Superboy #193 (June, 1973)
"The Rock 'n' Roll Riddle of Smallville!"
"The One-Shot Hero!"
Writer - Cary Bates
Pencils - Bob Brown & Dave Cockrum
Inks - Murphy Anderson
Cover Price: $0.20
Dunno about you, but if I see the words "Rock 'n' Roll" on the cover of a comic, I really am powerless to resist it. Not that I'm a huge music buff or anything, but the idea of a comic (especially of this vintage) using "Rock 'n' Roll"... I mean, you just know you're in for a corny-as-all-get-out treat.
Also, I think we're going to meet an all-new Legionnaire in the back-up... so, let's get to it!
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It's the story of two loners... one, a blind boy named Don Blake... who, upon bopping his cane into the ground becomes the Mighty Tho-- oh, not that Don Blake? Oh, okay. The other, Clark Kent... Superboy! One without enough ability... the other, with far too much! We see Don get beaned in the belly with a baseball... and get lambasted for being "blind", that is, of course, before the kid realizes that he truly is blind. I mean, how many blind kids attend Smallville High? I'd figure the whole school would be aware of this guy! Clark, on the other hand, is coerced into hula-hooping (they're the newest craze!)... his powers go out of control sending the thing sky-high. He whips up a "freak dust storm" to explain the phenomenon.
Later that day, Clark and Don walk home from school together. Don's holding his trusty radio up to his ear, and just DJ Michael Jay is about to spin the song "Bad-Time Baby", a terrific hurricane begins!
Since Don can't see, Clark doesn't need to come up with too elaborate an excuse... he "supes up" and heads into the thick of it, where he finds... a thunderball! More like ball-lightning, but "thunderball" definitely has a better ring to it! More punch! Anyhoo, Superboy wraps his outstretched cape over the weather anomaly in attempt to contain it, when suddenly...
... it just stops! The weather goes right back to normal, and barring all of the structural damage, it's as though the hurricane never occurred. After checking in with some Smallvillians, Superboy "kents down" to check back in with Don. We can hear via his radio that the song "Bad-Time Baby" just ended. Hmm...
The next day, we join Don Blake in the Engineering Lab. Smallville High has an Engineering Lab?! In 1973?! Really? Okay. Anyhoo, he's working on adding miniature "radar sensors" to his specs to assist his senses and give him better depth perception. At that very moment, Superboy is sneaking out to go on his midday patrol.
The other students? Well, you know how they be... they're sock-hoppin' in the cafeteria! Wouldn'tcha know it, DJ Michael Jay is just about to spin "Bad-Time Baby" again! WSMV is the only station that plays that song, by the way.
Shifting over to Superboy's patrol... he spots a pair of goons attempting to rob a bank. He has everything well in hand, until... the thunderball returns... inside the bank, even!
Back in the Engineering Lab, Don Blake pops on his suped-up specs. All of the "gizmos" he added are acting like electronic receivers, and he can hear a far off phone call between the bank robbers and... someone referred to as "Jay". You don't think they're talking about WSMV DJ Michael Jay, do ya?! They discuss using the thunderball as a distraction.
Moments later, and just like the previous day... the thunderball disappears. Don Blake checks his radio, and... naturally, "Bad-Time Baby" has just concluded. He thinks he's figured it all out, and heads off to... no, not the Police Station... to WSMV Studios to confront Michael Jay... and to show the world that being "blind" doesn't mean you're "helpless".
Of course, the next time we see young Master Blake, he is tied up. Well, so much for that. It's here that we learn that "Bad-Time Baby" somehow causes these thunderballs to occur.
Lucky for him, Superboy arrives on the scene right away! He confronts DJ Michael Jay (who gives up in record time), and learns that he had no choice but to help out the goons. Ya see, he's run up a "terrific" gambling debt.
He beats up all of the bad guys... even makes two of 'em kiss! Okay, not really. After neutralizing the goons, he grabs the Bad-News Baby "platter" and crushes it in his hand.
