Counting Comics - 14

Here we go with another of my weekly counts of some of my comic books, I started off with

DC = 3803

Marvel = 59

Others = 53

Aquaman (2003 - 07)

5 - 57

This is Volume 6 with the King of Atlantis, Arthur Curry, most commonly known as Aquaman in his own title book. It re-establishes Aquaman as a prominent hero in the DC Universe, following his harrowing resurrection during the "Obsidian Age" storyline in the pages of JLA. With issue #40, the series changes its title to Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis and switches the focus to Aquaman's successor, Arthur Joseph Curry. The series continued under this format for another seventeen issues until its cancellation with issue #57. Prominent storylines include Aquaman: The Waterbearer and American Tidal, it crossed over during it's run with Infinite Crisis & Omac Project.

Martian Manhunter (2006 - 07)

1 - 8

Volume 3 of J'onn J'onzz in his own book was an 8 parter that followed on from the preview story in the Brave New World which itself showed characters in the wake of Infinite Crisis. I think the writer may have been a fan of British football as all the villains were named after Manchester United players!! Especially funny is Rio Ferdinand a beautiful young woman totally unlike their namesake. Rio used to play for my team West Ham United too and was an excellent defender. Written by A.J. Lieberman with art from Al Barrionuevo and Bit, the series portrayed a Manhunter more mistrustful of humanity and their actions towards each other. The miniseries focuses on J'onzz's search for other survivors of Mars

Red Hood: The Lost Days (2010 - 2011)

1 - 6

Jason Todd was infamously killed at the hands of The Joker in the Death in the Family storyline. He returned, resurrected after the pounding of Superboy Prime's fists on the barrier keeping him captive in the paradise dimension caused temporal ripples. Jason awoke in his coffin and had to tunnel his way out, he had amnesia and spent time in a coma and living rough on the streets. He was identified as the Ex-Robin and Talia Al Ghul took him in eventually dipping him in the Lazurus Pit to restore his memory. 

Red Robin (2009 - 2011)

1 - 26

Dick Grayson grew up and became Nightwing, Jason Todd got killed, resurrected, grew up and became Red Hood and Tim Drake grew up and became Red Robin... I kind of think he could have come up with a better name but hey ho, what he may lack in name imagination he makes up for in being a nice guy and a kick-arse crimefighter. I'm not sure what he is up to, was he used in New 52? Has he been Reborn along with the rest of DC? I sure hope so.

Robin + Impulse #1

Robin and Impulse meet up at a Virginia Ski-resort, Robin (Tim Drake) is tailing a former Soviet spy, Impulse (Bart Allen) is on a school trip. They team up with the mysterious Mystral to foil a scheme involving missiles in a hidden bunker belonging to White Heat a violent militia group.

Robin + Fang # 2

Trying to boost sales of the Scare Tactics book, DC allied the individual members of the team with various bigger players in the company's roster. The idea didn't lead to increased sales and the title folded a couple of months later. Scare Tactics was part of a short lived group of books called the Wierdoverse alongside Challengers of the Unknown, Nightforce and The Book of Fate.

Robin (1991)

1 - 5

Just prior to becoming Batman's partner Tim Drake is sent around the World to complete some final training with the greatest masters of martial arts to make him ready for the streets of Gotham. This story arc introduces the characters of Lynx and King Snake.

Robin II (1991)

1 - 4

The Joker's Wild!

With Batman away Tim is faced with a dangerous challenge as the deranged killer Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum. The last person to wear the red breast of Robin met their death at the clown prince of crime's hands and he is looking to bag a brace.

My covers to these books all seem to be variants I think, they aren't worth anymore though but I do think they look cool, the orignals had picture cards on them I think.

Robin III (1992 - 93)

1 - 6

Cry of the Huntress 

I got 2 sets of these books now as in a video coming soon you'll see that my mate gave me some of these books with different covers to what I have. I think mine are the Newsstand editions whilst the direct market had 'movable' cover enhancements. In the story Robin teams with Huntress during a gang war and takes in battles with KGBeast, Lynx and the Ghost Dragons gang and her boss King Snake who wants revenge after being bested by Tim in Vol #1.

