My Birthday Books - 12

Here's another look at some more of my awesome Birthday Books, check 'em out folks 😀

Strange Suspense Stories #9

 Grade - VG

Cover - Jim Aparo
Story - Charles Nicholas, Vince Alascia, Fred Himes, and Mo Marcus

Art - ?

Ammortu's Moon
Neville Smyth is an explorer in Central Africa, when his guide Kajal is fatally wounded by a buffalo a local medicine man called Ammortu manages to save his life much to Neville's shock. His assisstant Helen Bliss comments on the strangeness of the green hued moon that night, Neville ponders that the moon shouldn't be like that at all at this time of the month. Ammortu claims that the moon healed Kajal and ot appears to have dissapeared after the healing ritual. Kajal is changed after the healing and seems to be in a hypnotic state under Ammortu's influenece He later saves the life of a rich chief and it seems that he takes all the riches of those that he cures. Neville and Helen confront Ammortu and he threatens and sets his controlled minions onto them. They spy on him later and discover that the strange green moon is actually an alien space craft, the plan is that Ammortu will use his powers to heal the leaders of the World some day and will control them to the aliens advantage. Neville makes Ammortu a gift of 'Green Fire' a 100 pound lump of pure uranium, it's green hue matches the 'moon' so he travels up to the ship with it as a gift to his alien masters and the modern machinery around it somehow causes it to explode!! The thralls of Ammortu are freed from his influence with the witch doctor's death. 

There is a 1 page text story next "The Ghost of Gonzales Garcia"

A House Needs a Friend
Fred Corby a real estate agent is showing the Sims around an old house, "a house where no living people should ever live again! That is what the neighbours say..." The unwelcoming spirit of Fothergill Tate, he cursed the house it seems. During his life Tate ruined a man's life and then killed him in a duel, he fixed his oppenents pistol so it was loaded but had no firing pin, the sabotaged pistol from that fateful day graces the mantelpiece. Spooked by a flying vase they leave but Mrs Sims has dropped an earring inside she returns for it seemingly under the spell of Fothergill's spirit, he wants her to live in the house with him forevermore. Mr Sims comes to her rescue and the spirit tussles with him, Mrs Sims points the tampered gun at Fothergill and by some miracle it fires at him and he drops to the floor and fades away. Mrs Sims ponders "I did a funny, didn't I Walt? I shot a man who wasn't there with a gun that couldn't work!" They decide to buy the now ghost free house and in the last panel we see that although Tate's spirit has been banished he hasn't gone far as he stands by a tree in the garden staring at the house.

Behold Beauty
This last one I won't go into as I used it as one of my 13 Nights of Halloween series of videos recently, so you can just watch that here for the full story.

All I can say is Divina was no lady!!

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #70

 Grade - ?

Cover - John Severin
Story - Gary Friedrich

Art - Dick Ayers/John Severin

The Missouri Marauders!
The Howling Commandos meet up with a bunch of guys with a similar temperment and grit for fighting Nazis, the Missouri Marauders. This is their 1st appearance and I think only appearance almost with the story completed in #71. The Marauders were National Guardsmen who had recieved the best Commando training and were to link up with the yowling yahoos for their 1st combat mission. Fury is not happy to play nursemaid to a bunch of green hillbillies and the Marauders are a proud bunch of testosterone fueled tough guys. In a pub in London they get into a fight with some sailors, they go to hightail it out and bump into and get into a fight with Fury and Dum Dum Duggan on their way in! They have to stop fighting as they are due at base in an hour to get on a plane to drop into France. Once on the ground in enemy territory they are to blow a bridge up together, they are abrasive towards each other but soon begin to impress each other with their grit and determination as they rally against harsh odds in trying to complete their mission.
Nick Fury, Agent of Shield #14

Grade - ?

