DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: August 1970

This month, Batman takes on a monstrous man who is also a very articulate crime boss (O’Neil must have been paid by the syllable for this one), Flash dies (with a poorly attended funeral), the JLA and JSA begin their annual team-up, Supergirl rescues Superman from the Execution planet but also watches a bunch of people sacrifice themselves to their evil gods. Also, all those criminals who stole Superman’s uniform and sent our naked hero away in a rocket appear to have gotten away with it.

Then we have an imaginary story where Superman and Batman act way out of character. Superman acts like an a$$-hat because his son isn’t very good with his powers while Batman’s son is getting awards (which Batman likes to rub in Superman’s face). The first problem is that Batman works with his son, while Superman expects his son to just know what to do on his own. Secondly, Superman says the last straw is when his son wrecks the fortress to destroy a Superboy robot he invented to help with his son’s training. First of all, Superman failed to tell his son about the robot. Second, he should be doing the training, not some robot. Not that his son is completely innocent, but he definitely has self esteem issues, since Superman literally spends the entire issue telling him that he sucks.

Then we end the month with the return of Man-Bat, who completes his mutation into a bat, and Robin re-dedicating himself to being the best hero he can be. At least I think that’s what happened. The story just kind of ends without much of a resolution.

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: June 1970

Another fun month down. Superboy time travels, GL and GA arrive in Desolation, Batman and Robin solve the mystery of the “not-Beatles,” Flash thinks he’s a little kid (but is allowed to make out with Zatanna in front of Iris in the backup, so it’s not all bad), the JLA go crazy while Jean Loring regains her sanity (not an Identity Crisis in sight), Superman acts way out of character so as not to arouse suspicion while preventing an alien invasion (a huge, convoluted plan that wasn’t necessary, but will be explained to the public 100 years after Superman dies), 3 Legionaires fight a robot, Batman meets Man-Bat, and Batgirl and Robin are supposed to be in a story together but don’t. Next up, more Silver/Bronze Age goodness, including a Superbaby story (oh joy)!

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: May 1970

Another month down! Aquaman was doing decompressed storytelling before it was cool (which is annoying in a book that only came out 8 times a year). I’m not a big fan of Wonder-less Woman, but the Cyber story is starting to ramp up. Still waiting for the bat-books to be more consistent. For an era that is supposed to be going back to basics, there sure is a lot of mystical stuff going on outside of Gotham that Batman has to deal with. And the super-books were a bit weird this month, with both a Red Kryptonite story, and a sequel of sorts to the old “The Night of March 31st” story. And, once again, the JLA are saved by Black Canary’s mysterious, uncontrollable, sonic power.

And yet, I really enjoyed reading these books. Had trouble putting the iPad down. Weird!

Also, Commissioner Gordon never puts on his glasses during the Detective issue. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts.

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: March 1970

Another interesting month. Wonder Woman gets saved by others, Deadman returns as Aquaman disappears, Green Lantern has his final adventure before he starts traveling with Green Arrow. Oh, and The JLA fights pollution.

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: February 1970

This month, Aquaman and Aqualad battle a saboteur in Alaska who ends up being one of Aquaman’s friends, Diana and I-Ching meet Morgana the Witch (daughter of Morgan Le Fey), Batman tries saves a politician then sings Christmas carols with the GCPD, Flash has to marry a possessed woman (but he’s already married to Iris!), the JLA relocate to a new satellite headquarters 22,300 miles above the Earth, Superman suffers from “imaginary story syndrome” and has a super-intelligent son who realizes he’s better and smarter than anyone else on Earth (you can see where this is going).  In Action Comics, Superman travels 100,000 years into the future in a damaged time bubble, which causes him to age 100,000 years, and some mysterious force is preventing from returning to 1970. And finally, Batman has to save a young investor who is being used by crooks to get them money through the stock market.

My favorite story was probably the Action story. Hopefully next month will be better.

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: December 1969

Announcing a new reading project! Over the next…however long it takes… I’ll be reading many of the super-hero titles published by DC Comics, from cover date December 1969 until at least the end of the Bronze Age (so late 1986). I was going to start from Jan 1970, but there was too much continuation from the previous month (Green Lantern, Detective, Action, and JLA all carry over). Interesting to see all the changes initiated at this point (Dick Grayson goes to college, Bruce and Alfred move downtown, Snapper betrays the League forcing them to relocate, etc.). Almost like a rebirth of sorts… Anyway, I’ll be making posts here to chronicle my foray through DC’s Bronze Age.

This month, Superboy decides he’s had enough and wants to just be Clark, which includes giving up his powers. If you’ve ever ready a Superman comic, you know this doesn’t last long. In Green Lantern, Hal returns to Coast City, and Star Sapphire returns to GL’s life, leaving him in space and with amnesia at the end of the story. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Dick Grayson heads off to Hudson Univerisity, so Bruce decides to move to the Wayne Penthouse downtown and employ a “back to basics” approach. He also starts up a new program to help out the vicitms of violent crimes, which also provides cases for Batman. In Central City, Captain Cold finds a way to restore youth to old people, and tries to use it to save and marry an old, rich actress. It kind of works, but after taking out Flash (catching him in suspended animation which the hero was vibrating), he brags to Heat Wave which ends up being his undoing. Elsewhere, the Joker, in disguise, tricks Snapper Carr into revealing the location of the Justice League’s secret headquarters. Fortunately, Black Canary’s new sonic powers, which she cannot yet control, allow her to save the day. However, this still leaves the JLA in need of a new headquarters. In Action, 2 alien space suits, 1 belonging to a criminal and 1 to a law enforcer, given sentience by the radiation of passing comet, reach Earth, and their struggle causes trouble in Metropolis, drawing the attention of Superman. The story ends with both suits racing to be the first to possess the powerful Man of Steel. In the 30th Century, Chameleon Boy falls for a girl who is scared of his looks, so he disguises himself to appear more human. This doesn’t last long though, as he is forced to uses his powers, revealing who he really is, but the girl decides that there is more to him than his alien appearance. In Detective, Batman has to clear both his name, and a driver hired by the Wayne Foundation for a race, when it appears that the driver was hired to shoot another driver, causing him to lose an eye. Meanwhile, Robin has his first adventure at Hudson University.