But, I know what you're thinking... how did Superboy know to head to the WSMV studio? Well, naturally... Don Blake used a miniature transmitter, which he knew Superboy's super-hearing would catch. Superboy gives the thumbs up (which Don can't see)... okay, no, I'm kidding. He gives the metaphorical "thumbs up" and proclaims Don Blake's days as a loner are behind him. Just like that? Gee thanks!
Next, we head in for a NEW Tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes... and it's the first appearance of the Legionnaire we now know as Wildfire! We open with, well, Wildfire (going by the name ERG-1... that is Energy Release Generator-1) as he is pitching to become a member of the Legion.
Phantom Girl's all "whattaya got, stud?" and so, he spills his secret origin. His real name is Drake Burroughs... and he was an Astro-Engineer (I tell ya, that Engineering Lab at Smallville High must've been quite ahead of its time!). While working on a propulsion system, he was pounded by some anti-matter discharge, which transformed him into a being of "pulsating anti-energy". The only way he could survive after that was being stuffed into the containment suit that he wears.
Since that didn't exactly answer Phantom Girl's query, he continues to explain his powers. Ya see, he can do many things that the Legionnaires can already do, including having similarly sensitive "senses" as Superboy", Chemical King's control over elements, size manipulation like Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet, even the intangibility of Phantom Girl herself! While impressive, the Legion decides to pass... after all, according to their rules, each member must bring something unique to the table.
ERG meekly pleads his case, and hints that there is more to him than his Legionnaire gimmicks... however, when he's asked to demonstrate, he declines... and decides to accept his disqualification.
Just then, the Legion is contacted about some trouble brewing on Manna-5... an agricultural planet responsible for providing food to countless worlds and billions of folks. Turns out, some baddies have concocted a... well, basically a giant vacuum to suck up all of the food. The Legion head off to take a look. What they don't know, is that ERG stowed away with them.
Now, the Legion takes the fight to the giant vacuum... and they're really no match for it! The thing is even able to take down Colossal Boy... and just as it's about to suck him up, ERG swoops in and fires a terrific blast of "unimaginable destructive force" from his visor!
This destroys the vacuum, however also... leaves nothing but ERG's limp containment suit laying on the ground. The Legion celebrate the win, however promise to honor ERG's sacrifice. They vow to never forget him... and even build a monument in his honor!
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Ya know... if you're ever down about comics "these days", or the constant behind-the-scenes bickering we're all (unwittingly) privy to... one place to find solace, and a reminder as to why we love this stuff to begin with... is the Bronze-Age! There's just so much fun here.
Before we begin... one thing that stood out to me, which probably wouldn't have, had we not recently discussed that Silver-Age Superboy story a few days ago. In it, the Kent General Store, and the Kent home were burned down... and Clark wasn't allowed to help them rebuild as Superboy... for fear that it would've revealed his dual-identity. Well... after the "thunderball" struck, the first thing Superboy did was promise his newly-homeless Smallvillians that he'd "be back later to repair everything". So, what's the deal?!
Oh well, just another case of me thinking too hard and being silly about Silver Age comics. Nothin' ta see here, folks!
I did a little research on Don Blake... it looks like this is his only appearance. That's really too bad. Seems like a natural fit as Superboy's "techie" friend... someone who he can call on when he needs a hand. Heck, I could see him being part of Superman's cast, even! Despite this being his lone appearance, someone out there actually made a custom action figure of him! Wouldja lookit that? Looks pretty cool!
By the way, you could lose several hours of your life checking out Figure Realm's customs. A ton of cool stuff there! Everything you never knew you wanted!
As corny as Superboy's "declaration" that Blake was no longer a loner was... I still dug it. Felt like the way a sitcom might end. Nothing's really tied up, but since we're shuffling this kid into limbo anyway, it doesn't even matter! For all we know, Don Blake went on to become the Casanova of the Engineering Lab... or, ya know, he might've just become Thor.
