Category: Random Retrospective

Random Retrospective #27 – Secret Society of Super-Villains Vol 1

The crazy, crazy 70s. This was a time when someone in DC thought a good idea would be to have a bunch of villains band together and plot to take down the JLA and then take over the world. Or something like that, anyway. I never had the original issues of this series, though I was aware that after its cancellation, a lot of the hanging plot threads were picked up by Gerry Conway and finished during his run on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. When this trade paperback came out, I was intrigued enough to pick it up. As an aside, as far as I’m aware the second volume was never released as a paperback – I bought a digital copy as the hardback was stupidly expensive.

Anyway, as it’s a collection, there’s no deep dive here, just a handful of panels that caught my eye, like the reason the team get together:

That’s right – what else would motivate villains like Manhunter (who’s only pretending to be a bad guy) Star Sapphire, Gorilla Grodd and others if not the chance to have their very own butler!

And we all remember when Sinestro wore an earring, right?

And then there was the long-running plot line involving Funky Flashman, DC’s take on Stan Lee:

They may have taken the mick with this character but here we are 50 years later and who from DC’s hallowed halls is as well known to the general public as Stan Lee? Not this guy, I’ll tell you that.

Random Retrospective #26 – Earth 2 Annual #2

EARTH 2 debuted as part of the second wave of the New 52 and was much heralded as the new ongoing series from James Robinson who was still lauded for his work on STARMAN in the late 90s/early 00s. He left (or was sacked, I’m not sure which) about eighteen months later leaving Tom Taylor to take the reins and things got a bit more bombastic from that point on. Part of EARTH 2‘s story was that the main three heroes – Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman – had died during the Apokoliptian invasion of the planet, but it seems you can’t have a world without Batman and while this latest version of the hero appeared in the main title, Annual #2 gave us his back story.

It starts in the past with the Earth 2 Batman Bruce Wayne investigating the murder of a man whose name anyone familiar with the Batman story will know:

It turns out that Thomas Wayne had saved mobster Franco’s life, they’d become friends, enjoyed the drugs and drink highlife (with Thomas helping supply drugs from the hospital), and Franco even introduced him to Martha. It wasn’t until Thomas and Martha had baby Bruce that Thomas wanted to clean himself up and get out from under the mob that Franco hired Chill to take care of things.

The killer of Joe Chill has worked his way up through Franco’s men and is intent on killing him to avenge the killing of Thomas and Martha, but Batman wants to stop him the right way.

They fight and Batman puts a tracker on him; he thinks the killer is Jarvis Pennyworth, Alfred’s father and Thomas’s butler, and eventually confronts him, but is shocked when he realises it’s his own father, Thomas. He’d survived the attack of Joe Chill and convinced his fellow doctor to tell everyone he’d died, knowing that Franco would never stop coming after him and Bruce. Using Miraclo, he dedicated himself to getting revenge on Franco, thinking that once he was dead, he and Bruce would be able to reconcile, but that’s not what happens.

After losing Bruce, Thomas goes back to Franco’s place and kills him, though he takes no pleasure in it. And then we’re brought up to the present day with Thomas telling the story to Hawkgirl and Red Tornado (who’s actually Lois Lane) and realising that there was only one thing he could do after Bruce had died saving the world.

And so he became Batman.

EARTH 2 sprawled a little in places and the whole Furies of Apokolips storyline went on way too long, but on the whole this, and it’s sister/sequel titles of EARTH 2: WORLD’S END and EARTH 2: SOCIETY were both largely enjoyable.

Random Retrospective #25 – Millennium #2

You know what? My random issue selector can go take a hike this week. I’ve already annotated not only this issue but the entirety of the MILLENNIUM event and it’s many, many crossovers. I’m not sure my tired old mind can take re-reading this well-intentioned but poorly delivered nonsense again, so I’m going to take this week off. If you really want to read more about this whole thing, click the links above and read my notes.

Random Retrospective #24 – Suicide Squad #58

I came to SUICIDE SQUAD late in the game, to be honest. At the time this was published, I was leaning more towards JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA and GREEN LANTERN and I think my first encounter with this title would have been the two issue crossover with JLA. Over the years, though, I heard more and more good things about it and, after reading Ostrander’s THE SPECTRE, I realised I’d been missing out so started hunting through the back issue boxes until I had the complete run.

And, typically, out of the 67 issues in this series, the one my random selector chooses, is one I’ve already touched on here, as it’s part of the crossovers of WAR OF THE GODS. Rather than do a quick summary again, I’m going to pick out one thing about this issue.

Suffice to say, the Squad had been assembled to attack Circe on her island as part of the crossover and there’s the obligatory shot of heroes and villains about to be briefed by Amanda Waller.

Up in the top right hand corner, this little exchange is going on:

The pale guy with a laptop in front of him is the fictional DCU version of Grant Morrison who had appeared in the pages of ANIMAL MAN about a year or so before and, as they state here, has since become subject to the whims of any other writer. This version of Morrison has become a character in someone else’s story! And they demonstrates their powers to a clearly unimpressed Firehawk and Silver Swan:

Unfortunately for The Writer, as they’re called in the comic, their tenure with the Squad is brief to say the least. The attack on Circe’s island is launched and they run into Amazons and Bestiamorphs and within moments . . .

Writer’s block – perhaps the only time it’s been fatal.

I performed a quick search to see if there was any comment from Morrison about their use and death in this issue and found a Newsarama interview from 2001 that has been saved on a Grant Morrison fan site where they say:

NRMA: One final sidenote – what was your reaction to appearing in Suicide Squad, as “The Writer” only to be killed off in issue #58?
GM: I think it probably served me right after everything I’d put Buddy Baker through. I just come back from the dead, stronger and stranger, like everyone else in comics.