me a charge! I'm just too tired of DOING MY
THING!" After being freed from their "preservo-spheres", the astronauts (who
are mere spring chickens by comparison, having been in the deep freeze only
5,000 years) pelt the Man of Steel with questions, but the grouchy old
Supercurmudgeon flies off without answering; "The ANSWERS are too painful for me to
talk about! I can only MOVE ON!" But despite the pain, Superman remembers
(and fills in new readers on) how he got in this situation, moving endlessly
forward in time looking for some kind of fulfillment, unable to return
backwards, as the gloating Time Trapper looks on.
Arriving at a time a full million years after his origin, Superman checks
out how Earth is doing and is shocked to discover that "After a million years
of pollution, war, and untold abuses from MAN....Earth has been simply USED
UP! It's just a contaminated globe of WASTE MATERIAL now!" Worse yet, a
couple of gigantic planet-sized robots approach Man's old homeworld; "Dead Planet
446 directly ahead!" The robots are helpfully marked (in 20th century
English script), "Galactic Sanitation Dept." But jaded though he may be, Superman
will have none of this; "Contaminated or not, Earth is still MY planet, and
I'm not going to see it DEMOLISHED for some 'Keep Space Beautiful' campaign!"
The robots are too large for even Superman to halt by brute force, so he
does an inside job, entering one of the robots' innards and using its components
to create an "ultra-battery" and creates a "super-positive charge" from
Supes' heat-vision energy. Then he enters the other robot and does the same
thing, creating another "super-positive charge". The result, since like charges
repel each other, is that both robots are hurled far into space in opposite
directions. With Earth saved from the immediate threat of the cosmic
trashcan, "Now to see if I can't give Earth some NEW LIFE-- and a NEW LOOK!"
Superman drills through the Earth thousands of times until it splits in half as per
the splash page. Why? Because though the Earth's internal fires have died
out, the minerals at the Earth's core are "fresh and uncontaminated". Fusing
the two half-spheres together at one edge, Superman creates a weird looking
planet (even weirder than the square Bizarro World) but one with a vast
expanse of two circular flat surfaces which can be made habitable for life again.
"Scouring a dozen planets in mere minutes", Superman finds one with the
right type of atmosphere for his New Earth and sucks it up to get the job done;
"It's a bit of a strain, but my lungs are strong enough to suck in this entire
cloud and compress it under SUPER-PRESSURE!" After supplying his new world
with air, Supes travels to still more worlds to collect water, plant life,
and finally animal life; "I'll have to restore the BALANCE OF NATURE on Earth!
I must choose only species of ALIEN ANIMALS that can exist and multiply in
the environment I've created. (The story doesn't specify how long this whole
process takes, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was six days....) Finally,
visiting a "young planet still in its prehistoric age", our hero finds it
inhabited by humanoids similar to primitive Earth-humans, and abducts a young
couple to become the progenitors of his new world. "Now, like ADAM and EVE,
that primitive couple will start another human race! I've given Earth a second
chance to flourish and prosper!"
(Maybe the Earth will, Supes, but I don't know about your new humans. The
Book of Genesis notwithstanding, two people isn't much of a gene pool to
repopulate a planet with. The children of your Adam and Eve are going to have to
resort to incest in order to "be fruitful and multiply", and any recessive
genes will run riot. I think you've gone senile after a million years, Supes,
if you think this plan to "repopulate the Earth" will work. And I don't even
want to think about the gravitational and orbital effects of that
sliced-apple Earth of yours.)
But as far as Superman is concerned, a brief satisfaction with his work is
quickly replaced by renewed despair; "There's NOTHING left for me to do now!
I've just performed the ULTIMATE feat of my super-career! All I can look
forward to now is an eternity of BOREDOM!" Perhaps not, for as he flies
dispiritedly through space a small purple spacecraft shaped like a grappling hook
comes up behind our hero; "SUPERMAN! We've searched a million years and
countless worlds for this moment! Now is the time for the KILL!" And the
spacecraft fires a blast of radiation through Superman's chest, leaving him
floating inert in space. "What is this strange, pint-size spacecraft? How could it
doom the immortal champion who was so invulnerable he apparently COULDN'T
die?" The answer lies in the distant past of the year 2000, where we find an
aged Lex Luthor visiting a "shrine" to Superman (probably the same Superman
museum that Perry White runs). Though the rest of the world has presumed
Superman dead for three decades, Luthor is convinced the Man of Steel still lives
somewhere in space or somewhen in time. And Luthor is still determined to be
the one to end Superman's life, even if he himself has to die before he
accomplishes this. When Luthor does die, shortly afterward, his "evil
psyche-energy" is drawn from his corpse to power his last invention, the "killer drone"
spacecraft which sets off across space on its million-year-long search for
Superman. Along the way, the drone powers itself by picking up additional
"evil psyche-force" from other bad hats such as executed criminals. (I guess
even Eveready batteries aren't enough to keep the drone going a million
years.) And it is this drone which has apparently blasted Superman to death-- not
realizing that, from the hero's point of view, it has done Superman a
tremendous favor rather than fulfilling Luthor's ancient vengeance.