Cover - Herb Trimpe/Sam Grainger
Story - Gary Friedrich

Art - Herb Trimpe/Sam Grainger

A Day in the Life
I guess Nick survived that mission in France from the last comic as here he is now heading up Shield. The question is though will he survive this day in his life? After 2 weeks of observation inside the psycho-projector he is sent home by Dr Kraus his examiner, Fury has no memory of his testing and feels like he's had a hard night partying. Agent 72 of Hydra has been tasked to kill him within 24 hours and is trying his darndest to complete his task or risk his superiors deadly wrath. He puts gas in Fury's shower and a guillotine in his cupboard both of which traps are narrowly avoided. He has to take out 2 agents on his way out of his building and then narrowly avoids electrocution from a rigged shaver socket on his flying car on the way up to the Shield helicarrier. He has to parachute onto the heli-carrier after his car malfunctions! Once on board he has a meeting with the Gaffer a tech guy who shows him a new flying bicycle, then goes to his office for some shut eye. He has some interaction with an Agent Huff, his secretary, who is ga-ga for him (this is her 1st and only appearance in the comic though). We see that Nick's own agents are spying on him as part of his psycho-projector observation, Kraus is convinced he is a double agent!! In previous issues there was a run in with a Super-Patriot and the death of a Shield agent that he says has him suspicious but it turns out that he himself is actually Hydra agent 72. Dum Dum Duggan has him sussed though, he breaks cover gassing Duggan then goes to assassinate Fury. He has a bead on him when Agent Huff disturbs him giving Nick the chance to get the drop on him. Other Shield agents come to try and apprehend Kraus/72 but he jet packs away. Nick hugs Huff to thank her for her efforts but is still concerned thinking to himself as to why the Super-Patriot looked so much like him when he was unmasked!!

Next Ish: The Assassination of Nick Fury!

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Looking at some comics

Some cool old Superman comics


Just a few pick ups at Forbidden Planet, mainly from the cheap bins


I went to Birmingham Comic Con


Got some old Justice League of America


More comics for my Alpha Flight run


I did a live stream and opened a couple of packages

Another comic in the post


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Counting Comics - 21

I start this week's count with

DC = 5936

Marvel = 62

Others = 59



The New Teen Titans Vol 1 (1980 - 1984)
17 - 40

Chameleon/Beast Boy of the Doom Patrol and new characters Cyborg, Raven and Starfire join Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl in the New Teen Titans. This book sees such milestones as the 1st appearances from Deathstroke, Brother Blood, Terra, Trigon, H.I.V.E. and the Fatal Five, also the last time Dick Grayson wore the Robin suit. I only have the minor keys I think, I never even knew about keys back when I bought these otherwise I might have tried harder to pick them up when they were a bit cheaper.

Tales of the Teen Titans (1984 - 88)

41 - 43, 45 - 54, 56 - 75, 77, 81, 82

Not confusing at all but this followed on straight from the New Teen Titans run, again I am missing all the big keys I suspect like 1st Nightwing costume in #44, it ended with #91 so I am not too short on these so it might be worth trying to complete the set sometime.

Teen Titans Spotlight (1986 - 88)

1- 9, 11, 12

This ran for 21 issues so I could try and fill out this run too sometime, we'll see how that goes!

The New Teen Titans (1984 - 1996)

1, 2, 4, 7,115, 117 - 118, 120 - 123

Wow I never got too many of these it seems. This is what the DC Wiki has to say - The New Teen Titans (Volume 2) began publication in August of 1984. The series ran concurrently with New Teen Titans (Volume 1), which had changed its title to "Tales of the Teen Titans". Although the two titles were published simultanously, "The New Teen Titans (Volume 2)" took place some six months after the events chronicled in Volume 1. In the early run of the series, it was not uncommon to see characters refer to events in the past tense, even though such events had not yet taken place in Volume 1. Midway through its run, the editors realized that almost none of the feature characters were teenagers any longer. In order to correct the series' misnomer, the title was changed to the New Titans with issue #50. New Titans continued publication until February of 1996 ending with issue #130.