Robin (1993 - 09)

0 - 183, 1 Million

Robin's 1st ongoing title and it didn't happen until the 3rd person to wear the Robin Suit came along! It ran for good length of time though, before Tim became Red Robin when Damien Wayne came along. In this run, he lost his father, his best friend Superboy, Kon-El and seemingly his girlfriend Spoiler, (Stephanie Brown), though thankfully that turned out to be a fake death.

Robin/Spoiler Special (2008)

A couple of stories in this book, 1st things get complicated as the 2 investigate a kidnapping, and in the 2nd story we have Spoiler, (Stephanie Brown) during her time in Africa working with Dr Thompkins taking on a witch hunter.

Robin Annual

3 - 7

So by my count that is another
DC = 301

Making the new total after this week's count of...

DC = 4104

Marvel = 59

Others = 53

Oh yes during my talking in the video I mention that Fredric Wertham the guy who wrote Seduction of the Innocent the book that led to the creation of the Comics Code Authourity had some sort of involvement with a serial killer! I thought it was Ed Gein but I double checked and it was Albert Fish the child killing cannibal that Wertham testified as being 'insane' at trial. 
One of Fish's nicknames was The Gray Man, which is pretty much the same as my YouTube channel name TheGreyMan.... co-incidence? I hope so!

Come back Friday to check out a more in-depth look at some of my 'Birthday Books' and join me again next Wednesday for another count of some of my comics.

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YouTube Comic Competition videos - 3

Here are a couple of more channel competitions I have made videos for lately these are a lot of fun and really get your mind working. Finding the books and stuff to show off can be rather tricky though!

1st up my entry for Probe 186, check out and sub his channel HERE

Then there is a cool Halloween based contest from WI Clawer, go check out and sub his channel HERE

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My recent Bat-book buys

I think I got a pretty sweet deal on Ebay, I made an offer on a nice job lot and got accepted and got some sweet, sweet books 😃

I have got a few doubles here now but feel free to make me an offer on those if you'd like them in your collection.

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My Birthday Books - 5

It's Friday once again folks which means I will be having a bit of an in-depth look at a few of my 'Birthday Books' which are books that I share a birthday with, that being September 1969.

Metal Men #39

Story - Mike Sekowsky

Art - Mike Sekowsky/George Roussos

Cover - Mike Sekowsky

Grade - ?

The characters first appeared in Showcase #37 and were created by writer Robert Kanigher and penciller Ross Andru. Apparently they were added to the book as a last minute filler!

The Beauty of the Beast

This is ostensibly a retelling of the old Phantom of the Opera story but set in a movie studio. I'm not too familiar with the original story but I get the feeling this is just the same as that. 

In this book Doc Magnus is in a coma and their new boss is Mr Conan, who sends them to do some work in the newly reopened Magna Studio. It's a monster movie of some type and the monster actor is killed by a hideous beast that's been hiding out in the studio who kidnaps Tina (Platinum) and the guys and the police try to find her. We find out that the monster was a stunt-man Hugo Stark who was horribly disfigured when a stunt went wrong. He has fallen in love with Tina who sympathises with the fact that he only wanted human companionship after years alone whilst reflecting  "Poor, poor Hugo-- How can I tell you-- I'm not human-- I'm a robot!" 

This happens at a point in the lives of the Metal Men that I knew nothing about, they basically no longer look robot-like but instead are mostly human but are still able to use the abilities of their metal namesakes though they have to do this covertly as the Metal Men are supposed to be dead.  

This story ends in tragedy when the spooked Stark's action start a fire that ends up consuming both himself and the studio.

There is a letters section in this book split 50/50 between people who hate the Metal Men's new look and those who love it.

The Amazing Spider-Man #76

Story - Stan Lee

Art - John Buscema/Jim Mooney

Cover - John Romita

Grade - VG+ (4.5)

The Lizard Lives!
When I got this book I wondered if it might be the 1st appearance of The Lizard but I doubted it would have been and in fact old Lizard-chops debuted 70 issues earlier, way back in #6 (1963)

This is a classic Spidey story, we see how his hero role interrupts his normal life; he's not been calling his Aunt May like he should and he has to rush out on his room mate Harry Osborn. Later Captain Stacey wants to pick Peter's brains about what he knows about the Spider-Man and Gwen Stacey asks him to share his secret, she wants to know why he is constantly ducking out on her. This time it's as he's in a rush to confront The Lizard, the monstrous alter-ego of his friend Curt Connors. He has promised Curt's wife and child that he will apprehend him and change him back to human, but his desire to not hurt him leads to him being bested by the feral fiend for The Lizard has no compunctions against hurting Spidey. In fact his Lizard brain remembers losing to our hero before and thirsts for revenge. 

