DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '70s #1

 

   I rate this book as both OK and Worth Consuming at the same time. 

   First of all- the lost tale is lame. Green Lantern and Green Arrow do not team-up together and both of their adventures end very ambiguously and I HATE THAT! Plus, the art was all wrong. Why couldn’t DC Comics get Neal Adams to it? It would have been great having Denny O’Neil and Adams take another turn on the Green Guardians.

  What does makes this book worth consuming is the reprint tale. It’s GL/ GA #76, the classic story that gave birth to relevant comics. It’s a classic and thus anything that reprints that pivotal issue is a book worth a gander.

   Worth Consuming/ Not Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive The Flash The 90s #1

The reprint tale was excellent. A reunion of speedsters lead Max Mercury to beleive that Wally West is being hunted by the 'Black Flash,' a sort of Grim Reaper of the Speed Force. The finale is shocking!

But, it’s the 'lost tale' that I didn’t really like. West finds himself on a desert oasis where a mysterious entity is threatening a nomadic tribe. West has some strange out of body experiences that make for a very complicated read. It also made that story one that I didn’t like.

The art for both books is great. It’s totally Brian Augustyn, with a slightly cartoonish slant that I just adored. And it’s very 1990s!

Enjoy the entire book for the art, but read just the reprint.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive: The Flash - The '70s #1

 This is so sad. I love Barry Allen’s Flash. However, both tales are wrought with problems. In the lost tale, Gorilla Grodd hatches a plan to make Allen think his wife cheated with him by creating an ape-human hybrid with Iris Allen. 

   Then in the reprint tale, we have Superman and Flash fighting against each other for the fate of humanity. First of all, I don’t think this was a reprint from Flash, but from DC Showcase Presents. (It is!!!) That mistake is forgivable. It’s the convoluted science behind how and why the duo is traveling through time that’s very lame. Normally, DC did a much better job at having their stories chop full of fantasy and real science. Here, the author explains time travel and then contradicts himself at least twice through the course of the tale.

 Very poor offerings. Not impressed.

 Not Worth Consuming.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive- The Flash 80's

I was hoping this would be about Barry Allen’s Flash. Alas, Wally West’s exploits as the World’s Fastest Man are examined in this DC Retroactive. In the lost tale, a delusional woman believes that having the Flash rescue her means that they are now a couple. When he spurns her affection, the lady takes matters into her own hands by single handedly wiping out most of the Rogues!

Then in the reprint tale, it’s a battle against the clock as West goes toe-to-toe with Vandal Savage.

Both story’s were off the wall fun. The personal relationship between West and the Rogues is strange- they have a moral code and the hero will go out for beers with them if they don’t have a pressing warrant. But from tine to time, they’ll bash each others brains out! I love it.

The art was also very, very good. Both stories now have this version on the Flash on my radar and I may very well start collecting his titles soon.

Worth Consuming

  Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive: Batman the 90s #1

   Batman in the 1990s. One might think of the movies as the highlights of Dark Knight pop culture, but you’d be wrong. The 90s Batman everyone adores was the Animated Series of course!

   Sadly, DC didn’t go that route for the 90’s Retroactive chapter on the Caped Crusader. But, that’s okay, because the captured the essence of the show perfectly with this lost tale about the Ventriloquist. While this villain wasn’t created for the show, he was a major player in several excellent episodes. Here, the Ventriloquist is out on bail and his puppet, Scarface, is looking to eliminate some competition that popped up while incarcerated.

   The reprint doesn’t feature Scarface, but it does feature the location of the Fresh Kills garbage dump. That tale is minus a super villain, but Vicki Vale appears and the thugs in this story, as well as the victims, make for one powerful story. Great stuff! I loved every page.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 10 out 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Batman: the 80s

   I don’t know who the Reaper is and I’ve yet to read Batman: Year Two, but I’m gonna! The lost tale involving the return of the Reaper was very good. But the reprint tale that begins Year Two was fantastic.

   Here, a young Bruce Wayne is attempting to finalize his Wayne Foundation office building, when Dr. Tompkins brings a young lady into the playboy’s life. Along the way, an old school vigilante named the Reaper has returned to Gotham and found that the city hasn’t been left in very good hands and he’s looking to do something about it.

   Great art. Amazing writing. I am so on the hunt for Batman: Year Two. I would have preferred a Denny O’Neil Batman issue, but Mike Barr did a fantastic job and he’s got me hooked!

   Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Batman: The 70s #1

 

   Again, when faced with a chance to revisit a classic DC era, the publisher doesn’t choose Neal Adams for the art! Why is that? Both stories are very good and the art is great. But, when I think of Batman in the 70s, the quintessential artist is Neal Adams. 

   They also didn’t pick Dennis O’Neil to write it either- but to be fair, Denny was much better during the 80s writing Batman than he was in the 70s. He still had a little 60s Batman TV-show camp lingering in his Dark Knight tales.

   A good read- but it could have been so much better if they had followed my suggestion.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Green Lantern: The 90s #1

   When Kyle Raynor replaced Hal Jordan, I really didn’t feel adamant for or against it. The Green Lanterns is a police force and replacements come and go. So, it just made sense. I didn’t hate Raynor- he just wasn’t very exciting to me.

   This issue doesn’t really do very much to reinforcement my favoring of the character. When it comes to using the ring, he’s more creative and he’s more fun loving. But, if I had to pick a Lantern that I’d much rather read about, Kyle would be lower down in the list behind more interesting Lanterns like Jordan, Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Tomar Re, and C'hip.

   The art is good for both the lost tale and reprint. The stories are well written as well. It was an enjoyable read, but it didn’t light a fire under me to go out and start reading 90s Green Lantern books either.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Green Lantern The 80s #1

   This retroactive has a lost tale featuring John Stewart. It reveals why he forwent wearing a mask and a secret identity. The story was very clever and the art was classic.

   The reprint tale has Hal Jordan returning from a year-long exile in outer space. It also explains why John Stewart replaced Hal- a mystery I never understood ever since I saw Stewart’s first appearance on a magazine stand in a 1980s Rite Aid when I was not even in Kindergarten. (Yes- I’m old!) It too is a very good story and it features wonderful 1980s DC art, of which I am a huge fan.

   I only wish Guy Gardner was in this book. He’s on the cover, but nowhere to be found in it’s contents. Bummer.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Justice League Of America The 90s #1

     Giffen and DeMatteis are back! Who else but those two could be chosen to best reflect what the Justice League was all about in the 90s. 

    In this lost tale, the Injustice League winds up with some dangerous parademon tech, resulting in Big Sir getting even bigger- and looking an awful lot like a certain giant lizard from Japan.

   It’s a laugh riot, capturing the essence of the creative duo’s best work on the various Justice League titles.

   The reprinted tale that deals with J’onn J’onzz and his decision to leave the League is very good as well. Sadly, I’ve read that issue already. Bummer!

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Justice League Of America The 80s #1

 The Detriot era of the Justice League of America may be one of the least popular in the team’s epic history. But, DC decided to focus on that time period and I think it was a great idea. The Aquaman led team has major issues and in both the lost tale and the reprint, the team bickers so much that they are their own worst enemies. And that made for some compelling reading...

   I like it when the characters show they aren’t perfect. It was what made Marvel great and though it took a long time for DC to follow suit, the company’s done a great job at showing these modern day gods their human side.

   Great read!

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Justice League America The 70s: #1

    In the lost tale, Adam Strange is accidently zeta-beamed to Earth Prime, where there are no superheroes, except the one’s published by DC Comics. Thankfully, a little-known editor named Julie Schwartz is there to help save the day.

   Then in the reprint, writer Cary Bates is teleported to Earth-2, where his writing skills have turned him into the Justice Society’s worst nightmare. But don't expect to know how this story finishes as you'll need the following issue to read what happens next as this tale ends on a cliffhanger.

   Both tales are great and they reflect DC’s tradition of tying the real and fake worlds together. The lost tale was so good, it should have been used in the Schwartz JLA tribute instead of Harlan Ellison’s awful tale. Still, why would you include a two-part story in a one-shot when you only include part I? 

   Great stuff- Worth Consuming. But, I am a little steamed on the editors for leaving us with a cliffhanger and no affordable options for resolution. 

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

  

 

DC Retroactive Superman The 90s #1

   In this Retroactive title’s lost tale, a long-haired Superman must save Metropolis from a large burrowing worm and several expatriates from Warworld. In the reprint, we see Superman’s original meeting with this worm and are introduced to several refugees from the Cadmus Project who’ve taken refuge in the city sewers and sought out Prof. Hamilton for help.