Team Titans (1992 - 1994)

1(x5) - 24

The Team Titans hail from a near-distant alternate future where they function as an analog to the modern day Teen Titans. When a villain known as Lord Chaos became the supreme monarch of the future, the Titans discovered that the only way to stop him was to travel backwards in time and prevent the circumstances which led to his birth. They discovered that Lord Chaos was the son of Donna Troy and her husband Terry Long. Donna Troy, naturally refusing to take any course of action that would lead to her child's death, elected instead to excise her own powers, so that the child would not inherit any superhuman abilities of his own. This team consisted of Kilowatt, Mirage, Nightrider, Redwing and Terra. Seeing as Donna Troy still has her powers I am guessing this future timeline was forgotten or retconned or Crisised out of existence.

Arsenal Special #1 (1996)

Fall of a Titan

No synopsis on DC Wiki but I think it drags up Roy Harper's dark drug addict past!

Arsenal (1998 - 99)

1 - 4

When Roy's daughter Lian falls ill, he has to go looking for Vandal Savage to try and help her. Black Canary and the Green Arrow Connor Hawke also have cameos.

The New Titans Annual #11 (1995)

Robin/Argent  Double-shot #1 (1998)

Argent comes to Gotham City in the hopes of being trained by Robin. Robin has his hands full with his most recent partner, Spoiler, but he recognizes Toni's commitment to crime-fighting. Spoiler however, feels that Argent is a threat to her growing relationship to Robin and wants her gone as quick as possible. Argent tries to assist Robin in bringing down an international drug smuggler, but her investigation uncovers a harrowing fact -- the ringleader is her own father -- Senator Anthony Monetti.

Teen Titans (1996 - 98)

1 - 24

This version of the Titans was an entirely unique team, led by the Atom and populated with brand new original characters. After the cancellation of the series, several of the characters went on to join with their older counterparts in the 1999 series, Titans.
The team are Cody Driscoll as Risk, Isiah Crockett as Joto (means Heat in Swahili), Tony Monetti as Argent and Prysm. They were half alien it turned out! Joto died but was resurrected later. Risk got his arm ripped off by Superboy Prime and went on to a life of petty crime and joined the villainous Titans East led by Deathstroke. Later he joined the team taking on Superboy Prime again as he's become a member of the Sinestro Corps and he had his other arm ripped off!! The comic gods do not seem to like this poor guy!!

Annual #1 (1997)

The team wind up stranded in Lost Junction Canade when their T-jet crash lands. The town has a sinister sickening secret that threatens to put the Titans on the lunch menu!

Legends of the World's Finest (1994)

1 - 3

In this haunting painted tale of redemption and damnation, Batman and Superman must overcome destructive nightmares of each other's pasts as they battle against a pair of demonic villains. Plagued by visions of his parents' murders at the hands of a lone gunman, the Man of Steel becomes a vicious force for justice. At the same time, the Dark Knight loses his mental and physical edge as his dreams of life on Krypton make him fearful of the night. Now up against the possessed Man-Bat and the merciless Silver Banshee, the world's greatest heroes must rise above these psychological manipulations to once again become the men they were or risk losing their souls forever.
Source.

Superboy and the Ravers (1996 - 98)

1 - 5, 7 - 19

The series centered on the modern incarnation of Superboy and his adventures with a new group of friends in outer space. The theme of the series was intended as a mirror to the Silver Age Superboy and his adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes. The tone of Superboy and the Ravers was more light-hearted than traditional comic-fare, and focused more on partying and fun than fighting against super-villains. The Ravers meet up at the Event Horizon an intergalactic rave, the team are Aura (Lindsay Wah), Hero (Hero Cruz), Kaliber, Rex, the Wonder Dog and Sparx (Donna Carol Force). Later Half-Life (Byron Stark) joined the team.

