This has the 1st appearance of the new Star Girl, Courtney Whitmore, she used the equipment of Sylvester Pemberton and took on his name of the Star-Spangled Kid and fought crime accompanied by her stepfather Pat Duggan who was Stripsey, the original Kid's sidekick in his youth. Later Starman Jack Knight gave her his Cosmic Staff and she became Stargirl. I finally know again which issues I am missing and will pick them up asap. Cool, fun comics these were, only a short run though before she joined the JSA.
Checkmate (1988 - 91)
1 - 33
A month after their introduction in Action #598 the government agency of Checkmate got it's own book. Their missions are accomplished by special agents, named after chess pieces, around the world. They later became sanctioned by the United Nations. Their leaders include the Black King and Black Queenin charge of operations and the White King and White Queenin charge of intelligence. Checkmate was created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin. Amanda Waller is in charge here as Checkmate has ties with Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad. I think that character I said I liked in the video who had amnesia was called Duchess and it turned out she was actually Lashina of the Female Furies of Apokalips!!
Chase (1998)
1 - 9, 1 Million
Cameron Chase is a DEO agent who specialises in taking down Metahumans. Her father was a superhero named the Acro-Bat who was murdered by a villain named Doctor Trapps! She has some low level protection power, Energy Negation that can subconsciously dampen the superhuman talents of any metahuman within her sphere of influence when she is threatened, and psychokinesis but I don't remember her really over using her powers being more of a detective, I am sure I remember her getting psychic readings from objects too, but it's been an age since I read these books. She later helped out Manhunter, Katherine Spencer in Vol 3 of that book.
Aztek (1996 - 97)
1 - 10
Aztek was a super-hero trained from birth by the mysterious Q Society, a secret organization dedicated to providing a champion for Quetzalcoatl. His mission was to prepare for the eventual second coming of the dark god Tezcatlipoca, and he spent his days protecting the city of Vanity, Oregon. He later went on to become a member of the Justice League of America. Aztek was created by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Norwood Steven Harris, first appearing in Aztek: The Ultimate Man #1. (1996) A post-DC Rebirth Aztek debuted in Justice League of America (Volume 5) #20 to challenge The Ray as Vanity's protector. Aztek real name was Uno, but he adopted the alias of Curtis Falconer.
Manhunter (1988 - 90)
1 - 24
This is Volume 1 of Manhunter, with vols 2 & 3 both featuring different people using that same name. In this book Manhunter is Mark Shaw, although there was also another user of the Manhunter name called Paul Kirk!! Neither of these is the original Manhunter though, his name was Dan Richards who was involve with the All-Star Squadron and the Freedom Fighters!! In fact there have been too many Manhunters for me to go into here without my brain melting down, there were even clones thrown into the mix, not forgetting that in Millenium we were introduced to the lawmen gone wrong precursors of the Green Lanterns Corps, the Manhunters!! Go check out the DCwiki for more on this guy... guys... and lady!! This guy was the 3rd (or is it 4th to use the name) anyway Mark Shaw was a lawyer who grew tired with criminals escaping justice, and he received a costume from the ancient society of Manhunters. He hunted down costumed criminals for bounty.
Black Orchid (1988 - 89)
1 - 3
There have been 4 women to use the name of Black Orchid so far in DC comics, Susan Linden-Thorne, Flora Black, Suzy Linden and Alba Garcia and I must admit I know less about them than I do about Manhunter and that was pretty paltry knowledge!
This series, Vol 1 was written by Sandman scribe, Neil Gaiman with painted illustrations by Dave McKean.
Black Orchid (1993 - 95)
1 - 22
This is the ongoing that grew out of the 3-parter, looking at the synopsis it just reminds me of how confusing this story was haha, it was all a bit deep and metaphysical or something for me and I don't recall enjoying the story much it was all a bit esoteric I think. Maybe if I read it again now I'll be ready for it, but it's not high on my to-re-read list.
Darkstars (1992 - 96)
1 - 38
My mate Vik gave me a few of these recently and I totally forgot that I already had the full run already!! I'm not sure if that's the result of it being a boring book or me just being mentally challenged lol. The latter I think! Anyway the Darkstars are a universal police force in much the same way as the Green Lantern Corps are. Whereas the GLC was created by the Guardians of the Universe of Oa this group was founded by the Controllers who were an offshoot of the Guardians. Ferrin Colos was the face of the comic book but there was a full cast of Darkstars, with even Donna Troy (Wonder Girl etc) and John Stewart of the GLC becoming one for a time.