The Legion story... another fun one! I'm not sure why, but I really dig young heroes "pitching" to join their ranks. I mean, I could probably read a trade collection of just that! It's part "Who's Who?" it's part "Secret Origin", added to that... we get a "Yea" or "Nay"... it's just a lot of fun.
The tragic cliffhanger was well handled. Of course, from what we know now... it's kinda deflating, but I'm sure back in the long ago, there might've been actual feelings of loss. The threat? I mean, it's silly... the Legion were taking on a giant vacuum cleaner. You gotta wonder what Dave Cockrum was using as inspiration there... like, did he head into the broom closet to get a better look at his own vacuum?
Overall... this was a blast. Silly, sure... but a whole lot of fun. The kinda book that reminds me why I still do this every day! The Superboy story would be reprinted in a Digest Edition... and the ERG tale would be reprinted several times over. Somewhat surprisingly, this issue is available digitally! I'd say it's worth a look!
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Justice League of America #190 (May, 1981)
"Our Friends, Our Enemies"
Writer - Gerry Conway
Pencils - Rich Buckler
Inks - Bob Smith & Larry Malstedt
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Gene D'Angelo
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.50
Full disclosure... I decided to discuss this little Starro story simply because of this cover. I mean, just look at it? That's some pretty great stuff, ain't it?
Can the inside even hope to live up to the the greatness of the cover? Let's find out...
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We pick up right where we left off last issue... the other half of the Justice League is still on that aircraft carrier trying to process the threat of Starro. Worth noting, Zatanna is here as well... didn't notice her yesterday! Just checked again, and nope... we didn't see her yesterday! Anyhoo, a Naval Officer claims that he'd just spoken to the President of the United States, who is totally on board with the absolute decimation of New York City in order to neutralize the Starro situation. The League is aghast... and pleads for a few hours reprieve. The Officer, knowing he doesn't have a whole heckuva lot to lose grants them until nightfall.
We next head into the city and find the Starro-controlled League going about the business of directing as much of the city's electricity into Grand Central Station, so that their Star-shaped ruler can feed off the, um, protein in the electricity? Is that a thing that happens? Well, I'll be a sonuvagun... it kinda is! Not sure it was a thing in 1981... but, whattayagonnado?
At this point, we find Red Tornado... who, being an android isn't being mind-controlled... he's just playing along. He tears the starfish off his mug, and heads off to try and find a way to shut Starro down. Unfortunately for him, he runs into Wonder Woman... unfortunately for her, she's being written like a complete pushover here. Reddy heads north, into the Bronx.
At that same time, the other half of the League descends on Manhattan. They're all wearing repellor-disks, usually used as insect repellent by Hawkman, on their chests to keep the Starro-spawn away. Batman wonders why they can't just use a really big disk to drive Starro away... Hawkman says that won't work, and we might as well believe him. I mean, he's got no reason to lie to us. The team splits up and gets to work.
We shift over to a fruit and vegetable market on the Lower East Side where we meet up with our old friends, the Watsons. Ya remember, they're that family who are kinda responsible for this mess in the first place. Young Terry wanders into the shop's freezer... and wakes up from his Starro-induced daze. Suddenly, memories come rushing back to him. He decides to hide out in the freezer for a bit.
We rejoin Aquaman as he's receiving word from his fishy friends about a fleet of ships coming down the East River. He deduces from this that Starro is sending his spawns out of New York City... likely to seek out another place to feed and conquer. Aquaman commands the fish to gather seaweed with which they can gunk up the ships' propellers. He then hops out of the drink, and socks the Starro-controlled sailors but good.
Next stop, somewhere in the Subway. Batman, Elongated Man, Flash and Zatanna are scoping out the scene. It's eluded to that Zee and Barry might've shared a somewhat intimate moment not too long ago, which has left them both sorta-kinda uncomfortable working so closely. Maybe we'll take a look at that issue soon.