(New Adventures of) Superboy Vol 2 (1980 - 84)

33, 50

Superboy Volume 2 also known as the New Adventures of Superboy, it branched off from Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, which also split into Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 2). Like its predecessor, Volume 1, this title focused on the adventures of young Clark Kent before he became Superman. The majority of his adventures took place in his home town of Smallville, Kansas. The title contains the final appearances of the Earth-One Superboy prior to the eradication of the Earth-One continuity during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

Superboy (1994 - 02)

0 - 100, 1 Million

Kon-El, also known as Connor Kent was one of the 4 Supermen, (the others being Eradicator, Steel and the Cyborg Superman), to rise up to fill in the gap after the the true Superman was seemingly killed by Doomsday. Connor was supposedly a clone of Superman created by Project Cadmus although it later turned out that he was actually a human clone genetically engineered to look like Superman and mimic his major powers by way of tactile telekinesis. Initially he called himself Superman but when the real deal returned he went by Superboy and in this run he relocated from Metropolis to Hawaii, accompanied by Cadmus telepath Dubbilex, a manager Rex Leech and his daughter Roxy, he also had a romance with reporter Tana Moon.

Annuals (1994 - 1997)

1 - 4

Superboy & Risk Double-Shot #1

Superboy plus The Power of Shazam #1

Superboy plus Slither #2

A trio of books with Superboy teaming up with another young hero.

Legionnaires #31

Legion of Superheroes #74

These crossed over with Superboy in a 3 part story called Future Tense

World's Finest 3 (1996)

Books 1, 2

Robin and Superboy team-up for the first time to take down Poision Ivy and Metallo.

Supergirl (1982 - 84)

1, 16

This was the last regular comic series to feature the Pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El as Supergirl. In these tales, Supergirl relocates from New York City to Chicago, meets new friends and allies... and new enemies, such like Psi, The Gang, Reactron or Blackstarr! Plus, while battling the evil foursome known as the Gang, Kara stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens all of her new hometown and leads her to ally herself with the Doom Patrol. This only ran for 23 issues so it might be cool to try and complete the run sometime, be great to find some in a value bin somewhere but I doubt I'll be that lucky.

Supergirl (1996 - 03)

1 - 80, 1 Million

Supergirl (Volume 4) was written by veteren author, Peter David, this series featured a Supergirl that was a fusion of two different characters – the Matrix Supergirl and Linda Lee Danvers. Matrix was a protoplasmic, shape-shifting life form created by an alternate Lex Luthor. Matrix Supergirl and Luthor had a relationship for a time, in the 4-part Supergirl Vol 3 (which I don't have), I imagine that Matrix realises that Lex is a dick and leaves him, let's hope so! Maybe one day I'll pick that up to find out!!

Annual #2 (1997)

That super clever Brainiac is not scared of a strong woman!! Lucky he has his forcefield belt to protect him from those super hugs!!

Supergirl plus The Power of Shazam #1 (1997)

Supergirl/Prysm Double-shot #1 (1998)

The Maid of Might (was that a Supergirl nickname ever?) teams up with a couple of other young heroes in this pair of books. I do love a one shot with a self-contained story. (I did a search, yes Maid of Might was one of Supergirl's names, there is a cool website dedicated to her HERE)

Fighting American (1994)

1 - 6

Created in 1954 by the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Published by the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics, it was, contrary to standard industry practices of the time, creator-owned. 

(Wikipedia says....)

Bitter that Timely Comics' 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, had relaunched their hero Captain America in a new series in 1954, the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created another patriotically themed character, Fighting American. Simon recalled, "We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America". While the comic book initially portrayed the protagonist as an anti-Communist dramatic hero, Simon and Kirby turned the series into a superhero satire with the second issue, in the aftermath of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the public backlash against the Red-baiting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Simon specified for a panel audience at the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention that the character was not so much inspired by Captain America as it was simply a product of the times.

