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Post by MDG on Feb 19, 2019 17:59:55 GMT -5
I sure wish there had been more stories featuring DC writers as characters. I don't--I can only take them when they are very, very tongue-in-cheek. It just screams "amateur night" to me. (I get a similar reaction watching things like John Carpenter's "The Fog," where characters share names with friends/crew--takes me right out of the story.)
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Post by chaykinstevens on Feb 19, 2019 18:10:38 GMT -5
Creative Team: Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Dick Gillin and Frank McLaughlin. I think you mean Dick Dillin.
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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 18:19:18 GMT -5
Creative Team: Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Dick Gillin and Frank McLaughlin. I think you mean Dick Dillin. Hah! I do. I know a guy named Dick Gillin, and my fingers were obviously thinking of him as I typed. I went back and checked; the last nine reviews all had this same error! Now corrected. Good eye!
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Post by tarkintino on Feb 19, 2019 20:03:29 GMT -5
#125-#127 - Hard to believe this was the same Conway who co-plotted some of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever published. Its like he was a completely different person of a downgraded level of talent on JLA.
The upcoming Pasko mini-era of JLA was underwhelming. At the time, I was still collecting it out of nostalgia (I guess) and the hope that things would improve, but then, Conway returned, and....
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 19, 2019 21:02:29 GMT -5
I sure wish there had been more stories featuring DC writers as characters. I don't--I can only take them when they are very, very tongue-in-cheek. It just screams "amateur night" to me. (I get a similar reaction watching things like John Carpenter's "The Fog," where characters share names with friends/crew--takes me right out of the story.) Yeah, I was being sarcastic. I feel the same way. One Rutland story was more than enough. Two was self-indulgent. And I had enough of Cary Bates et al with that Ultraa superhero from Earth-Prime shtik. Ham-fisted compared to Gardner Fox and Earth-Two. Am I supposed to say that Ul-trah-ah-ah-ah-ah or what?
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Post by rberman on Feb 19, 2019 21:56:02 GMT -5
Yeah, I was being sarcastic. I feel the same way. One Rutland story was more than enough. Two was self-indulgent. And I had enough of Cary Bates et al with that Ultraa superhero from Earth-Prime shtik. Ham-fisted compared to Gardner Fox and Earth-Two. Am I supposed to say that Ul-trah-ah-ah-ah-ah or what? He came around again recently in Multiversity: Ultra Comics.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 19, 2019 22:30:37 GMT -5
Who braids his hair, Ultraaaaaa-Laaaaaaady?
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Feb 20, 2019 1:55:19 GMT -5
I love fourth wall, breaks, Earth Prime, writers light-heartedly appearing in comic stories. (Although nobody's ever topped Fantastic Four Annual # 3.)
I think it was basically self-promotion - writers don't need to do that kinda stuff now-a-days because they have twitter - but more power to 'em!
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Post by rberman on Feb 20, 2019 6:56:38 GMT -5
JLA #127 “The Command is Chaos!” (February 1976)Creative Team: Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. The Story: The Anarchist kidnaps a bunch of United Nations delegates, making fools of the JLA in the process. Later at a religious rally, preacher Simon Elis heals Steve Lombard’s broken leg. The JLA trail Elis after the rally, and several of them are captured too, vanishing into thin air. Elis is The Anarchist, and somehow he’s getting his power from Green Lantern’s ring. The only way to prevent it is to render Green Lantern unconscious, which apparently can only be done by Superman punching him. Ow! The Anarchist is realatively easy to deal with at this point. Continuity notes: Steve Lombard’s leg is broken, possibly from events in Superman’s titles, but there’s no caption to explain it. My Two Cents: The six page In media res fight seen against The Anarchist was pretty great; he made chumps of the JLA, even strangling Superman with his own belt. The rest of the story makes little sense; how did Elis gain such control over Green Lantern? He’s just a regular dude. If it’s that easy, surely other people will do the same. I bet this was one of those issues that started with the cover (“Why is Superman punching out his buddy Green Lantern?”) and then worked backwards to a story that included that element. Superman takes an out-of-control Red Tornado to outer space, where his tornado won’t work without an atmosphere. I guess we’re not supposed to think about the previous stories in which Red Tornado’s cyclones worked just fine in space, like #102 and #105. Even in the 1970s, pop culture rarely missed an opportunity to portray mass-market preachers unfavorably. I get it; lots of devout Christians think they are phonies too.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 20, 2019 9:35:27 GMT -5
I love fourth wall, breaks, Earth Prime, writers light-heartedly appearing in comic stories. (Although nobody's ever topped Fantastic Four Annual # 3.) I think it was basically self-promotion - writers don't need to do that kinda stuff now-a-days because they have twitter - but more power to 'em! A little goes a long way, though. Stan and Jack's appearance in FF Annual 3 was not the focus of that story, but a funny, ironic, unexpected moment that is far more memorable as a result than any of those Bates bits.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 20, 2019 11:32:14 GMT -5
JLA #127 “The Command is Chaos!” (February 1976)Creative Team: Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. The Story: The Anarchist kidnaps a bunch of United Nations delegates, making fools of the JLA in the process. Later at a religious rally, preacher Simon Elis heals Steve Lombard’s broken leg. The JLA trail Elis after the rally, and several of them are captured too, vanishing into thin air. Elis is The Anarchist, and somehow he’s getting his power from Green Lantern’s ring. The only way to prevent it is to render Green Lantern unconscious, which apparently can only be done by Superman punching him. Ow! The Anarchist is realatively easy to deal with at this point. Continuity notes: Steve Lombard’s leg is broken, possibly from events in Superman’s titles, but there’s no caption to explain it. My Two Cents: The six page In media res fight seen against The Anarchist was pretty great; he made chumps of the JLA, even strangling Superman with his own belt. The rest of the story makes little sense; how did Elis gain such control over Green Lantern? He’s just a regular dude. If it’s that easy, surely other people will do the same. I bet this was one of those issues that started with the cover (“Why is Superman punching out his buddy Green Lantern?”) and then worked backwards to a story that included that element. Superman takes an out-of-control Red Tornado to outer space, where his tornado won’t work without an atmosphere. I guess we’re not supposed to think about the previous stories in which Red Tornado’s cyclones worked just fine in space, like #102 and #105. Even in the 1970s, pop culture rarely missed an opportunity to portray mass-market preachers unfavorably. I get it; lots of devout Christians think they are phonies too. This was one of the first five or so comics that I ever bought on my own. It honestly didn't make a lot of sense. It's been eons since I've read it (though I have that original issue, coverless now). So I have nostalgic feelings for it. But it's not a well written comic.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 20, 2019 11:42:34 GMT -5
Can't figure out if there's a clue in the name of Simon Elis to a particular TV preacher.