With his super strength, wall walking ability, razor sharp web cutting claws, thick hide and powerful tail The Lizard is a formidable foe and I love this old-school, one-on-one, roof-top battle, with Spidey's inner dialogue assessing the fight and his tactics whilst his mouth spouts off his usual witticisms. In the end his lack of viciousness lets the villain win, but Spidey formulates a plan, one he does not explain in the book, where he plays possum and lets Lizard throw him off the building. However just then the Human Torch shows up and spoils the plan by catching him as he plummets and deposits him back up on the rooftop where the Lizard is. This leaves Spidey worried that Torch, (Johnny Storm), will hurt Curt with his flame powers. What happens next? I need to pick up the next issue to find out!

Action Comics #380

Cover - Curt Swan/Murphy Anderson
Grade - VG/VG+

Comparing this back to back with the Spidey comic you can see the different attitudes between the companies at this time. Marvel seems a lot more gritty and relatable compared to DC zaniness. Maybe that was just a Superman thing though.

The Confessions of Superman
Story - Leo Dorfman

Art - Curt Swan/George Roussos
I do love the quirkiness of the cover to this, what I call Silver Age madness with bizarre things going on that pique your interest to see what the heck is going on!

The story starts with some heavy bondage as Supergirl chains Superman to a table so he can tell if he's been going out and committing supercrimes in his sleep. Things have been going on that have him doubting himself. As a reader we get to find out straight away that this is the work of 2 members of the Superman Revenge Squad known as The Liquidators. Using a rock of artificial Red Kryptonite they hope to convince Kal-El that he is a criminal. The Red K they infect him with has a Conscience Syndrome Effect, they then stage a number of crimes and acts of vandalism to make it seem that our hero could be the only culprit. Racked with doubt he meets with Supergirl at the Fortress of Solitude and enters a Red K detecting machine, Supergirl says there is no Red K in his system despite the fact that we the readers can see that there definitely is. After chaining Superman down Supergirl flies off and is revealed to be a member of the Superman Revenge Squad in disguise! As he sleeps the chains, which are treated with a chemical, break and he awakens to discover another act of Superman-like vandalism and begins to type up his crime confessions submitting them to a sobbing Lois Lane to print up in the Daily Planet. The villains expected Kal to fly off into space away from Earth so he can no longer commit crimes there but instead he returns to the Fortress and prepares to open his case containing Gold Kryptonite that will permanently rid him of his awesome powers! 

Half a Legionaire

Story - Jim Shooter
Art - Win Mortimer/Jack Abel

The back-up story focuses of Duo Damsel, (Luorno Durgo), of the Legion of Super-Heroes. She used to be Triplicate Girl before one of her was killed by Computo the Conqueror. After taking down a deranged sniper Mon-el orders her to make a delivery to the planet Ikro, she decides to split up, with Luorno I staying home to relax and take in a movie at the Astro-cinema with her beau Bouncing Boy whilst II makes the delivery. As time goes by I is worried at how long II is taking with her task but is sent out to investigate a spate of crimes in Metropolis. Upon arrival they find Luorno II and her new Fiance the super powered Nam'Lor, when the 2 Luornos merge I gets an insight into II's recent activities and how she met Nam'Lor on Ikro. Things are different between the Luorno pair, where before their thoughts were the same now they are different with II loving Nam'Lor whilst I fears him. II is changed and I is worried. Later I and Bouncing Boy encounter the Metropolis thieves, a male and female masked in shadow, she shoots and numbs the villainess' leg but they escape. When I merges with her other self later she realises that she has a numb leg, this triggers the realisation that II is acting with her fiance as the Metropolis criminals. I and Bouncy figure that Nam'Lor has somehow controlled II to acts of crime, they confront them but can not best Nam'Lor's power, II urges her fiance to kill Bouncing Boy but he refuses. He explains that his Hyper-Aura has been effecting Luorna II making her a criminal and he has been going along with her plot, humouring her as he loves her so, hoping that she would go back to normal. He realises now that if he loves her he has to leave her so she can return to her normal self.