Gotham Central (2003 - 06)
1 - 40
Those hard working men and women of the Gotham City Police Department are the stars of this book, Gordon, Bullock, Montoya, Allen and others fight crime via conventional means and we've seen them as auxillaery characters in the Batbooks but this run was all about them and their fights against the villains of Batman's rogues gallery. Maggie Sawyer who was always a Superman comic mainstay relocated to Gotham to head their Major Crimes Unit. Crispus Allen ends up being killed and becomes The Spectre and Renee Montoya ends up taking over from Vic Sage as The Question a short time later in the pages of 52. So that is DC = 193 Making the running totals
Here we go again with another look at a trio of my birthday books.
The Incredible Hulk #119
Grade - VG (4.0)
Cover - Herb Trimpe Story - Stan Lee
Art - Herb Trimpe At the Mercy of... Maximus the Mad! Upon awakening on the island of Costa Salvador, Bruce Banner finds himself unable to think clearly, which turns out to be caused by a statue in the nearby village that emanates hypnotic pulses which subjugate the inhabitants to the will of the Great One. Angered Banner transforms to his great green raging counterpart and goes to the castle on the island to show that no 'great one' is mightier than the Hulk. In the US President Nixon is informed that contact has been lost with Costa Salvador so tells General Ross and Major Talbot to stop their hulk-hunting and to go to the island to investigate what is happening there instead.
The so called "Great One" turns out to be Maximus, the exiled Inhuman prince, he is accompanied by his band of evil Inhumans: Aiero, Falcona, Leonus, Nebulo, Stallior, and Timberius. Having failed to rule the Hidden Land of the Inhumans, Maximus intends to slowly take over the entire world with similar statues put in strategic locations all over the world, slowly putting everyone under his control. The group fight to keep Hulk out but he proves to be a match for each of them. Eventually the military show up and Maximus tries to use Hulk's dislike of the military and their joint outcast status to sway him to join him. The last panel shows a frustrated Hulk fighting to make a decision, with the blurb promising next week, "The Dread Decision". Buy #120 to see how he goes with that, I will say that Betty Ross is with the army forces accompanying her father the General so she may well appeal to the jade juggernaut. According to Marvel Wiki this book has the 1st appearance of Richard Nixon as a topical reference, haha that makes this a most unusual key if you ask me! Go HERE for more fun facts about Nixon in Marvel comics, including his time as a zombie would-be world destroyer!! Also this is the 1st time Costa Salvador is used. Dr. Strange #182
Grade - GD (1.8)
Cover - Gene Colan Story - Roy Thomas
Art - Gene Colan/Tom Palmer And Juggernaut Makes Three! Dr Strange is in the Nightmare dimension where he is still trapped (from the last issue) by the Eye of Agamotto. He is facing his old foe Nightmare who has captured Eternity (in #180) and is using it's power to threaten the Earth by collapsing the past and the future onto the present! Whilst Nightmare was boasting Strange summoned Juggernaut who was trapped in the Dream dimension at this point and he turns up and battles Nightmare as he is sure that Stephen is the key to him getting back to the Earthly realm. With his enormous strength plus some eldritch talent he has picked up whilst in exile Juggernaut is able to distract Nightmare long enough for Strange to escape the Eye's hold on him. Seeing this the 2 battling villains strike out at him together as one. Strange has cast an illusion though instead of hitting him the blasts strike at the bonds that hold Eternity fast and it is free. It belittle Nightmare saying that the time he was held were as nothing to him, essentially saying that Nightmare was beneath his contemplation. He consigns the 2 villains into oblivion and ushers Strange back through the void between worlds to his Sanctum Sanctorum. There he discovers, (through the fact that his name changes on a telegram he received), that Eternity has rewarded him for his help by providing him with the new alias of Stephen Sanders. I'm not sure why, I guess it must be to do with other events that happened in Strange's life around this time. I'm also not sure why he wears a blue/black mask as well in this comic, I'd not seen that before. As I was looking through this I wasn't aware of how fragile this comic was and the cover came off!! 😢 Star-Spangled War Stories: Enemy Ace #146
Grade - VG
Cover - Joe Kubert Story - ?
