Strange Adventures #244

The publication date for this issue is November, 1973. But it's a dupe. Nothing in this book is new for that time period! It's all reprints from the 50s and 60s. 

Now look, it's not like I despise silver age DC Comics. I cut my teeth on Superman, Jimmy Olsen, and Justice League of America tales from the 1960s as a part of my dad's collection. So I have no qualms with the material inside. It's just that I bought this book with the intention of getting some DC sci-fi from the bronze age and instead got reprints; of which I already own the Adam Strange tale! 

See I paid $4.80 for the book. It's a weird price, I know. But blame the used book store I got this from. However, I am a bargain hunter and if I had known that I already had half of the material contained within this issue, I would have passed. Maybe if the book was $2 I might have bought it if I knew. This is what you get for not busting tags to check the insides. 

The cover story, 'The Prisoner of the Parakeets', was originally published in a 1955 issue of Strange Adventures. Written by John Broome, it tells the story of scientist Atomic scientist John Walden, who's experiments with nuclear weapons accidentally engulfs a flock of tropical parakeets with some of the fallout from a recent test of nukes. The radiation advances the development of the birds exponentially. They become gigantic and they turn into geniuses, even to the point of developing human speech! After centuries of being suppressed by the human race, the parakeets are ready to take over the earth!

The Adam Strange story comes from a 1963 issue of Mystery in Space. Gardner Fox pens a tale that sees Adam Strange rendered impotent by his old enemy Jakarta the Dust Devil. Everything the earthling fires at the terror from planet Rann, the Dust Devil takes and neutralizes it. Now Jakarta is free on planet Earth and unless Adam Strange can find a weapon to destroy his foe, the Dust Devil will become the conqueror of 2 worlds!

The story about the parakeets was very well thought out. It does end of extremely abruptly. But it's a good read. As for the Adam Strange episode, I have just one question: where in the heck is the Justice League? They must be off planet (or visiting Earth-2) because if Jakarta was really such a global menace, they would be called in for assistance. That's a plausible explanation that I could explain. Only why didn't Gardner Fox think to put that explanation for the JLA's absence?! It's a simple plot device that only takes a sentence to establish, that without its presence makes me wonder why Adam Strange goes it alone in this adventure!

This was a good issue. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Even the cover was taken from that 1955 issue. But somebody gave Murphy Anderson's pencils a modern day look to it. with some slick inking. I think I'm going have to find out when Strange Adventures becomes a reprint only title, because I would love to have more of this series (I've got a couple of Showcase Presents in my collection), but I want the first runs with material that I don't have elsewhere.

Note: This would be the last issue of Strange Adventures, capping a 23 year run for the fanciful anthology series.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: Adam Strange, Vol. 1

It's another volume of the Showcase Presents series of reprints that was designated a Volume 1, but never received a follow up. Reprinting the first appearances of Earth archaeologist turned savior of the far off planet of Rann, Adam Strange was very much cut from the same cloth as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, with a twist! Adam Strange could only travel the 21 trillion miles journey from Earth to Rann with the help of a transportation ray called a Zeta Beam. Once the energy dissipated from Adam's body, the hero would vanish from Rann and Strange would reappear back on Earth. Sometimes, the vanishing act would occur at the most inopportune times and Adam Strange would have to wait days, even weeks to return to Rann in order to save the beleaguered planet from a host of threats, both Terran and extraterrestrial.

Adam Strange was created by famed editor Julius Schwartz with assists by Murphy Anderson and Carmine Infantino. After a 3-issue test in the pages of Showcase Presents, the tryout anthology series, Adam Strange would become the feature character of about 60 issues of the sci-fi anthology title Mystery in Space. The writer of all of the stories contained in this book was Gardner Fox. After several artists lent their talents to Strange's appearances in Showcase, Carmine Infantino became the regular artist for the hero's exploits. 