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Counting Comics - 13

The totals from last week were

DC = 3439

Marvel = 59

Others = 53

I picked up 39 books of The Demon that you can see in my blog HERE

And here is this week's count




Bruce Wayne: The Road Home (2010)

Batman and Robin

Red Robin

Outsiders

Batgirl

Catwoman

Commissioner Gordon

Oracle

Ra's Al Ghul

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home is a series of one-shots released in 2010 chronicling the return of Batman and his interaction with his fellow members of the Batman Family. Characters with ongoing monthly series had the month of October, 2010's issue replaced with an issue from this series. I suppose Ra's counts as Bat-family seeing as he is Bruce's son's maternal Grandfather!

Battle for the Cowl

Azrael: Death's Dark Knight (2009)

1 - 3

With the Batman cowl up for grabs could Azrael be the one to wear it? An Azrael stepped up to the plate before after Knightfall and that didn't turn out too well at all. This is a different Azrael though, I don't remember whatever happened to Jean Paul Valley, in fact I don't remember much about this book at all really. Azrael is now a guy named Michael Lane. The synopsis online mentions as Order of Purity? Whatever happened to the order of St Dumas?

Batman and Robin (2009 - 2011)

1 - 26

After the Battle for the Cowl, Dick Grayson obviously assumed the mantle of the Batman and come on was there ever really any doubt who it should be? No one other than the original Robin was really in the running in my mind. He also took over him for a time just after Knightfall and taking down Jean Paul Valley, Azrael.
So Bat-Dick teams up with Damien Wayne son of Bruce and Talia Al Ghul, who is a rather abrasive and arrogant little so-and-so which makes for interesting interaction and stories.

Five of a Kind (2007)

Wonder Woman and Grace #1

Nightwing and Captain Boomerang Jr. #1

Katana and Shazam #1

Thunder and Martian Manhunter #1

Metamorpho and Aquaman #1

This is a cool little set of books. The story is Batman (Bruce Wayne) is putting together a new team of The Outsiders and each of these issues see him trying out and assessing a duo of heroes. Who will he end up recruiting to the team?

Gotham City Sirens (2009 - 2011)

1 - 6, 8 - 26

Launched in the wake of Batman: Reborn, Gotham City Sirens follows the titular team of Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn as they are forced to band together to protect themselves in Gotham City. The trio end up at war with each other attempting to kill each other before deciding to just go their seperate ways. After the New 52 the group is no longer mentioned, I am not sure if it ever existed in that continuity.

Azrael (2009 - 2011)

1 - 18

Michael Lane and the Order of Purity are back with an on-going book. Apparently, and I'd forgotten this, Jean-Paul Valley was shot and fell into a river at the end of his old book that ran for 100 issues from '95-'03. It was only confirmed that he was actually dead when he returned as a Black Lantern during Blackest Night. Lane's version of Azrael only lasts the 18 issues before getting cancelled.

Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009 - 2011)

1 - 21

There's a cool angle with this book where Batman stories are told from the view point of people at street level, so it will be like Commissioner Gordon, a villain or some other supporting character telling the story with Bats (Dick Grayson in this run), popping in and out of the story at key points. The back-up stories spin off of each other with Manhunter replaced by Two-Face and then Ragman.

Batman Confidential (2007- 2011)

1 - 54

I think I remembered this in the video that this book was like Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, as it featured stories by rotating creative teams that were set in the early years of modern Batman’s career, post-Batman: Year One, and illustrated formative moments in the character’s past, such as first encounters with allies and foes. Most of these were put into collection books.

Nightwing 80-Page Giant (2000)

Kate Riordan was an honest cop in Bludhaven, the latest in a long line of Riordans on the force. The corrupt mayor wasn't happy with that fact so arranged a media event to honour all 20 of the family on the force and arranged it for a bomb to blow them all away. Only a scarred and mentally damaged Kate survived, becoming Hella in order to exact her revenge. She has a very cool look but has only had a handful of appearances so I guess she wasn't too popular a character to get featured more.