Art - Russ Heath Enemy Ace In both the stories in this issue they are framed as tales told by Von Hammer, the 'enemy ace' to Klaus a new German pilot who is petrified of going up in a papier-mache' coffin. In the 1st tale he tells of an American pilot newly arrived at a French air base during WWI, he is the 1st US pilot to fly with them and is determined to prove his worthiness in the air to show his gallic comrades that his countrymen can cut it in air battles. On his 1st night they play a game of darts with balloons tied to a board, he is able to hit the red balloon that symbolised 'Hawk' an enemy ace. His colleagues though fear that rather than bagging Hawk, he will just be a plump pigeon to be devoured by him. Next day on his 1st trip up he falls for Hawk's ploy and barely survives the ordeal and is grounded by his commander. Sometime later he is incensed when the Hawk downs a comrade just as he was coming in to land. He leaps in a plane and gives chase unable to get a bead on Hawk who leads him a merry chase right back to his own airbase where he promptly shoots the yank down again. Hawk plans to keep the American Leutenant prisoner but he flees climbing onboard a hot air balloon on the base. He takes up the machine gun on board and miraculously takes out Hawk in an arial balloon vs fokker dogfight!! Brother Enemy! Klaus is still unconvinced so Von Hammer tells him another story, in it we hear of twin brothers Richard and Carl who were seperated when they escaped in different life rafts from a sinking ship in a disaster that claimed both of their parents. Adopted into different foster homes they lost touch till they were grown up and war was declared, now a pilot Richard is determned to meet Carl and asks all over for people to be on the lookout for his twin. Soon he is flying into war and on a bomb run gets into a dogfight with an enemy ace, he cuts his foes oil line which clouds their goggles, he goes in for the kill and sees the enemy pilot is his twin! He can not kill him and his flight team can not understand why he didn't finish him off. He doesn't tell them his fantastic story and they are angry with him, then in a second attempt to bomb the same target they again meet in the air. This time Carl gets the drop on Richard and it goes the same way he's about to deliver the killing blow when he sees that it's his twin. He too can not kill his twin. Before a 3rd sortie both brothers are called out by their commanding officers and ordered to show no quarter for the enemy. They take to the air and go at each other in earnest but neither are able to gain the upper hand until they run out of bullets and ram each other in the air. Carl is knocked out but Richard grabs him from the falling wreckage and I assume parachutes down to the ground safely with him. It looks more like they emerge from the twisted wreckage of the 2 planes actually and there's no sign of a parachute anywhere!? Maybe it's ghosts of the two brothers who greet each other face to face on the ground. The comic ends with a few cartoons but there is no resumption of the framing story so we never know if Von Hammer's tales help to convince the cowardly (actually very sensible) Klaus to do his duty.
There are 7 short tales here featuring a ton of JLA heroes from past and present.
JLA: Secret Files and Origins
#1 (1997)
#2 (1998)
More cool short stories in these books, I do like these giant books with lots of cool short stories in them, they make for cool reading.
JLA: Primeval (1999)
The World's Greatest Heroes must save humanity from de-evolution but first face it themselves in this Prestige one-shot! When eons of evolution are erased in a heartbeat in Dallas, the JLA finds that the source is a grotesque, thoroughly mad disciple of long-vanished gods who plans to turn back the clock on the entire world! Striving to hold things together, the Leaguers slowly come to the realization that their powers are slipping away or going out of control -- with every second, as they themselves return to their ancestral roots. Source.
JLA: Superpower (1999)
This book centred around a new hero Antaeus joining the Justice League. He was given powers via experiments by his genetic engineer father with further enhancements provided by S.T.A.R. Labs. He was plagued by his inability to save 4 people from a fire in his home town a long time ago and becomes further frustrated by a dictator subjugating and mistreating his countrymen. Believing he is doing right kills the tyrant which causes a power vacuum that leads to massive loss of life. Antaeus ends up killing himself by tearing at and damaging his enhancements which explode.
League of Justice (1996)
1 - 2
This is a 2 part Elseworlds set in a sword & sorcery/fantasy setting with characters such as Atomus the Palmer, Bat-Mancer, Green Knight/Sir John Stewart, Longbow Greenarrow, The Martian and Phaeton!
JLA: Scary Monsters (2003)
1 - 6
The JLA square off against the ancient spirits haunting a resort community constructed on an Indian burial ground! Can the JLA avoid being transformed into monsters themselves?
Whilst battling Epoch, the Lord of Time the JLA get transported to the Wildstorm Universe where they meet up with the WildC.A.T.s. They go through the usual routine of fighting each other before teaming up to take on the real menace.
JLA: Welcome to the Working Week (2003)
How does the JLA act behind closed doors? You're about to find out! When Marlus Randone stows away on the JLA Watchtower, he relies on his notebook and disposable camera to document the petty squabbles and inside decisions made by the members of the JLA.