Simon said in 1989 that he felt the anti-Communist fervor of the era would provide antagonists who, like the Nazis who fought Captain America during World War II, would be "colorful, outrageous and perfect foils for our hero." He went on to say,

The first stories were deadly serious. Fighting American was the first Commie-basher in comics. We were all caught up in Senator McCarthy's vendetta against the 'red menace.' But soon it became evident that McCarthy ... had gone too far, damaging innocent Americans.... Then, the turnaround, [as] his side became talked of as the lunatic fringe.... Jack and I quickly became uncomfortable with Fighting American's cold war. Instead, we relaxed and had fun with the characters.

If you'd like to know more about comics by Simon and Kirby check out my mates YouTube channel Simon Comics.

This week's total comes to

DC - 371

Making the running totals

DC = 6307

Marvel = 62

Others = 59

    

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My Birmingham Comic Con Comics

I went to my 1st comic con, it was a pain in the butt and the feet and the wallet. I got a few books though, it's a shame the cheap bins were few and far between. I didn't really do much filming in the con but here's a look at the comics I picked up.




    

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Counting Comics - 20

The total rolling over from last week was - 

DC = 5713

Marvel = 62
Others = 59

Inferno (1997 - 98)

1 - 4

This is Sandy Anderson the Inferno from the future sent back to the past when the Emerald Eye exploded, she took up squatting in a mall with a group of homeless girls and fought a monster there. She ended up staying in the past as she felt no allegiance to the Legion or their future.

Garth Ennis - War Story (2003)

J for Jenny

Book 2 of Vol 2 this comic is set in 1943 and centres on the crew of a plane during the relentless bombing runs on Germany with the Americans bombing all day and the British all night.

Labrats (2002 - 2003)

1 - 8

Series from John Byrne centering on a group of teens held on The Campus, a scientific research laboratory that experiments on them.

Comics veteran John Byrne creates a series identical in look and feel to that of an earlier series he masterminded entitled Next Men. This time, however, the cast of heroes is not super-powered humans. They are, instead, just plain ordinary teenagers, unwanted outcasts—“throwaways” as they so label themselves, having no particular place to go.

Within the high-tech walls of the Campus, a mysterious scientific institution with a hidden agenda, these kids find haven along with a sense of purpose and belonging. Given training and education, state-of-the-art living quarters, three square meals a day (when possible) and nifty clothing, you would think the young adventurers have it made…but there are no such things as free lunches. These lab rats pay for their room and board as Campus personnel take advantage of their nothing-to-lose attitude, making them participate in dangerous virtual-reality simulations and sending them out on high-risk missions to fantastic places all within the DC universe.

Source

Blue Devil (1984 - 86)

1 - 31

Dan Cassidy was a stuntman and special effects technician, who was accidentally granted mystical powers during a fight with the demon Nebiros. Later, his powers are increased and he becomes an actual demon when he makes a literal deal with the Devil, sacrificing his soul so that he might save others. He has been a member of the Justice League, Sentinels of Magic and Shadowpact. Blue Devil was created by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Paris Cullins, first appearing in Fury of Firestorm #24. (1984) 

Annual #1 (1985)

This comic features the one and only formation of The Creeper's Spirit Squad. Consisting of Creeper, Blue Devil, Madame Xanadu, Man-Bat, Phantom Stranger, Etrigan, and Black Orchid they formed to take on Nebiros who had been summoned to Earth by Felix Faust. At the end of the book Creeper suggests the idea of the Spirit Squad being a team and the everybody blows it out of the water as a stupid idea!!

Black Lightning (1996 - 97)

1 - 13

Originally he was a high school principal and Olympic-level athlete who became a vigilante to take down organized crime in Metropolis' Suicide Slum. Eventually he would become a member of Batman's team of Outsiders for many years, although he retired briefly to become secretary of education under president Lex Luthor. He returned to crime-fighting, though, as a member of the Justice League. His two daughters operate as the super-heroes Thunder and Lightning. Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor von Eeden, first appearing in Black Lightning #1. (1977) 

This is the 2nd volume of his solo comic and I am surprised that with the current TV show that he's not had another run. There was a dispute between Isabella and the editors of this book and he was replaced as the writer as of #9.

