DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: June 1970

Posted on 07/29/2017 by Charlie

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

Posted on 07/23/2017 by Charlie

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: April 1970

Posted on 07/17/2017 by Charlie

Another month done. The Superman and Superboy issues feeling like the story was written based on the cover idea, which I know they used to do back in the day. Superman plays God in the Action issue, which makes no sense considering the dead planet he was using. The GL/GA storyline kicks off with the only issue I had read of it so far, so I’m looking forward to the others. The Batman story was solved for him because they ran out of room, and the Robin backup ended with a cliffhanger just as it was getting started. I’m also noticing the same creative team (Frank Robbins and Bob Brown) working on Superboy and Detective, and I’m liking their Superboy a little better. The writing isn’t bad (Robbins handles Batman better in Batman where he has more pages), but the art looks more like Infantino “new-look” Batman than the more modern work by Irv Novick and Neal Adams. Although, to be fair, this could be more due to Joe Giella’s inks than anything else.

Now to see what May had to offer…

DC Bronze Age Read-through Project: March 1970

Posted on 07/13/2017 by Charlie

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

Posted on 07/08/2017 by Charlie

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: January 1970

Posted on 07/01/2017 by Charlie

This month, Superman is tested, fails, and becomes half as effective. Before I go on, this issue is kind of special to me as, for a long time, this was my oldest Superman issue I owned, and is still the only Superman issue I have ever bought in Metropolis, Illinois (the prices in that store are terrible). Anyway, Superboy gets sent to the Phantom Zone and is replaced by an evil impostor (and somehow Krypto learns how to talk), Superman has to fight a sentient costume, Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams tell their first dark and moody Batman story, and Green Lantern has to take on the combined might of Star Sapphire and Sinestro. Hal also reveals to Carol Ferris that she is Star Sapphire, which she doesn’t believe.