While Zatanna is making goo-goo eyes in Barry's direction, the gang is attacked by a swarm'a Starro-spawns! The heroes struggle to get the situation under control... and are only able to by the grace of Zatanna casting a freezing spell on the starfish (this will be important later on). Worth noting, the spell sure seems to have taken it out of her. Ralph notices her fatigue, but promises to keep it between the two of them.
Heading up to the Bronx, Red Tornado has infiltrated a power station, with the express goal of shutting the thing down. He breaks through the Starro-controlled defenses, and makes his way to the master switch. Imagine there being a single switch you could pull to shut off electricity to New York City? That just doesn't seem like the best idea, does it? Anyhoo, Reddy goes to pull the lever, but is struck silly by some sparks of feedback.
Back in Manhattan, the Hawks spy a helicopter full'a Starro-spawns trying to leave the city. They put a stop to that with the quickness. They nearly kill the passengers, but... hey, whattayagonnado? Gotta keep that Starro-strain centralized.
After safely lowering the chopper to the ground, Hawkgirl hears a bit of sobbing. They follow their ears into that fruit and veggie stand, and discover Terry Watson huddled in the freezer, crying. At that same time elsewhere, Batman comes across Black Canary... and they engage in some hand-to-hand.
Batman gets the better of the physical exchange... and when he goes to tear the Starro spawn from Dinah's face, realizes that the li'l sucker's on so tight, that removing it would kill her! He figures there's just got to be another way.
Next, we rejoin Red Tornado... who, after being shocked silly, struggles to his feet. Realizing that there's no other option, he throws himself into the massive circuit board... sacrificing himself to shut down all power to the city. Thankfully, this works! Couldja imagine what a bummer it would've been if it hadn't?
Back in Grand Central, Starro wonders what just happened. His mood is further dampened when he is confronted by the entire Justice League (minus, Red Tornado of course)! Remember how Zee was able to down those Starro-spawns with her freeze spell? Well, the same sorta thing happened to Terry Watson... when he entered the freezer, the effects of Starro's mind-control went away. Sooo, Zatanna just froze all of the li'l buggers to free the League.
Firestorm and Hal blast the heck out of Starro into a starfish-cicle, thanks to Ronnie's atomic restructuring hoo-doo... and before we know it, the Conqueror is suffering the same frozen fate as Aquaman's Silver-Age Cat-Dragon pal Myron who we met the other day. Ralph makes a joke about "frozen starfish on a stick", but... nobody laughs... including me! Rather abrupt ending... but, it's the only one we get!
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A pretty good, if not a little bit rushed and abrupt, ending to the Starro story!
Let's talk about some of the "good". Just like yesterday, when we saw Hal Jordan working "defensively" trying to stop the Starro-spawn rather than taking on the big fish head on... I really appreciate how "tactical" the League went about neutralizing the threat here. Having Aquaman and the Hawks watch the air and sky to ensure no Starro-spawns spread out of New York City was really cool... more of that attention to detail and "plot-hole-plugging" that I feel is usually ignored.
Red Tornado's sacrifice and "death" here was a pretty great scene. Of course, he'll get "better" (pretty quickly, if I recall right), but nevertheless, a very strong scene. I gotta wonder though, if he wasn't affected by the Starro spawn, what would've been the harm in keeping the li'l bugger on his face? I mean, it would have allowed him to "fit in" with the others... and probably would have facilitated his access into the power station, right? Oh well.
I'm intrigued about the Zatanna/Barry romance subplot... really wanna dig through the longbox to nab the issue where it began! It feels like such a "Marvel" thing to have teammates do the "will-they/won't-they okeydoke"... it seems so strange for Barry Allen to be part of a story thread like this. Really gotta check it out!