Another tribute issue in memory of Julius Schwartz the long-time editor for DC Comics. As I mentioned last blog he was integral in bringing about the Silver Age at DC. The 2 stories here are in that quirky Silver Age style and feature the editor himself meeting up with the characters he created.
Justice League: Another Nail
1 - 3
After the original story The Nail, the JLA comes to terms with its newest recruit--Superman--and faces a sprawling adventure that catapults them to other worlds, other dimensions, other eras, and even the mystical realms that lead to Hell itself!
The Kingdom is a partial sequel to Kingdom Come, where heroes from that story cross over into the canonical New Earth universe to help stop a threat from destroying all reality. It served as an introduction to the concept of Hypertime.
Detective Comics
598, 599, 600
I'm not sure why this 3-parter is in this box rather that with some other Detective books elsewhere! Blind Justice is a Batman storyline written by Sam Hamm and illustrated by Denys Cowan. It's a three-part arc but the issues are oversized as a special event to celebrate the 600th issue of Detective Comics, published in 1989. The story involves Bruce Wayne being accused of treason and looks into the men who trained him to be Batman, as he hunts down a mind-hopping villain named Bonecrusher.
Man-Bat (2006)
1 - 5
Kirk Langstrom has long had control of his Man-Bat alter ego, able to keep the beast and himself out of trouble. But now his control is slipping, with horrifying consequences for the people around him. And two more of Batman's biggest foes have plans to turn Man-Bat's predicament to their advantage! Don't miss this stunning new vision of a classic character, one that returns him to his original, terrifying roots!
An annoying title to work out this one, it started as Justice League, added International to the name from #7 then switched to Justice League America from #26. I have used the cover of #7 the 1st with 'International' in the name as it features the death of Gray Man, the chap I kind of partially named my YouTube channel for. The Gray Man was a sorcerer who gained the attention of the Lords of Order they approached the sorcerer and granted him the ability to tap into and collect the ambient dream energy from other human beings who were on the verge of death. However despite it being meant as a reward The Grey Man thought this duty was a punishment. He began collecting dream stuff from healthy living humans, thus earning him the attention of Earth's mystic champion Doctor Fate, as well as that of Fate's colleagues, the Justice League. After defeating him, Doctor Fate took the Gray Man to the home dimension of the Lords of Order. The Lords told him that assuming the role of the Gray Man was intended as a high honour, not the punishment that the Gray Man believed it to be. The Gray Man begged them to take away this "honour", and they acquiesced, stripping him of his immortality and removing him from existence. Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen & Kevin Maguire he first appeared in Justice League #2 (June, 1987) and seemingly died in Justice League International #7 (November, 1987) Although he did turn up another time after this as mentioned in an older blog that I can't be bothered to find the link for! (It was to do with a rebirth of Dr Fate though, and Wesley Dodds the Golden Age Sandman's death.)
JLA Incarnations (2001 - 02)
1 - 7
This is a story going over the different iterations of the Justice League over the years. Starting out in the shadow of the JSA and the various line-ups they've had and locations they've had their bases in, like the satellite, Happy Harbor and Detroit.
Justice League of America (2006)
JSA Classified
Cold Steel
Book 1 & 2
Even looking up synopsis of this comic didn't enlighten me much, but I kind of figured aliens and giant robot suits, for fans of Japanese giant robot manga and Pacific Rim buffs I'd imagine!
DC1ST (2002)
Superman/Lobo
Superman/The Flash
Green Lantern
Batgirl/The Joker
This is a bunch of retellings or reimagings of classic first meetings between. The 1st race between the golden and silver Flashs, the 1st Lobo/Superman tear up, the 1st Batgirl meeting with Joker etc. A pretty cool comic concept.
What can you say about these, other than I wish I had collected more of them as a kid!! Why did I not get my DC/Marvel comics every week instead of the UK humour/adventure comics?? I would have an even more bitching collection than I already do have if only I'd collected regularly 10 years earlier in my life!! Oh for a time machine and a visit to little 9 year old me with a list of wise investments!!
Justice League International Special #1 (1990)
Justice League International Annual
#3 (1989)
# 5 (1994)
Justice League (of) America Annual
#1 (1983)
#3 (1985)
#4 (1990)
#8 (1994)
Nothing to say about these except who doesn't love an annual or a ginat special chock full of great self-contained stories? Look at that sweet cover with is it Doctor Destiny there, the skull faced plunderer of dreams!! The team battle for their lives against nightmare creations as the skull-faced spectre looks on in maniacal glee!