Nightwing (1995)

1 - 4

Nightwing is a superhero legacy name associated with the planet Krypton and the Batman Family, usually working alongside a sidekick and partner named Flamebird. Originally it was an alias used by a mysterious Kryptonian figure, and later adopted by Superman and Van-Zee in the bottle city of Kandor. Later the name was adopted by the human vigilante Dick Grayson, taking it after he had graduated from the position of Batman's sidekick Robin.

Nightwing was created by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan, first appearing in Superman #158. (1963) The Dick Grayson version of the character was reinvented by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, first appearing in Tales of the Teen Titans #44. (1984)

Apparently there was a 1-shot of Nightwing before this called Alfred's Return which I guess I don't have as it not in this pile of books. This was a follow up to it and a tester for the characters popularity. It must have proved to be pretty good as he got his own book, which I go into below.

In this story Dick is about to retire from the hero game until an old letter is given to him by Alfred detailing a death threat to Dick's parents dated days before they died. This sends him to the small country of Kravia where the circus had visited shortly before they were killed to investigate

Nightwing/Huntress (1998)

1 - 4

When an undercover cop is killed whilst trying to get the goods on mobster Frankie Black, Nightwing and Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), team-up to take him down.

Nightwing (1996 - 2009)

1 - 96, 98 - 153, One Million

Dick Grayson was created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, first appearing in Detective Comics #38. (1940) It took him 56 years to get his 1st on-going book!! I think DC missed a bit of a trick there somehow!! Damn I am getting peeved finding all these long runs of books with just one or two books missing from it, I need to make a list and start filling in these annoying gaps!!

Nightwing Annual

1 - (1997)

2 - (2007)

Nightwing Our Worlds at War

#1 (2001)

At a time when the world is at war and Gotham is reduced to looting and rioting, Oracle is in danger from a virus from the future and she and Nightwing have to use Project Tomorrow at S.T.A.R. Labs to travel through time to prevent her death.

So I make that 364 DC books, bringing the new totals to -

DC = 3803

Marvel = 59

Others = 53

Come back Friday to check out a more in-depth look at some of my 'Birthday Books' and join me again next Wednesday for another count of some of my comics.

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The Demon

There are plenty of demons in comics, but only one is 'The Demon' and that is Etrigan. He was created by Jack Kirby in response to demand from DC for a horror character. His Fourth World series had just been cancelled and apparently he was annoyed that Demon #1 did so well and he had to do 16 issues and abandon the Fourth World before he was done with it. Demon's look was based on a story in the comic strip Prince Valiant, when he dressed up as a demon for a fancy dress party.

Demon debuted in Demon #1, 1972 alongside regular supporting characters, Glenda Mark, Harry Matthews and Randu Singh. Also debuted were the evil sorceress Morgaine Le Fay and Etrigan's half brother Merlin.

His origin has been retconned a little over the years but Etrigan was trapped inside the body of a man, Jason Blood, back in the time of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. To call forth the demon when he is needed, Blood chants

Change! Change! O' form of man!

Release the might from fleshy mire!

Boil the blood in heart of fire!

Gone! Gone! --- The form of man — !

Rise, the demon Etrigan!!

Later this has mostly been shortened to just the last 2 lines or sometimes "Yarva Daemonicus Etrigan". 

To change back the chant is

Gone now, O Etrigan

And rise again (or rise once more) the form of man!

In the 1st run Etrigan was made to flee Camelot by his half brother Merlin to protect the Eternity Book from Morgaine Le Fey.

The next time Etrigan got his own book was a 4-part series by Matt Wagner in 1987. In this run we discover that Etrigan's father is Belial an Archduke of Hell.

Demon next appears in the anthology title Action Comics Weekly #636 - 641 running from January 1989, it was written by Alan Grant. 

Jason Blood and Glenda are still looking at ways to rid him of The Demon who shows his vicious nature, in one issue, he hellfire cooks and eats a lesser demon Malefik that was possessing a young boy.

This leads to volume 3, the one I show off in the video, initially written by Alan Grant with great art by Val Semeiks & Denis Rodier. It ran for 59 issues, 5 years, with Garth Ennis and John McCrea taking over the reins from #40, they also created the character Hitman in The Demon Annual #2 (1993) during the Bloodlines event. He proved to be the most popular of the new characters introduced at this time getting a significant book run of his own.