I'd say my only misgiving about this issue is... the same as most other times we discuss a pre-Crisis Justice League adventure... just how quickly it all wrapped up. I'm not sure if it's a "DC thing", a "JLA thing" or a "Conway thing", but it feels like every time we look at a League book of this vintage, we get twenty pages of build, and two pages where it's all abruptly wrapped up. We get no closure, and no "relief"... it's like when you interrupt a yawn.
Overall though, a neat little two-parter... with some awesome Brian Bolland covers, well deserving of a spot in your comics library. As with last issue, this hasn't been collected... nor has it been made available digitally. It's gonna be a bin-dive, but one that shouldn't cost ya much...
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Justice League of America #189 (April, 1981)
"The Return of the Starfish Conquerer!"
Writer - Gerry Conway
Pencils - Rich Buckler
Inks - Frank McLaughlin
Letters - Ben Oda
Colors - Gene D'Angelo
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.50
Been awhile since we covered any Justice League... it's been even longer since we talked any about Starro!
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We open on board the Justice League Satellite where Black Canary is running Firestorm through an obstacle course for training... which he keeps cheating his way through by making himself immaterial via his atomic restructuring hoo-doo. He argues that the course is supposed to make him hone his powers... and becoming immaterial is one of them, to which, Dinah doesn't have much of a response. She does, however, rub it in that she's able to get through the course with ease.
We shift scenes to somewhere on Long Island, where a young boy named Terry Watson is trying to break in his brand new fishing rod. He manages to catch... well, not a fish, but what looks like... okay, you've seen the cover and I've seen the cover... it's Starro.
We follow Terry home where he gets a tongue-lashing from his folks for sneaking off to go fishing. Terry enters the home, and is acting and speaking quite peculiar. His father, Ward, snatches the box he's carrying and looks inside. It's, yeah... it's still Starro.
Then, it's Mom's turn...
We next jump ahead one month. We're in Central Park where Red Tornado and Wonder Woman are hanging out with Reddy's main squeeze Kathy and her daughter Traya. Wonder Woman believes that this is Tornado's way of letting the League know that he's "found a purpose" in life. Diana and Kathy talk the "emotional logistics" of loving an android.
Meanwhile, nearby... Ward and Terry Watson lurk by the lake. Their eyes are deadened and their expressions blank. Before them in the water, there's a bubbling.
Suddenly, what appears to be a giant starf... okay, Starro attacks a couple in a rowboat. Wondy and Reddy hop to action!
Wonder Woman rushes in first... and gets zapped pretty good for her troubles. Kayoed, even!
Red Tornado fares no better... because, apparently... even an android can cry be knocked out by a giant starfish. Starro then emerges from the drink and... I'm not sure if he's threatening the humans, or just making a proclamation... either way, he informs them that they're about to witness "the arrival of greatness".
And then, like any dictatorial starfish might do... he reveals his origin! Like all of it... while panicked New Yorkers run around like lunatics! Ya see, he fought the Justice League before they even were the Justice League (Brave and the Bold #27). After being defeated, one of his "segments" blew off... and grew into a whole new Starro. This Starro fought Aquaman (Adventure Comics #451)... and guess what? The same exact thing happened! This time around (is this really only Starro's third appearance?!) the Watsons found him... and nurtured him back to his conquering-size.
Starro continues to blast away at the New Yorkers, turning them all into mindless slaves. Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Solitude, Superman is trying to gauge how powerful Hal Jordan's Green Lantern ring is. I guess this is what they do in their "off time". Hal claims that it's all powerful, however, that power should only be used a little at a time. Their chat is interrupted by the sounding of their JLA Comlinks... and so, they're off to the Satellite!
Upon arrival, they find that the only other Leaguers there are Canary and Firestorm. Also, Wonder Woman and Red Tornado... but they're knocked out. Dinah explains that Superman and Hal are actually the only ones to answer the call, since she and Ronnie were already there. This is because "something" is jamming communications... however, the Aurora Borealis above the Fortress of Solitude allowed the "broadcast" to come through.