JLA - Z (2003 - 04)
1 - 3
It's a Who's who of the JLA!! Did I need this book? I dunno, I have it though and why not, I'd probably Google it first but if the net is down I can go through all my boxes till I find this and hey presto, job's a good 'un!
JLA: Gods and Monsters (2001)
The World's Greatest Heroes race to stop aerial attacks by what can only be called "War Wheels", destructive flying disks deployed by a cult that worships the JLA as gods. The Wheels are a wake-up call to the world, and if the world doesn't construct temples of worship for the JLA, the destruction will continue...unless, of course, the JLA has anything to say about it!
Silver cylinders from space come to Earth and start 'collecting' superheroes! It turns out to be the work of Vic Stone Cyborg who somehw has lost his humanity and has become a fully robotic soul. He is collecting his old team mates to bring his family together, along the way of solving this catastophe the JLA and Titans clash but ultimately work together to help bring back Vic's human side.
JLA: Paradise Lost (1998)
1 - 3
With angels and demons conspiring against 'The Presence' Zauriel, the JLA's very own real life Angel has a mammoth task on his hands stopping a celestial/holy war.
JLA/Spectre: Soul War (2003)
The Spectre and the JLA form an uneasy alliance when the minds of psychics across the country are hijacked by an entity called the Trans - a devastating alien menace that threatens the fabric of reality itself! Our heroes discover that the only way to defeat such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent is...to become one! Can even the JLA be trusted with the awesome power of the Spectre?
This is the highly regarded Morrison run on the World's Greatest team, yadda yadda yadda, great book, many plaudits etc what I want to know though is why the heck I have so many books missing from this run?? Did I quit for a while and then go back to collecting again? I swear I don't recall doing that at all but maybe I did!! That might account for the break between #58 and #73 and perhaps the odd missing ones here and there are my LCS being pants!! I noticed a bit gap at the end of my Teen Titans run a few blogs ago and checked to see if that gap corresponded with the biggest gap here and it doesn't, so.... it's a blooming mystery!!
Wonder Woman #212
JLA/Avengers
Avengers/JLA
1 - 4
The World's greatest team of superheores and them fellas from that other company team up and do lots of good things together, they probably engage in a bit of fisticuffs too due to some misunderstanding or other. haha I am jesting of course, The Avengers are mighty too and I do love them but I am just more DC is all. I have a nice run of Avengers somewhere in my collection which I'll get to eventually.
Martian Manhunter (1988)
1 - 4
J'onn J'onzz the Manhunter from Mars!! Written by J.M. DeMatteis with illustrations by Mark Badger, the series re-evaluated the origin of the Martian Manhunter and introduced the character of H'ronmeer, the Martian death god. The series also featured guest appearances by members of Justice League International.
Martian Manhunter Special (1996)
Martian Manhunter (1998 - 2001)
0 - 36, 1 Million
Annual (1998)
Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) was the first and (to date) only ongoing comic book series to feature the Martian Manhunter. It was published from October of 1998 until November of 2001, spanning a total of thirty-six issues, a special 0 issue, a 1 Million issue, and two Annuals. The series was written by John Ostrander with artistic contributions from Tom Mandrake and Doug Mahnke. I totally stole that synopsis from the DC wiki, shhh don't tell them!! A really cool issue is the daft but funny Blue & Gold pairing hiding J'onn's Oreo cookies! The poor fella's a cookie junkie!!
Extreme Justice (1995 - 96)
0 - 18
Dissatisfied with their treatment after the Judgment Day incident and conflicting opinions with its leader Wonder Woman, Captain Atom formed his own Justice League team with a group of heroes that wanted to be more proactive than their sister teams.
Choosing not to be sanctioned by the United Nations, Captain Atom's team dealt primarily with threats to the United States. They originally occupied the "abandoned" Mount Thunder but this was actually a secret staging area for a military coup. Atom's Justice League managed to thwart the general behind the coup and stop a nuclear Armageddon. Later they invade Bialya to stop Queen Beatriz from recreating the Extremists villain team. This particular incident was the last straw and all versions of the Justice League were disbanded.