Resurrection Man (1997 - 1999)

1 - 27, 1 Million

Resurrection Man is Mitch Shelley, a superhero who can return from the dead when killed. Every resurrection grants him a different super-power, with a wide variety ranging from harmless to Justice League-level. He has been a member of the Forgotten Heroes, and later Justice Legion Alpha in the 853rd Century. (During DC 1 Million) Resurrection Man was created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Jackson Guice, first appearing in Resurrection Man #1. (1997) 

Beware the Creeper (2003)

1 - 5

The original Beware the Creeper volume featured the original Jack Ryder version and ran for 6 issues back in 1968 soon after he 1st appeared in Showcase #73. This 2nd volume, set in mid-1920's Paris, has Madeline Benoir adopting the guise to get vengeance against the man who raped and killed her artist twin sister Judith. The costume was inspired by a painting of her sisters.

The Spectre (1989)

1 - 31

The Spectre is a cosmic entity and the physical embodiment of God's vengeance on Earth. Permanently bonded to a human soul, he uses his incredible divine powers to punish the truly wicked, usually ending his victim's lives in creative and ironic ways. His existence is in response to the failure of Eclipso, the spirit of God's wrath that turned completely malevolent and evil. Jim Corrigan, a member of the Justice Society of America during the Golden Age, was the original Spectre and the most well-known. Hal Jordan, a fallen Green Lantern, took his place during Day of Judgment as a way of seeking redemption. Crispus Allen became the most recent Spectre at the end of the Day of Vengeance during Infinite Crisis. The Spectre was created by Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily, first appearing in More Fun Comics #52. (1940) Geoff Johns established Hal Jordan as the new Spectre in Day of Judgment #5. (1999) Crispus Allen became the most recent Spectre in Infinite Crisis #4. (2006) 

This was the second volume of The Spectre coming 20 years after the original run. Jim Corrigan is the human host of the Spectre, a Gotham City police detective, who was killed by mobsters. In this series Corrigan operates a private detective agency in New York and I seem to recall he has a secretary named Kim Liang who was a fun character but turned out to be a fake construct of Xanadu's. There was another police man named James Corrigan who helped Black Lightning and Jimmy Olsen out a couple of times in the past. Also a Jimmy Corrigan who appeared in Gotham Central, more on him later.

Annual #1 (1988)

A proto-demon is unleashed on Earth and Deadman and Spectre have to send it packing back to hell, no easy task at all. In the back up story Corrigan's assisstant Kimmie accidentally hatches a demon that plagues her and her room mate.

Secret Origins #15 (1987)

The Spectre & Deadman

Here's a look at the origins of a couple of DC comics best loved supernatural ghost characters, both were murdered. Boston Brand (Deadman), was tasked by the Goddess Rama Kushna to find his hook handed sniper assassin whilst Jim Corrigan is the resurrected vessel for for God's spirit of vengeance Spectre.

The Spectre (1992 - 1998)

0 - 62

This is one of my favourite ever runs in comics with fantastic story telling from Ostrander and masterfull art from Mandrake. There is a great cast of characters as well that really help to make the book stand out. #54 has the 1st appearance of the 2nd Mr Terrific Michael Holt.

Annual #1 (1995)

Day of Judgment (1999)

1 - 5

Jim Corrigan is replaced as the host of the Spectre by the fallen angel Asmodel who uses his power to go on a rampage of destruction through New York and stays the fires of Hell releasing demons into the World. The newly formed Sentinels of Magic, along with the JLA, the JSA and others form three teams to deal with different set objectives. A team led by Batman is in charge of staying in Manhattan and responding to the Spectre's onslaught, while a team led by Wonder Woman journeys to Heaven to find Jim Corrigan, the Spectre's previous host, and a team led by Superman voyages into Hell itself to reignite the fires. Corrigan will not return from Heaven so a trip to purgatory leads to Hal Jordan, (the deceased Green Lantern), to become the new host for Spectre,

The Spectre (2001 - 2003)

1 - 27

Hal Jordan the ex-Green Lantern of Sector 2814 became corrupted at the end of his life by Parrallax the fear entity inside the main Lantern power battery. He committed many wrong deeds but redeemed himself in death as he sacrificed himself to re-ignite the sun. In death he was chosen to become the new host for The Spectre, God's spirit of vengeance. Under his time as Spectre he changed the mission somewhat becoming the spirit of redemption instead of vengeance.