The humour of this title particularly with the Alan Grant run makes for some of my favourite comics of all time. I read them with my girlfriend at the time, I think when we split up she wanted to keep them so I had to re-buy them all, we may have had our disagreements but we both agreed that Demon was a hellishly good read.

Demon has had a few runs since this one and I have collected, most, if not all of them, and although good, none of them compare in my mind to this one.

Demon is NOT scared of tugging on Superman's cape

Demon: Driven Out ran for 6 parts from November 2003. Written by Joshua Dysart with art by Pop Mhan, Art Thibert and Jake Crippen. 

Jason Blood cuts a deal with a cult of modern-day alchemists to divorce him from the Demon for good. But when the ceremony goes horribly wrong, Etrigan must mix it up with street racers and the Yakuza mob!

From 2005 - 06 we had Blood of the Demon, running for 17 issues this was created by John Byrne and Will Pfeifer. 

With the launch of the New 52 Etrigan was involved in a team book set in medieval times, The Demon Knights, alongside other immortal DC characters like Madame Xanadu, Vandal Savage, the Shining Knight and a few new heroes created specially for the title. It ran for 23 issues and this was around the time that I had to quit buying for various reasons so I don't have the full run. I really need to buy the ones I am missing now I am back in to buying them a bit again. 

It's The Demon, Etrigan with a flipping big sword!! What is not to like??

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'Birthday Books' openings - 3

I like to post my opening videos in my blog, so here you go, look at my happy little face and the covers on my happy little comics 😁

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My Birthday Books - 4

Hey thanks for checking out my blog, every Friday I will be going into a bit more depth about a few of my 'Birthday Books' which are comic books cover dated September 1969, these babies were born at the same time as me. Most of them are graded higher than I am though 😆

The Brave and the Bold #85

Story - Bob Haney

Art - Neal Adams/Dick Giordano

Cover - Neal Adams

Grade - VG

The Senator's Been Shot!

Green Arrow is completely redesigned in this issue, featuring a new costume and his trademark goatee for the first time.

When Bruce Wayne's friend senator Paul Cathcart is shot the Governor asks Bruce to replace him in the role so he can cast the deciding vote in an important Anti-crime Bill. The bill targets crime organisations like that of Mr Minotaur, the #1 suspect for organising the assassination attempt. Meanwhile Green Arrow as Oliver Queen is working on plans for the 'New Island' building project, his main rival for the deal is Argonaut Unlimited, the construction company ran by Minotaur. If Minotaur wins he'd be able to control crime in the state and have influence over state finances & the Government. Bruce & Oliver are both considering that their real identities should perhaps take precedence over their alter-egos, maybe as a senator and financier they can do more than Batman & Green Arrow can. Both heroes reveal their identities to Senator Cathcart's son psychiatrist Edmund, wanting his opinion if they should abandon their hero lives to do good in their real identities.

Our hero's team-up and get trapped in Minotaur's labyrinth but manage to escape in time for Ollie to tender his plans for the development and arrest Minotaur and Bruce arrives at the senate just in time to pass the important bill. Bruce and Oliver both conclude to Edmund that their aliases are too important to give up on and Edmund self-hypnotises to forget their secret identities!!

World's Finest Comics #187

Grade - 4.5
Cover - Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson, Gaspar Saladino

Two stories in this book - 

The Demon Superman!
Story - Robert Kanigher

Art - Ross Andru/Mike Esposito
This is a bit of Silver Age madness which made my head ache 😂. We start off straight in the action, in colonial era Salem Superman has convinced the populace to have Batman burnt at the stake as a demon, as pictured in the cover he uses his heat ray eyes to start the fire. Flashing back to the beginning of the adventure in modern day we see Batman & Superman intrigued by an old bust's likeness to Bruce, so the pair travel back in time by means of Superman's time barrier busting flight. The 1st thing they do in the past is rescue Sylvia a woman being ducked into the river accused of being a witch. Back to our story, Batman accuses Superman of being a demon and challenges the townsfolk to cut a lock of his hair which they can not as it's as strong as steel. Superman flies away and joins the British forces, Batman is released and he and Sylvia meet up with Bruce's revolutionary ancestor 'Mad' Anthony Wayne just in time to be captured alongside him by Superman. Anthony's bugler, young Robby Douglas follows them to the British camp where 'Mad' Anthony has refused to talk and he and Wayne were to be executed and Superman orders them to fight each other to the death. Robby charges in and Batman gives him a small rock of Kryptonite to catapault at Superman, this hits him and brings him back to his senses. After the British are sent fleeing the real story of events emerge. Superman had noticed that Batman is casting no shadow and realised he was possessed by an Afreet, an evil spirit, so he had him put on the stake to 'scare' the spirit out but then it possesses him until the kryptonite bonk on the head makes it flee. We also discover that the bust they saw that prompted the adventure was made by Sylvia of Batman adding a time paradox to the already brain hurting tale.