But there's always someone around to gum up the works.... A spacegoing
robotic healeer detects a faint heartbeat in Superman's floating body, takes him
aboard its space station and struggles to fan the embers of life before
Superman can truly die and crumble to dust. The cover scene turns out to be a
cheat, as the robot healert actually succeeds in reviving Superman, but gets no
thanks from him. "I saved your life!" "WHAT? Why did you do a fool thing
like that? I'm over a million years old....I've outlived everything and
everybody I cared about.... I WANTED to die!" In "blind fury", Superman streaks
away from the space station in pursuit of a deadly "magnor-comet" which will
"disintegrate EVERYTHING in its path-- even YOU1" "That'll suit me FINE!"
(And so Superman sets out to literally commit suicide-- not just welcome a
natural death, or take on a super-foe hoping to die in battle, as Karate Kid of
the Legion once did.) As Superman flies toward the comet the killer drone
zeroes in on him again, but both are caught up in the backwash of the comet, and
while the drone is destroyed, Superman remains intact but is swept
irresistibly forward in time. 'I've traveled through the time-barrier before....but
nothing like this! I can't stop! I'll keep going until the END OF TIME!"
Superman blacks out, and when he regains consciousness he awakens to a most
unexpected sight....his Kryptonian mother Lara reaching out to him, with his
fathe Jor-El at her side. But when he tries to speak the words that come out
are those of the toddler Kal-El, begging to play with the puppy Krypto rather
than be put down for a nap. The plea is to no avail, and when little Kal
drifts off the sleep, he reawakens years later reliving the life of Superboy in
Smallville. Another blackout, and now young man Clark Kent is applying to
Perry White for a Daily Planet job. And so, the Man of Steel relives his life
until he reaches Jan. 12, 1970, the date on which he left on his ill-fated
time trip. "Will I have to do that AGAIN?" No, for he finds that the defective
Time-Bubble has already disappeared into the future. "Many scientists
believe that time CURVES BACK on itself-- that somewhere the past and future MEET!
I've just proved it! I went so far into the FUTURE, I reached my own PAST!
And I got a SECOND CHANCE, just as I gave Earth a second chance in the
future!"
This storyline combined considerable pathos and vast historical sweep with a
fair bit of good old Weisingerian silliness. I wonder if Weisinger
consciously saw it as symbolizing time and change with his own impending retirement
and the passing of the Superman comics on into other hands. Anyway, the story
raises a lot of questions that aren't really answered. Does Superman go on
living the rest of his life while still remembering his million-year-long
existence as an "immortal"? Considering all the time he spent being lonely and
mourning his old friends, especially Lois Lane, wouldn't you think he'd have
done something to develop a warmer relationship with her? Does his
experience mean that even without traveling forward in time, he is doomed to be
immortal and outlive his friends?
Also in this issue of ACTION is a Legion of Super-Heroes story which was
also intended as an ending of sorts, though it didn't turn out to be a permanent
one. The story is "One Hero Too Many!", and as I recall without digging out
my Legion index volume it was written by E. Nelson Bridwell and drawn by Win
Mortimer and Jack Abel. On the splash panel, a monitor board shows the
entire membership of the Legion at that point-- 26 members-- with a heading, "One
of these members will leave the Legion-- TODAY!" As the story opens, the
Legion is gifted with an experimental "warp-transport" device which enables
Karate Kid, the current Legion leader, to step onto a world a million
light-years away as if he were stepping into another room. But when he returns, the
most ominous, menacing figure imaginable appears with him. No, not an alien
monster from the faraway world.... not one of the Legion's old foes like
Mordru or Tharok or the Time Trapper.... something much worse than any of those.
He is recognized as "Wayland Banning, head of Earth's Bureau of Revenue and
Taxation", and he announces he has come to make sure the Legion is able to
pay the taxes on their new "warp-transport" gift before they accept it. Taxes?