While not Infantino's most well known work, Adam Strange would become Carmine's most favorite project to work on. So much that sci-fi lover Infantino structured his contract to allow him to work on the Adam Strange stories no matter how in demand he was over at DC Comics. The quality of the artwork really shines in the this volume. Unfortunately, the storytelling started to slip around the halfway point.

The first dozen or so stories in Mystery in Space were 8-pagers. They're excellent. After about a year, the page count of the tales would range from 16-32 pages. That's where the quality begins to slip. As impressive it is that an early silver age title maintained a level of cohesive storyline with recurring villains, Gardner Fox seemed to run out of gas in the longer stories. The set up would take forever with a conclusion so fast and clunky that would leave me overwhelmed and unimpressed. Then Fox begins to spread the dangers Adam Strange would face between Rann and Earth. As much as having the hero go back and forth between Earth and Rann is a bit tiring, the quality of those later stories improved.

My dad had quite a few Adam Strange starring books in his collection. They were big favs of mine. I enjoyed this volume very much, flaws and all. A lot really isn't said about how much of a strong female character Adam's girlfriend Alanna was. Rarely a damsel in distress, Alanna often fights without fear on Adam's side. She clearly was an archetype influence on characters like Princess Leia and Ripley. 

I really regret that DC cancelled the Showcase Presents line because I would love to get my hands on the remaining two dozen stories starring Adam Strange. Maybe there's a deluxe 4-color volume available? Or I could try to find those remaining issues of Mystery in Space. Regardless, its not going to be cheap. I can tell you that.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: The Atom, Vol. 2

I decided I didn't want to wait to read the rest of the collected earliest adventures of the world's smallest superhero, the Atom. After I read a Showcase Presents or Marvel Essential collection, I usually wait a while to read the follow up. Mostly, because these books are so hard to find and I enjoy them so much that I don't want to run out of adventures to read. But I had such an enjoyable time with Gardner Fox and Gil Kane's take on the diminutive powerhouse that I just couldn't hold it anymore.

Chronos, Doctor Light and the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue, all make returns in hopes of enacting revenge on the Atom. There are a good 3 or 4 continuing treks through the Time Pool, sending the hero to solve an assortment of historical mysteries such as the only successful theft of England's crown jewels. Ray Palmer's relationship with Jean Loring advances, though still no wedding bells. Plus unlikely pal, Hawkman with his bride Hawkgirl make a few returns to Atom's burgh of Ivy Town.

This isn't to say that this whole second volume is a rehash of stories seen in the first anthology. Far from it. Justice League of America sidekick Snapper Carr is given a secret assist from the Atom. Then Earth-1 and Earth-2 combine when Ray Palmer meets the original Atom, Al Pratt, in not one but two team-ups between legacy characters. The Atom also adds some new rogue's to his gallery with the introduction of the Bug-eyed Bandit and the Bat-Knights.

The Bat-Knights seems like characters that should be a part of the Batman universe. Only, these fierce warriors are an ancient pint-sized race of people who fly atop bats when they feel endangered by the full-size humans who stumble upon their territorial lands. Two great stories involved these new creatures and their love/ hate relationship with fellow tiny hero, the Atom. 

The Atom also picks up an animal sidekick in the penultimate story. While in Cambodia assisting on an archaeological dig, Ray Palmer encounters an injured mynah bird. Once healed, Ray names him Major and uses the bird for winged treks. Sadly, Major's appearance in issues #37 and #38 would just about be the bird's only additions to the DC Universe.

I don't think sales were to blame for cancellation. Instead, it was ageism. In 1968, the year The Atom was 'cancelled', Fox and several other veterans were fired when DC enacted a policy to not provide insurance coverage for their elderly employees. I think Fox knew that his days were numbered as the tone of several stories in this volume drastically changed. Instead of straight forward storytelling, Gardner Fox began experimenting with quirky introductions, alternative perspectives and points of view and more hip slang that the average 1960s teen might use... badly. More than likely, Fox was doing a little employee improvement practice on DC's dime, as the writer's work temporarily imitates what Marvel was beating DC with at the time. 