The Spectre (2006)

1 - 3

I'm not sure if there have been any more Spectre runs since this one but this has Crispus Allen hosting the Spectre's spirit. In life he was a Gotham City police detective, he partnered with Renee Montoya who became the new Question after quitting the force at the end of the series Gotham Central. Her decision was perhaps exacerbated by Crispus' death at the hands of a corrupt cop with the co-incidental name of Jim Corrigan, who is no relation to Spectre's previous host. Crispus' son Malcolm ends up killing Corrigan and his father as Spectre has to judge him.

So this weeks count is - 
DC - 223

Making the running totals

DC = 5936

Marvel = 62

Others = 59

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My Birthday Books - 11

Here's another look at a few of my 'birthday books' once again!

Tower of Shadows #1

  Grade - GD (2.0)

Cover - John Romita

At the Stroke of Midnight!
Story - Jim Steranko

Art - Jim Steranko
This books shows the debut of Digger this book's story host. He later joined the team Night Shift led by The Shroud, one of their bases of operations is the Tower of Shadows

Unusual art here with the panel count doing all kinds of freaky stuff. The Fowlers have inhabited a vast mansion from Lou's uncle and are searching through it for hidden treasures. They are argumentative, Marie hen-pecks Lou; during their search and chat we discover that he killed his uncle and that the dead man was a studier of magic. A painting of Lou's uncle seems to move and point them to a hidden room, inside they find treasure, adorning themselves with some of the precious jewels they find. They also find a passageway that leads them back into the past to the time of revolutionary France. The Uncle beckons them from where he stands beside a guillotine. They were never seen again, I guess they looked like royalty with all that jewellery and lost their heads!

From Beyond the Brink
Story - Johnny Craig
Art Johnny Craig/John Romita
Arthur Watson is a writer working on a book about Psychic/Spiritualist de-bunker Hayden Hathaway. The book is almost done he just needs to get into Hathaway's head about "Why" he does what he does so fervently. They go to a session with Madame Angelica and spirits seem to appear. Hathaway tears the room apart trying to work out how the 'con' is created and upon realising that it is true, the secret of his search is revealed. Hathaway has been dead for some time and Angelica leads him to the afterlife that has eluded him all this time, leaving a stunned Arthur bemoaning that he can not finish his book now as nobody would believe it!

A Time to Die
Story - Stan Lee
Art - John Buscema/Don Heck
I featured this story during my 13 Nights of Halloween

In it an old man is seeking the secret to immortality. He has a mute assistant an escaped murderer from prison who he treats like dirt and berates constantly. The harassed henchman bides his time until the secret formula for eternal life is discovered where upon he makes his move, causing his master's death and taking the potion which has terrible results.

Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House #75

  Grade - ?

Cover - Jim Aparo
The book starts with an introduction page from the book host who was apparently called Mr. Dedd.

Phantom Patrol

Art - Sanho Kim

Here's another one that I featured in my 13 Nights of Halloween series

A soldier is called into a foxhole by a superior officer who orders him to get a message back to fire artillery on their position. He relays the message as ordered but says not to do it as it will kill the officer and his men. The barrage is completed anyway and the artillery officer tells the soldier that the man he saw was a ghost who had been sighted a number of times previously relaying similar attacks.