What taxes? "But the Legion is a tax-free organization!" Karate Kid
protests. Not any more, for the current Legion totals 26 members, and "according
to Earth's law, all private clubs with more than 25 active members must pay
taxes!" And the Legion's status as a deputized "law-enforcement" group makes
no difference. The generous taxman gives the Legion 24 hours to either drop
on member and get down to the 25-member limit, or pay all its back taxes. (By
the way, the warp-transport device must have had some bugs in it-- I don't
think we ever saw it again, and the Legion continued to use tried but true
space cruisers when they went on missions to faraway worlds.)
And so, not having billions in back tax money to spare, the Legion is left
with the choice of which member to blackball. Timber Wolf nobly volunteers to
leave, on the grounds that he is the most recent member to join, but is
challenged by Chemical King (remember him?) who notes that he and TW joined at
the same time. The aggressive Wolf wrestles CK and juggles him in the air to
prove that he, Wolf, should have the right to quit, and then Bouncing Boy
bounces in declaring that his bouncing power is the "least useful" in the Legion
and he should go. Duo Damsel declares, "My power to split into two girls
isn't so hot!" (I think she has a point there) and volunteers to go. At this
point Karate Kid gets cheesed off and smashes the leader's rostrum with a
karate chop. "So you all want to be noble and hand in your resignations, eh?
Well, they're NOT ACCEPTED! If I let you all quit, we'[ll lose too much of our
strength at once!" BB suggests that as leader Karate Kid should be the one
to choose a member to drop, but KK refuses the responsibility, proposing to
leave the decision to chance. He invites all the members who are willing to
quit to write out their resignations and put them in a jar so that the choice
can be made by lot. But when KK tries to pull a paper out of the jar, the
slips are consumed in "rainbow fire". The only surviving resignation is that
of Dream Girl, who says she didn't resign, since she saw a vision of herself
on a Legion mission in the future. Several Legionnaires claim to have been
responsible for the rainbow flames and demand the right to resign.
Brainiac 5 proposes a new method of choosing who goes; his super-computer
will determine which Legionnaire performed the fewest super-feats in the past
year. The answer is Brainiac 5 himself, but the other members refuse to
accept his resignation; "You may not do many great feats, but the Legion depends
on your planning and inventions!" Supergirl, making a rare appearance at a
Legion meeting, proposes that by the standard of absenteeism she should be the
one to resign. Brainy is crushed by this idea, since he has a crush on
Supergirl, but she tells him, "We belong to different worlds...different eras!
Goodbye!" Suddenly, however, the Legion of Super-Pets (!) show up, and they
warn that if Supergirl leaves the human-type Legion, both Streaky the Supercat
and Comet the Superhorse will quit the Pet Legion as well, since they are
Supergirl's pets. "See, Supergirl? If you walk out, we lose TWO out of the
FIVE members of the Super-Pets! We can't let that happen!" Brainy proposes
that he reprogram his computer to determine which Legionnaire is "least helpful"
to the group. But when he tries to get an answer, a bolt of Kryptonite
energy from the computer's defense mechanism strikes Superboy. The Boy of Steel
confesses that he is the one who sabotaged the other resignation attempts,
because he wants to be the one to quit.... and when he hands in his
resignation, Karate Kid reluctantly accepts it. Superboy refuses to explain his reasons
for leaving to the group, but when Duo Damsel meets him on the way out, he
admits to her that he felt expendable because Mon-El has all his powers
without his Kryptonite weakness, and also because "I don't belong in this century!"
The same applies to Supergirl, of course, but Superboy didn't want her to
leave because of Brainiac's attraction to her. And so Superboy leaves for the
20th century for good, after giving Duo Damsel (who has a crush of her own
on him) a parting hug and kiss. The remaining Legionnaires create a golden
statue of Superboy, "the greatest super-hero," and when Brainy is asked who the
computer picked as the "least helpful Legionnaire", he says, "I cut it off
BEFORE it made its decision! Now, I don't WANT to know!" (My money's still
on Duo Damsel. Or maybe Chemical King, if only because nobody, including the
writers, ever understood how his power worked.)
Presumably the editorial thinking here was that since the Legion had been
demoted to backup status behind Superman in ACTION, there was no longer any
need to have Superboy as a regular Legionnaire in order to help the Legion carry
its own title. Superboy's resignation turned out to be relatively
short-lived, however. A few issues of ACTION later, new editor Murray Boltinoff
dropped the Legion from ACTION altogether-- but then moved the strip into the
SUPERBOY title itself, and by 1973 the Legion took over SUPERBOY. It would have
looked odd for Superboy not to appear at all in the title that was still
nominally his own, and so he rejoined the Legion.
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