After publishing a handful of novels, in the early 1970s, Gardner Fox would go on to work briefly at Marvel, perhaps boosted by his more modern resume. Unfortunately, Fox wouldn't be allowed to say a proper goodbye to his creation of the Atom. Neither would Gil Kane. Instead it would be written by Frank Robbins with starkly different penciling by Mike Sekowsky. Issue #38 would also be the final run of the first volume of The Atom. Sorta.

With issue #39, the series was re-branded The Atom and Hawkman. Hawkman's solo series was officially cancelled and the Thanagarian hero joined forces with the Atom. Hawkman's Joe Kubert led the creative team that replaced Fox and Kane. However, the teaming of feathered friend and tiny titan wasn't to be, as ultimately both heroes were cancelled before the new decade with issue #45. This book does not include those final 7 team-up issues.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: The Atom, Vol. 1 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

When scientist Ray Palmer witnesses a meteorite crash on the outskirts of his hometown of Ivy Town, the event changes his life forever. Palmer determines that the fragment is part of an exploded white dwarf star. After several months of experiments, Ray makes a specially designed lens out of the material. When using light to focus the radiation from the meteor, it shrink objects down to about 6 inches in size. Unfortunately, after a few minutes, the shrunken item will inexplicably explode.

One afternoon, while spelunking a nearby cavern, a cave-in occurs, trapping Ray Palmer and some undergrads. Ray finds a escape. Only he's too big to make it through. Thankfully, Ray has his special lens with him and using sunlight pouring through the opening, Palmer is able to reduce his size and to create an escape for him and his students.

After the cave-in, Palmer develops a suit out of the remaining white dwarf material that allows him to shrink without becoming a human grenade. Palmer also equips the suit with a special control dial that not only shrinks him down to microscopic size, but controls his density. Now going by the name, the Atom: the World's Smallest Superhero, Ray Palmer fights crime with an ulterior motive - love. 

Ray's girlfriend, Jean Loring, is an aspiring lawyer. She refuses to accept Ray's many marriage proposals until she can make her name as a top defense attorney. Thus Ray will assist Jean secretly as the Atom in hopes that she'll eventually say yes. In order to finally obtain an 'I Do' from Jean Loring, the Atom will fight an assortment of small time crooks and advanced super villains. 

The Atom's early Rogue's Gallery will include the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue, master of luminescence, Doctor Light and the time manipulating criminal known as Chronos. Sadly, Ray's relationship with Jean Loring and his battles with Doctor Light only happen to dredge up painful memories to devoted readers of the Atom, as later in pages of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, the two characters in the Atom's life will be responsible for the tragic death of fan-favorite character, Sue Disney.

The Atom was created by Gardner Fox, who frequently claimed that his ideas came to him in his dreams. A legacy character, the Atom was a Silver Age re-imagination of a diminutive powerhouse member of the Justice Society of America with the same name. The Silver Age character was designed by Gil Kane with Ray Palmer's features based on Hollywood actor Robert Taylor in his younger days. The Atom debuted in the September/October, 1961 issue of Showcase. The Atom would star in issues #34-36, before being awarded his own title in the summer of 1962. 

The first of two volumes of Showcase Presents featuring the Atom; this collection was published in 2007. It collects those trio of appearances in Showcase along with the first 17 issues of The Atom. Readers will delight in the hero's first of many iconic team ups with Hawkman. The Atom also has meetings with several important historical figures in a series of time traveling adventures. Referred to as ' Time Pool Stories ', the Atom frequently traveled through a time vortex, unbeknownst to a colleague of Ray Palmer's. In the past, the Atom would assist Henry Hudson, Edgar Allen Poe and others as the pint-sized hero solved some of history's greatest mysteries.

Gardner Fox wrote all of the scripts with Gil Kane as sole artist. Duties on inker were primarily achieved by Murphy Anderson, with Sid Greene as a substitute.