Identity Crisis (2004 - 05)
1 - 7
With murdered wives, murderous ex-wives, rape and mind tampering going down this tale is fun for all the family!! No, not really, it's just a sad story, Ralph 'Elongated Man' Dibney's wife Sue is killed and the heroes try and hunt down the perpetrator with suspicions falling on Dr Light. Secrets from the past are dragged up which create friction inside the team. The real killer is revealed as Atom's (Ray Palmer) ex-wife Jean!! Boo! Boo I say! She later becomes Eclipsed by Eclipso and becomes a major villain for Day of Vengeance or something like that, so many crossover, major events and so few braincells to remember them with!
Black Canary (1991 - 92)
1 - 4
After an argument with Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen over his over-spending of their joint finances Black Canary aka Dinah Laurel Lance takes a sabbatical out in the moutains. She meets up with an anti-drug campaigner and radio host Gan Nguyen and has to aid him when hitmen are sent to murder him to prevent his interventions. Black Canary (1993)
1 - 12
Seattle is coming apart, and only one hero can hold it together. Fresh from her recent miniseries, Black Canary returns in an ongoing title chronicling the exploits of a streetwise, tough-as-nails hero. Black Canary begins her monthly adventures with the 3-part story arc "Hero Worship," as Dinah Lance is forced to relive her own origin while investigating a rash of homicides. This leads her into a confrontation with an underworld mastermind whose latest scheme has gone out of control. It becomes a race against time that Black Canary must win before more people die.
So this does have keys in it apparently. #1 shows Amanda "The Wall" Waller and Brimstone for the 1st time, with the new Suicide Squad showing up in #3 I believe. The original Suicide Squad appeared in Brave and the Bold #25 September 1959!
In a Darkseid plot Glorious Godfrey posing as G. Gordon Godfrey is sewing discord against superheroes on Earth. He has charismatic powers of persuasion that set non-powered humans against their super-powered saviours.
Legends was the first major crossover event to follow in the wake of the reality-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths. It exists as a landmark mini-series due to its status as a jumping-on point for several spin-off titles including a revamped Justice League, a new Wonder Woman title and a re-imagined Suicide Squad.
The Weird (1988)
1 - 4
The Weird is an alien hero composed entirely of pure energy. He belongs to a race known as the Zarolatts who were oppressed for a very long time by the Macrolatts. Unlike the rest of his docile race he decided to fight back by conacting superheroes on Earth. His physical form was created by possessing the corpse of a man named Walter Langley, giving him both Langley's appearance and memories. The Weird was created by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson, first appearing in The Weird #1. (1988) So this book then, he shows up in a few other short runs that I have shown in earlier blogs, Mystery in Space and the Rann-Thanagar Holy War. Both these titles also feature Captain Comet. At the end of this miniseries The Weird dies but later his disembodied spirit meets the spirit of Captain Comet who had been killed by Lady Styxx, somehow his 'weird' powers was able to reanimate them both in new bodies! I think this guy is pretty weird but I do like his strange look. The cover above doesn't show him how he normally is and couldn't find a crisp image of him but here he is.
Elongated Man (1992)
1 - 4
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, Ralph Dibney is the Elongated Man, he 1st debuted in the Flash #112 (1960) with his wife Sue being a regular feature of most of his stories from her debut in Flash #119 (1961). They were a fun pair I have an omnibus of their quirky early adventures, they teased each other a bit but they were a loving, fun comics couple. Ralphn got his powers after his fascination with Indian Rubber men led him to discover that they all drink Gingold, a soft drink made from Gingold a rare fruit from the Yucatan. He distilled it raw essence and it gave him stretch powers when he drank it!! Apparently Elongated Man was only created as editor Julius Schwartz did not realise that DC had the rights to Plastic Man! Anyway, Ralph was a member of various Justice Leagues and this was a fun little 4-parter of Sue and his time in Europe. The fun all ended with Identity Crisis as mentioned before when DC decided to kill off Sue, then reveal a hidden history that included her being raped and the perpetrator being mindwashed by Zatanna's Magic. If they felt like breaking the law and all morals like that why didn't they just chop his nuts off at the same time I ask you!? I can still see Ralph's crying creased face, his misery overriding his control of his power so his features are literally reduced to a melting mush of tears and snot. Comics ain't for kids anymore or for sentimental twerps like me it seems. Today's total is DC = 391 Making the new total so far
Those hard working men and women of the Gotham City Police Department are the stars of this book, Gordon, Bullock, Montoya, Allen and others fight crime via conventional means and we've seen them as auxillaery characters in the Batbooks but this run was all about them and their fights against the villains of Batman's rogues gallery. Maggie Sawyer who was always a Superman comic mainstay relocated to Gotham to head their Major Crimes Unit.
