Twins in Transgression

This morning's post looks at the second issue of DC's ongoing Wanted- The World's Most Dangerous Villains, from October 1972. This is one that I actually got in Strathaven at the time but had to buy a second copy on ebay, like most of my early-70s DC comics.


I am a third-generation hoarder.My new tenant in Glasgow sent me a text asking why I have a locked cupboard in the kitchen. That's because it's literally piled to the ceiling with all the belongings I didn't bring to Elgin (since I thought I'd be back after a year), including my comic boxes. It was exactly the same in my Dad's house-at the top of the stairs, a cupboard was stuffed with Silver and Bronze Age comics, including my cousin Jim's collection, passed to me when he went to high school in Galston.
At some point in 1974, probably because my collection of British Marvels was growing at an alarming rate with MWOM, Spider-Man, the Avengers and POTA, my mum "encouraged" me to throw out the original colour comics. That included DCs: Shooter's Legion issues of Adventure, the Ra's al Ghul issues of Batman, the Super-Specs, early issues of Kamandi and all the Fourth World titles...and Wanted. My dad kept three lofts of racing pigeons and I remember this one comic in particular, mouldering in one of many damp and disintegrating pigeon feed sacks and waiting for the dustbin men:

 Forty years later, I'm still buying them back. (In 1975, however, when I went to Strathaven Academy, I started buying a comic a day at lunchtime.)

I particularly like the ominous black masthead against the white wanted poster, rather than the usual red.
Knights of Knavery is a Golden Age Batman story from 1944 that teams one of my favourite Batman villains, "that grotesque bird of ill omen", the Penguin with "that leering monster of menace", the Joker. I'm usually bored rigid by the Joker. The mass-murdering, sexually ambiguous, art terrorist Robin-killer is the most over-exposed character in comics after Wolverine, and he's become such a symbol of literary pretension. In "Knights", he's  given a typically grand entrance-" Those spine-chilling chuckles! That Satanic voice!" However, this story is about how the egos of this "unholy union of masterminds"  are their undoing and it's refreshing to see the Joker stripped of his adolescent Goth nihilism.
"Knights" is also a very wordy tale with more than a touch of the Adam West series: " ...uniting the jocular genius of the Joker with the predatory proficiency of the Penguin". 
 

The letters page features rave reviews for the Flying Heroes, Supergirl and Flash/ "Gantlet"(!!) Super-Spectaculars. (see previous posts on the 'Optikon) The Ray, Black Condor, Merry, Johnny Quick, Metal Men and Quicksilver all garner enthusiastic responses. ENB indicates that the Weather Wizard will be featured eventually in Wanted- he wasn't.


The Trickster Strikes Back: Another polished Flash story, pencilled by the virtuoso Carmine Infantino and published five months before the first issue of Fantastic Four. The Trickster is a whimsical crook who uses toy gimmicks, many of which operate by commpressed air; he's a Silver Age Spring-Heeled Jack.  He's like Dick Grayson too, in that he comes from a family of aerialists but was inspired to become a criminal by his "reverse-namesake", Jesse James.
This story appears to be the Trickster's second appearance, suggesting his debut may have been previously reprinted somewhere. Despite attempting to blow up Barry-Flash, he's one of those high-minded crooks who views his nemesis as a "worthy opponent" to "duel with". James Jesse has a goofy charm which makes him one of my favourite Flash-Rogues, placing high above dull Sam Scudder or ridiculous Digger Harkness.


Coming soon: The Wonder Wisdom; the JLA Treasury; and Dalek X

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