Wonder Woman and Red Tornado begin to stir, and explain that the threat they now face is... Starro the Conqueror (hey, they spelled "conqueror" right this time!). Speak of the starfish... he... er, it's currently holding court at Times Square... where it's feeding off of some of the nearby "protein", which it needs to grow big and strong. Oh, and also to climb the Empire State Building, King Kong style. Well, maybe a little differently than King Kong did.
The Justice League arrives just in time for Starro to begin... firing off miniature Starros!
Firestorm, being the impetuous and impatient yoot' that he is, rushes in... and gets a starfish to the face! Wonder Woman attempts to lend a hand, however, he starts blasting willy-nilly.
The rest of the League takes their positions and attempts to both fight Starro... and contain all of the minis. Hal constructs a net... however, it's almost a moot point, there are just so many of these little buggers being produced, there's no hope of catching them all.
Just then, more baby starfish! The little buggers latch on to Hal (and Red Tornado for that matter), and both heroes succumb.
We're down to Superman and Black Canary. Dinah rolls through and offers up a diversionary holler. Superman lunges in for a shot at Starro's eye... however, gets caught up in an "atomic blast crossfire" wherein Starro uses all of its appendages? segments? arms? legs? points? to nail him but good.
With Superman out for the count, Dinah starts laying in to Starro with her karate prowess. She is halted, however, by the sight of her teammates... with starfish on their faces! This distraction is enough for Starro to nail her with a fish of her own. Oh, Superman gets one too!
As Starro stands triumphant atop the Empire State Building... a seagull flies by. We follow the bird all the way to an Aircraft Carrier off Long Island where... the other half of the Justice League (Batman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Elongated Man, Flash, and Aquaman) is... I dunno, hanging out? Anyhoo, the seagull "reports in" to Hawkman, and he shares the news with his teammates (and the United States Navy). One Naval officer suggests, if the "Starro Infection" is as bad as they say it is, they will have no other choice than to... destroy New York City!
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What a fun issue! I think today we're almost programmed to scoff at things like Starro... discount it as a silly Silver-Age relic (which, I mean, it kinda is), but here... Starro's built into a pretty credible threat! I mean, he beat (arguably the stronger) half of the Justice League... without even breaking a sweat!
Sure, the road we took getting there was a bit weird... I mean, some kid fishing it out of a fishin' hole. I guess there are stranger ways this could've come up... but, still. I found it pretty hilarious that Starro controlled the Watson family into nourishing it back to "fighting size". The image of Mama Watson spooning "protein" into Starro's midsection will probably stick with me for awhile.
I dig they way they're trying to "humanize" Red Tornado here. I always kinda looked at him as Vision without the charm. Stories like this go a long way toward changing that.
I feel like the members of the League were all depicted great here... except perhaps Wonder Woman. Seems like she went down a little too easy for my liking. Seems like she was a "one-and-done" during both battles. I liked that Hal was kind of acting "defensively", trying to neutralize the little buggers while the others faced "Big Starro" head on. Pretty cool attention to detail there, just the fact that somebody was thinking about containing the threat.
We get a great cliffhanger here... and one I'm pretty excited to follow up on. I'm pretty sure this is my first time reading this one... and while, I'm about 99% sure that the next issue won't feature New York City being destroyed, I'm still left guessing how they'll get through this one. Part of me is sure it'll be underwhelming... but, that's just the comics-cynic in me.
I asked during the synopsis whether or not this truly was Starro's third appearance... it almost seems impossible, doesn't it? Well, did some digging around my usual digging haunts and come to find that, yeah, this is (discounting reprints) only the third time Starro has tried to Conquer! Of course, from this point forward he would be a bit more prolific... even, not too long after, appearing in Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew!
Overall... had a really good time here, and I'm guessing if you're a fan of the League, you will too! Doesn't look like this one's been collected, nor (for whatever reason) been made available digitally. So, this one will be a bin dive, but shouldn't run ya all that much. Worth a look if you come across it!
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