Smiling Damned Villain

 For this afternoon's post, let me take you back to a dark night in the autumn of 1972. The pavements of Strathaven are lit with the orange glow of streetlights; I'm in a cafe with my dad and my brother, flicking through two DC comics. It feels like it's above the town, near the castle, but that seems odd. There weren't any cafes there, to my recollection. And this building wasn't pink:

Four months earlier, I was in hospital for the first time. I'm nine years old. Mighty World of Marvel No. 1 is probably about a month away but DC comics seem more readily available and they cost 6p each-slightly more than a shilling. The glory days of Bronze Age reprints already seem to be over: the comics are thinner; the Boy Commandos back-up and Scott Free vignettes have vanished since last month.

The writing was on the (Source) wall for the Fourth World books. This focus on Young Scott Free is set on Apokolips and introduces the dissident genius who inspired him. This is an uncompromising Kirby comic- the scene where fragile artist Auralie is electrocuted by hideous metallic boots for the crime of dancing is one of the most disturbing moments I'd ever seen in comics. A grisly mix of Nazi atrocity and German cautionary tale.There are some steps missing from the story but it's such a rebuttal to those who claim Kirby couldn't write. In a hellish blend of Warsaw ghetto and Dickensian rookery, the New Gods engineer Mr. Miracle's first and greatest escape. It's a stylish allegory about Viet Nam protests, youth culture and adolescent rebellion and makes its imitators (hello, George Lucas!) look dull and parochial. Let's just forget John Byrne's subsequent stories that had Scott wandering round the USA for a couple of centuries- they add nothing to Kirby's tetralogy.

After a main course from the King, the other comic is decidedly dessert. The Wanted specials- which I hadn't seen in '72 -were succesful enough to warrant an ongoing title. So majestic, however, were Marvel's villains ( Magneto, the Red Skull and the incomparable Dr. Doom) that even the lesser lights could give DC heroes a run for their money: The Owl or The Cobra and Mr. Hyde would have run rings around Batman, Robin or Green Arrow. There's a reason why there was no DC equivalent to Bring on the Bad Guys.
But since I knew very little about DC's rogues gallery other than the main Batman villains, Luthor, Brainiac and the Fatal Five, I was drawn to any costumed crooks. The text page of this issue, like so many in those days, was redolent of a whole lost world of adventures that seemed more appealing than DC's usual tales of possession, pollution and drug crimes. Evocative names like The Puzzler and the Duke of Deception would, I found later, turn out to be far more interesting than the characters themselves. If there's a more exotic sobriquet than Wonder Woman's Minister Blizzard, I've yet to hear it.

 For a first issue though, the line-up is pretty tragic. Only two of the villains have costumes and they're eyesores. On the other hand, three of the Adams/O'Neill stable of trendy DC heroes are featured.

The Signalman of Crime: I have a great fondness for 50s Batman stories; this one is from 1957 and Phil Cobb is a small-time crook who is desperate to establish a reputation. This rather modern ne'er-do-well uses signs for crime ; he must also have used Chronos' tailor. The Signalman struck enough of a chord with me to make me buy this issue of Detective four years later, in secondary school:

 I love that masthead!

Cobb then had a memorable appearance in the three-part JLA/JSA Crisis in 1981.


The Crimes of the Clock King: a toothless Batman and Robin-lite story. Ironically, this CK went on to appear in the Batman tv show, where Walter Slezak was clearly a Mad Hatter knock-off.

 The Batman animated series created a version that resembles the Riddler: this CK has been quite visible in the Noughties, as a ruthless and sadistic manipulator.

In Batman: Brave and Bold, Clock King's original costume has been tweaked to make him look, hilariously, like a Ruritanian monarch.


Menace of the Giant Puppet: this is one of the dullest adventures of dull space cop Hal I'd ever read. The giant puppet in the story recalls the Fool and the Harlequin, foes of the Original GL:

The real villain is a middle-aged Reed Richards lookalike in a yellow jumpsuit. With jodhpurs. When he returned in New Teen Titans 9, he had a more high-tech look ( well, for Perez in the 80s!)

This issue has a real sense of DC responding, slowly, to the Marvel onslaught: the Direct Currents page trailing Tarzan and a Jack Kirby mystery book; back-ups for neglected 60s stars Zatanna and Metamorpho; and a plug on the letters page for Kirby's The Demon. ENB also plugs the reprint of his own Inferior Five, the sweet-natured parody book.

 I remember getting this, some other twilit evening in Strathaven

Bridwell indicates that all-new material is planned for Wanted - but it never materialised. Despite the fact that this wasn't an impressive start, and, Cobb's garish outfit aside, these are forgettable villains, I came back to this title time after time, as we'll see...

Next: Knights of Knavery

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