The Last Voyage

Art - Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia

After being sent a mysterious letter promising riches Paul Dumas arrives at the dock where Captain Neelton takes him on his ghost crewed ship to a fog shrouded island. There he finds Lasoir who had been imprisoned on the island by Neelton as punishment for killing his crew, before abandoning him he agreed to send the letter that beckoned Dumas to the meeting. Dumas wants Lasoir's money but Lasoir's wants something far more sinister, he wants his soul to take over Dumas' body so he can escape the island posing as him. Lasoir chants magic that swaps souls and the body of Dumas goes back to the mainland with Lasoir's cash, but it turns out that it is instead Neelton who now lives as Dumas with Lasoir's money with I imagine the 2 men's souls lost or still entrapped on the island.

The Ghost of Glory!

Art - Pat Boyette

A two page story/feature about the death of chivalry in the battle for the skies during WWI, talking about how the honour of the Red Baron was usurped by the ruthlessness of Herman Goring.

No Other Man!

Art - Steve Ditko

A recently widowed woman seeks a new husband who she molds into the image of her deceased partner, with the intention of having the new guys spirit usurped by the old. There's no happy ending in this quirky haunted tale.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #123

 Grade - VG

Cover - Curt Swan

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen was published from October of 1954 until March of 1974, spanning a total of 163 issues. With issue #163, the title officially changed to Superman Family.

The Sacrifice of Jimmy Olsen!

Story - Leo Dorfman

Art - Curt Swan/George Roussos
After believing himself an orphan for years Jimmy is suddenly pick up by limousine and taken to his super wealthy father Mark Olsen's estate. He has locked himself inside a glass house in a vault in his basement! Jimmy goes in to talk to him and learns of a terrible crime Olsen senior has supposedly committed and for which he has chosen to undergo a self sentenced penance for. He intends to stay locked inside the glass prison for one year but Jimmy offers to do the penance for him instead. Superman turns up as Jimmy has been absent for two days and is assured that all is well and Jimmy will emerge after a year as a prisoner. Superman flies off pondering what deeds Olsen Snr may have committed but we won't get to find out till next issue although the DC wiki synopsis says that Mark Olsen in actually Hal Rand... but then has no more information on the character. A bit of searching reveals that after this 2 part story wraps up he reappears in 128 with Superman on the cover rejecting his appeal in court to adopt Jimmy!

(I did some more research and can reveal that Hal Rand was a collegue of Jimmy's father who suffered from amnesia so thought he was Mark Olsen. The crime was to steal from a Mexican tomb and get the curse of Kulkukan that demanded penance.)

The Robber Robot!
Story - Jim Shooter
Art - Pete Costanza
A scientist, Prof Harker hatches a plan to ridicule Jimmy as he was angered by a news peice done about him. He gives Jimmy a robot which is actually a human in disguise but the idea is for him to extol the virtues of this mechanoid in a live interview with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show and then for the man in the suit to reveal himself making Olsen look the fool for believing the hoax. The plan seems to go as it was supposed to with people starting to laugh at Jimmy's expense but then Jimmy reveals himself to be a robot and turns the tables on Harker instead! It's revealed that Jimmy observed something about the robot during his time with it/him that 

The Puzzles of Space and Time!
Story - E. Nelson Bridwell
Art - Pete Costanza
Jimmy Olsen turns up for a meeting of his fan club dressed up in a "perfect replica" Superman suit and talks about the importance of observation to the group. He illustrates some examples of the importance of this through a few anecdotes of encounters he'd had. Kidnapped and seemingly blasted into space he realises through careful observation that he was actually in a movie studio. A scientist's time viewing machine is similarly revealed to be a hoax. Jimmy then challenges his club members and the readers to test their powers of observation by spotting a lie that he has recently told. The sharp eyed will have realised that his "perfect replica" Superman suit actually has the red & yellow in the 'S' emblem inversed.

So that was this week's look into my books, a couple of horror anthologies and a silly Jimmy Olsen book haha thay are quite silly but fun in a Silver Age madness kind of way!!

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