The Melting Point of Bronze

 This time round, I'm going to look at some of the Bronze Age comics I've bought online and elsewhere so far this summer.

Have you ever heard of Double Double Comics? In the days of Decimalisation, four random, remaindered  comics, stripped of their covers, would be bound together as one economy package by the distributors, Thorpe and Porter. (It seems that the spinner racks in the newsagents of my childhood were all stocked by T&P) . My very favourite reprinted the debut of Shadow Lass im Adventure with a fact-file on every Legionnaire up until 1968. Another fondly-rembered issue depicted a JLA-JSA clash; I'd never seen Mr. Terrific before. Recently, I bought another copy in Kollectables, behind the Tron Theatre.

The original I had owned featured the Blackhawks in their campy superhero phase and a Doom Patrol tale about a sinister guru. The Neal Adams Spectre story was still included but the Blackhawk and DP stories were different.(although, thankfully, it was the third part of the Blackhawks' bizarre transformation into High Camp Heroes)
It transpires that the contents can be a combination of Sixties comics-even Spider-Man, although it might say Action on the cover.On my last visit to Glasgow, I saw this issue and snapped it up.

 Although it looks like a conclave of Scooby-Doo villains, this is the False-Face Society

My original copy had included "Batman's Crime Hunt-A -Go-Go" and Elongated Man in "The Counter of Monte Cristo" with this iconic Carmine Infantino B& R poster:

 Contents of this copy also include the first Dr. Tzin -Tzin story, "The Inside Story of the Outsider"- Alfred's weird, albino identity- and a rare Gil Kane Batman story ("Hunt for a Robin-Killer", wherein Bruce can do some trademark Kane tragic breast-beating). But whatever else the original issue featured is, I'm afraid, lost to history.
Another Parnie Street purchase was a battered copy of the 1970 Superadventure Bumper Book.

 I got my first copy sometime in the early 70s on a trip to Weymss Bay. The strips include The Crimes of the Catwoman (I'm a sucker for The Princess of Plunder):

but the real highlight is a bizarrely-coloured reprint of "The Doomed Legionnaire"- green Persuader, red Mano, white Cosmic Boy. There was no indication that this is the second half of a continued story- a fact of which I was quite unaware until this digest reprint:

The sacrifice of Ferro Lad in the Sun-Eater story is one of young Jim Shooter's Silver Age triumphs. If you've read my posts on Superman, an earlier Superadventure annual introduced me to the World's Finest and is one of my earliest reading memories.
Okay, so those were the Ugly, now time for the Bad. Well, "bad" probably too strong..."poor" might be better. The giant is from '71 and features an ad for Kirby's Mr. Miracle 3; otherwise,despite some cute Ramona Fradon art and a rather attractive Aquagirl, all this issue has in its favour is a very Seventies text story by Steve Skeates.

  Few words gladden my heart more than Summer Special and I bought this issue as a schoolboy from Bairds in Strathaven. But really, the only feature of note here is the gallery of "Aqua-foes" (including the mutant Liquidator, whom I first saw in that Adventure Double Double) The special features Skeates again, reprinting a  Teen Titans story where Aqualad and the foxy second Aquagirl, Tula, attend a rock concert (Atlanteans at T in the Park?). The other story is a Bob Haney endeavour straight out of the 60s cartoons, with Manta-Men and poor, poor Aquababy.

This DC special was also bought in Bairds in '76. You really have to like baseball to enjoy it but it does have some lovely Dillin art. It was my introduction to Matter Master and Dr. Polaris. Mr. and Mrs. Menace were unique as married supervillains and more interesting than their daughter Artemis, the Tigress has ever been. Bob Rozakis and Dick Dillin should have worked on a Plastic Man feature or at least a First Issue Special.

My worst purchase doesn't even merit a pic. Secret Origins of Super-Villains has both a busy, orange cover by the mighty Jim Aparo and an exciting frontispiece featuring Two-Face, Grodd, Dr. Light, Brainiac and the Shark. But the all-new origins are the dreary, lacklustre dreck that was commonplace from DC in '77.

 Happily, 1978's Secret Origins of Super-Heroes is better. Conway and Vosburg produce a noir-ish Black Canary; Levitz and Staton tell Dr. Fate's origin (I loved their All-Star Comics!); and Lightray, rather unnecessarily gets an origin that ties in with Conway and Newton's gritty and overlooked take on the New Gods. The Garcia-Lopez cover is moody and dramatic.

Here's a rare example of a super-hero Super-Spec that I missed first time round in the 70s. The two Barry- Flash stories look beautiful; I was particularly drawn to the whimsical Weather Wizard's design. The Johnny Quick story is a snoozer but I'd never read anything with Quicksilver-er, Max Mercury- before. My favourite had to be the Metal Men's debut; Ross Andru's robots were brimming with personality. The Golden Age Flash story had me wondering if Infantino modelled Jay on himself?

 As an aside, if anyone ever wanted to bring Jay Garrick to the screen, Leo's the man to cast!

We've looked at the ugly and the not-so-good; now we're safely in the Good (or good-ish) zone.
Previously on Place, I've revisited the Sword-and sorcery boom of the 70s. Weirdly, this is one property that was never revived at the time and yet is full of potential.

 The Kubert art is breathtaking and the noble, amnesiac hero and his silent companion, the Mute Bard, are classic protagonists.Recommended.

 Prince Jon returns in this Conway/Dillin two-parter. For whatever reason, neither these issues nor the following three ever seemed to reach Lanarkshire. The JSA line-up is remarkable, including the little-used GA Wonder Woman and Dr. Mid-Nite. It's also striking that the Huntress is so prominently featured.She really was a major DC heroine in the late 70s.
Overcrowding means that we don't learn much about the Black Pirate or Miss Liberty but in the modern era, this story would probably take six issues to tell. Hearteningly, Ralph, a hero much-maligned by Identity Crisis and 52, gets to save the day. There's also an advert for Conway's Vixen before the DC Implosion put paid to her series.

 The letters page of 160 with its membership readers poll  puts Captain Comet in second place, after Zatanna and before Black Lightning. I wonder why Conway didn't add Comet? His psionic mutant powers would have been unique in the JLA at the time.

 The digest-size Vampire Tales was almost too small for my old eyes but it was an amusing glimpse into the taboo-breaking world of Marvel's magazine phase. I'm a big fan of Marvel's rip-offs of Vampirella but had already read the Satana stories in the Marvel Horror collection. Despite Carla Conway's description of "the dour, sandy-headed Scotsman", I have to say time has not been kind to the writing style of Don McGregor.
 McGregor's tedious Sherlock Holmes "homage" Hodiah Twist is slightly less awful than his grindcore Morbius stories, with their jive-talkin' pushers and devil-worshippers. "Poison-Lark" is possibly one of the worst names for a villain in all comicdom.. The collection's rescued, however, by strips by Steranko and Romita.

 Far, far better is another of Marvel's quintessentially Seventies formats, the Sensational Spider-Man Treasury, which reprints Morbius's colour debut. The tormented disco vampire was a ground-breaking character but the six-armed Peter Parker bit just seems deranged. My favourite scene depicts Gwen Stacy inviting Peter to the spicy flick I am Curious: Yellow after he gripes about obscene phone calls. You can't imagine Lois Lane talking to Clark that way in 1971. But it's a symptom of how confident the House of Ideas felt as a pop culture brand and another reason to Make Mine Bronze Age!