Completing this review completes Task #34 (Written by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane or George Tuska) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents Strange Adventures, Volume 2

A great time capsule of the late 1950s science fiction. 9 out of 10 stories are about aliens from another world. Some of them are benevolent. Most want to take over the Earth or destroy it outright. The other 10 percent of stories involved inter-dimensional travel, attempts to prevent the destruction of the planet (usually thanks to time travel), or some strange new invention that goes horribly wrong.

DC was able to capture the fears of a nation in the pages of Strange Adventures. The red scare. The cold war. Nuclear war. 

But DC was also able to latch upon the wonder of the nuclear age. Space travel. The automation of industry. Hope that one day, universal peace could be achieved. 

Legends of not just the publishing company but the golden and silver age of comics worked on this volume. Gil Kane, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and many more. This was a beautiful collection of sci-fi comics.

But there was one trope that got old and it got old pretty quick. The main way that the aliens are able to communicate with earthlings is thanks to telepathy. If it wasn't for mind reading, the different races wouldn't be able to interact. There'd be no story. Thankfully, DC Comics understood this as one of their tales actually asked the question: how could humans and alien species interact without the use of mental telepathy? 

After that story, you'd think that telepathy tales would be considered off limits by the editors. Unfortunately, that same old tired plot device was continuously used. OVER and OVER...

Okay, so Strange Adventures wasn't perfect. But it was a perfect representation of an imperfect time in American history. Communism made us crazy. But the hope of a better tomorrow showed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Showcase Presents: The Flash, Volume 4

Though these issues were published in the late 1960s, the foundation of the Flash television show on the CW begins here.

The face changing abilities of the Reverse Flash began during this time period. The Rogues massively team-up for the first time ever! The marriage of Barry and Iris and her statement that she too is the Flash because of the bonds of matrimony happens here! The Flying Samuroids, Barry's creation of ultra cool tech, and so many more things that occurs in the live action series got it's roots in the books collected in this volume.

There's also some really great stories that the producers of the Flash have yet to integrate from the late 60s. The futuristic magician Abra Kadabra needs to go back in time to 2018. And how fun would it be that Barry Allen breaks the multiverse winding up on Earth Prime where's he only a comic book character! And he needs Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti to help him find a way home.

There's several masterminds behind these amazing idea, but the best are John Broome and Gardner Fox! They brought such a creativity to DC Comics that has been missing for quite some time. Plus it helps that the amazing Carmine Infantino, aided by Joe Giella, is on hand to draw these stories in such a way that for the time these books were originally hitting stands, were rivaling Jack Kirby!

Infantino’s run came to an end during this period. His predecessors of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito did a bang up job but it wasn't quite the same.

I devoured this volume with both glee and a touch of sadness. This is the last Showcase Presents volume by DC except for a very hard to find out of print book titled The Trail of the Flash. So if I am going to fill in my gap of Flash books from about 1968-1985, it will probably be thanks to back issues. I've got a feeling it's not going to be cheap.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Comics Presents Atom #1

A tribute issue in honor of the passing of the great Julius Schwartz, long-time EIC of DC Comics. Schwartz was known for having concept covers drawn up and then would assign writers to use that idea for use in a forthcoming issue of said title.

Here, Dave Gibbons, Mark Waid, Dan Jurgens, and others devise 2 different takes in which the Atom is required to “ride a deadly grenade!”

The first tale incorporates the classic motif that writer Gardner Fox got his ideas by his dreams tapping into the Earth-1 universe. Along with Schwartz and what I assume is pitcher Whitey Ford, the Atom must find a way to go back to Earth-1 after some criminals strand him in the “real world.”

The second tale isn’t quite as charming. Atom still must take a ride on a grenade, but that tale doesn’t hold a candle to the first tale. It does feature 60s super-criminal Chronos, which uses ideas from an imaginative writer, a thinly veiled Schwartz, to stage a series of super crimes.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.