   Two very good tales. I’m a little familiar with the period of Superman’s history from the 90s. Basically, I know of his fight with Doomsday, the reign of the superman, and his return. But, after that, I’m kinda lost until maybe 1998-2000 Action Comics. So, it was a slightly difficult read. Art was very good though something was off in the last page of my reprint tale. It looks like it was inked by an entirely different artist. Weird.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive Superman The 80s #1

Superman is shown the future by Destiny, one of the Endless from Sandman fame. The fate of humanity is in his hands as he is shown what will transpire in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hero, Infinite Crisis, and much, much more. A fantastic twist ending that makes this a lost Crisis tale.

Then there is a reprint of a 1980 story in which Superman was first visited by Destiny. It shows that Superman is doing too much for Metropolis and is stunting that society’s culture evolution. But should that really stop him from helping?

Two brilliant tales. Who else but Marv Wolfman to craft a Crisis on Infinite Earths lost tale. It’s a shame that George Perez couldn’t do the art, but I guess he never worked on Superman in the 80s. Regardless, this is excellent stuff and a very fun read. Required reading for any DC fan!

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive: Superman - The '70s #1

The 70s were an unsung era for the Man of Steel. There was Kirby taking over Jimmy Olsen and introducing the New Gods, Cadmus, and the Forever People. Then you’ve got the creation of Intergang and the possible link of new Daily Planet owner, Morgan Edge, being the ringleader. Finally, the 70s proved a man can fly with Christopher Reeve starring as Superman.

 

Here, we have a great-Earth 2 reprint that tells how Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane got hitched. Along with that tale is a lost story in which a very overworked and underslept Superman is confronted by phantom versions of his greatest enemies. Could a certain imp from the 5th Dimension be behind all this?

A real fun read. Though the ubiquitous love triangle between Supes, Lois, and Lana Lane is childish and takes away from the action elements of the forgotten tale.

Brings back great memories though. 

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman, The 90s

   In the lost tale, Wonder Woman, having just returned from months in outer space, has lost her title as Wonder Woman and is exiled from her island home of Themyscira. Now with very little superheroing to do and no longer her homeland's ambassador to the outside world, Diana is bored stiff. To fill her time, she volunteers for a girls day camp. Only these campers are more interested in shopping and being lazy than the great outdoors. The dialogue and plot are very funny as Diana tries to whip these kiddies into shape.
  
    The reprint tale builds upon Diana's exile from Themyscira. It also introduces Artemis as the new Wonder Woman- a short-lived reign that was too short if you ask me. It was a good tale as well, but I thought that the lost adventure was just a little bit better. 

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars,

DC Retroactive- Wonder Woman 80's

 

    In this special, a lost tale of Wonder Woman’s has her pitted against a ‘clone’ of herself. Meanwhile, paramour Steve Trevor commandeers a jet in hopes of tracking the Amazonian down in order to determine once and for all if the Princess of Themyscira loves him or not! A great use of American tax dollars and resources, folks!

   As an added bonus, there’s a reprint from 1982 that explains some of the origin and backgrounds of the villains who are trying to defeat Wonder Woman.

   Unlike in the 1970s volume, both stories have either a conclusion or a caption explaining that the tale is to be continued. The 80s story is a little confusing as Trevor is from Earth-2 and Wonder Woman doesn’t know anything about multiple earths despite decades of teaming up or fighting visitors from Earth’s-2 and 3. There’s obviously some retconning prior to this reprint that I didn’t know about and it makes for a difficult read at those plot points. Otherwise, both stories have great art and a reasonable overall storyline.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman - The '70s #1

With DC getting ready to reboot its universe yet again, the publisher issued a series of one-shots that reflect the history of some of it’s greatest creations by reteaming original creative teams of the past 40 years with new “lost tales” of the DC Universe.

In this Wonder Woman special, Dennis O’Neil pens another tale about the powerless Amazon Princess. With her home island having sunk into the sea, Diana finds a mysterious submersible responsible. In order to save her people, she must confront her past and solve a series of tasks. She’s supposed to solve 3 mysteries but only completes 2. When asked of this, she responds that she thinks everything is back to normal and then the tale stops! No “The End” or “To Be Continued?”

The companion reprint piece from 1972 isn't any better. That too also ends abruptly with no “Tune in Next Time” or even a small blurb telling the reader which issues can be found to conclude this tale. Very poor editing, if you ask me. Not impressed. Hopefully, things will be better in the other Retroactive volumes.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.