The Green Arrow's First Case
Story - Jack Kirby/Ed Herron
Art - Jack Kirby/Roz Kirby

In this tale we follow Green Arrow (in his original costume) and Speedy as they travel to Starfish Island to stop an expedition there from discovering his secret identity. In flashback we learn of Oliver getting marooned there and honing his archery skills and creating his 1st trick arrows. He created a diary of sorts, chiselling his progress on the wall of a cave which if found will give away his secret identity. He takes advantage of nuclear bomb testing in the area to use a fake uranium arrow that sets off their geiger counter and forces them to leave the island and Arrow's secret behind them.

The House of Secrets #81

Grade - VG
Cover - Neal Adams
This features another character who shares a birthday with me!! I am kind of happy about this but wary too!! Why is that you may ask? Well the character is Abel, this book shows his 1st appearance and later he becomes the book's host. If you know Abel you know he is the 1st murder victim, cursed to be killed over & over again by his brother Cain! So it's cool to share a birthday with another cool DC character but that one is quite.... hmmm! 💀

Don't Move It!
Story - Mike Friedrich

Art - Jerry Grandenetti/George Roussos
The new owner of the House of Secrets, Mr Barkus, is in the process of relocating it from Kentucky but the house doesn't want to leave, it was build by hand with all Kentuckian resources, and a wailing noise is heard the closer it reaches the state line. Going to investigate the source of the noise, we learn the original owner's wife went mad in the house and all owners after the original never stayed for longer than 3 months, we also hear about the locked room. Barkus gets spooked and flees from the house, just then the trailer breaks and the house rolls down hill with Barkus running before it. He runs off a cliff's edge but the house stops short mysteriously of plunging over the precipice.

House of Secrets

Art - Bill Draut
Following on from the last story we see Abel being shown around the house by a realtor, he is to be the new caretaker saying it 'runs in the family' (His murderous brother Cain caretakes/presents the House of Mystery comic). He gets a fright from his brother Cain who asks Abel who he's talking to, he cannot see the realtor who becomes a spirit and merges with the house. Cain accuses him of cowardice and seeking to prove he isn't Abel proceeds to tell a story....

Aaron Philips' Photo Finish

Story - Gerry Conway

Art - Jack Sparling
There is a one-page text only story called "Burn This House" just before this one where a paranormal investigator stops townsfolk from burning down the house by proving the house has no ghosts, then when they leave he's revealed to be a ghost faking the results.

In this story presented by Abel we hear about Aaron Philips a sleezy photographer who takes damaging pictures of people and extorts them for money and if they can't pay he publishes and ruins them. He even has leverage on the newspaper editor he sells to. This editor sends him to get dirt on Senator Sandsfield, Philips plans to break into his house whilst he is out. He is spooked when an exterior polaroid shot doesn't show the house when he takes a photo of it but he still ventures in becoming more spooked as he goes. He goes into a room (is it the locked room?) and there is a click and we see Philips sheilding his face. The story cuts back to Abel standing by the fireplace who tells Cain that Philips was never seen again. Cain leaves inviting Abel to come visit him sometime on his house on the other side of the cemetary and Abel retires to bed, we see a photo of Philips captured in fear poking out from under a door. (Again I think it's the locked room)

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'Birthday Books' openings - 2

Once again here is a blog to store a few videos of my opening and 1st reactions to any comic packages I receive in the post. I will also be going more into depth with my books every Friday, blogging about 3 'birthday books' at a time until they are all done.

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