Yet another god-awful cover from the nadir of DC cover design. Yellow? Really? No excuse for dreck like this. Yuk.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2019 12:06:21 GMT -5
JLA #127 “The Command is Chaos!” (February 1976) ... is my least favorite Conway stories ... I just find it not my cup of tea and it's doesn't make any sense to me.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 20, 2019 15:42:13 GMT -5
Even in the 70s?
Sinclair Lewis wrote Elmer Gantry in 1926. TV evangelists were just a technological upgrade (following radio) of the tent show revivalists and the styles and behaviors just carried over.
My grandfather was a farmer and Baptist preacher, for a small congregation; but, he lived his beliefs, without seeking material wealth. To me, the song, made famous by Ray Stevens, hits the problem square on the head...
The Code and squeamish editors and publishers kept comics out of it, until the 70s. Kirby patterned Glorious Godfrey after the biggie, Billy Graham. That was a far bolder shot than some of the later ones, at your more obvious Jim & Tammy Baker's and Jimmy Swaggerts. Graham was extremely powerful.
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Post by rberman on Feb 21, 2019 7:57:18 GMT -5
JLA #128-129 “Nekron” (March-April 1976) Creative Team: Written by Martin Pasko. Art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. JLA #128 “Death Visions of the Justice League!”: Nekron, the Fear Parasite causes several members of the JLA to be overcome with a sudden fear of death in the middle of their varied exploits. Green Lantern is immune to Nekron’s fear effect but is defeated the old fashioned way, with a pile of yellow rocks. Wonder Woman’s sudden arrival (she's been absent from the League for a while) gives the JLA temporary courage to fight Nekron, who flees and threatens to destroy Midway City with a flare of solar plasma. Can the JLA muster enough courage to face the fear-monster again? JLA #129 “The Earth Dies Screaming!”: Only Hawkman can challenge the solar flare Nekron has launched toward his adopted home of Midway City; it becomes incorporeal when anyone else approaches it. Red Tornado is blasted to bits when he tries to help in a Hawkman disguise. There’s a lot of running around and fighting, but ultimately it comes down to this: Aquaman telepathically augments Superman’s fear of death to immense proportions, and when Nekron feeds off of Superman’s stores of fear, he overdoses and shrinks to ant size, defeated. Covers That Lie: Wonder Woman is in no particular danger this issue. The real shocker is when she boards the satellite to find the frightened JLAers closing up shop due to their newfound fear. The splash page of #128 is another lie, showing the JLA threatening to expel Wonder Woman. The first couple of pages act as if this is the plot before switching gears into the real fear-based story. My Two Cents: How long had Marty Pasko been writing comics at this point? This story has too many ideas, most of which don’t get adequate development. The idea of a fear-feeding monster is fine, but his name “Nekron” (death) doesn’t fit the theme. Then there’s a substance abuse angle: Nekron is said to be “habituated” to fear, which means that he has to keep taking higher and higher doses to get the same effect, yet the toxic dose remains the same. Pasko is trying to work in a cautionary tale about narcotic abuse, though Nekron is strengthened by fear, not sedated by it as claimed. Batman, The Atom, and The Flash all get to wield Green Lantern’s ring in this issue. I don’t know why Green Lantern would be more fear-immune than the average hero, and besides, fear is simply an aspect of the survival instinct which any hero needs to do his work. The solar flare threat against Midway City was not only scientifically goofy but forgotten halfway through the issue, and the attempt to evacuate Midway City one citizen at a time was laughable. Not to mention the contrivance that the threat faded anytime a hero besides Hawkman approached it. That sounds like a good way to protect the city, in fact. Just a confusing two-parter all around. Nekron has an interesting design, with a huge body, a spindly vertebral neck, and tiny Giger mouth topped with a pink visor. So stylish! Green Arrow’s minced oaths get pretty salty under Pasko’s pen, including “When the spit hits the fan” and “Use the freakin’ ring!” and “What the fudge happened?!” Wonder Woman’s magic lasso now has four ends instead of two; she ties them to three heroes to command them to be brave enough to face Nekron, while also holding the Eiffel Tower together. I don't think that's the way her Lasso works. She justifies this by saying it's infinitely elastic. But if this were so, it could never hold anyone; it would just stretch. Red Tornado is disposed of quite suddenly, and the JLA think the best way to honor his memory is to leave his pieces floating in space. Really? I guess without Len Wein to develop his story, he was just another unnecessary member. But why kill him? He could just disappear into civilian life. Reddy’s death resulted in dozens of irate letters to the editor. Also, this is another story in which Reddy’s cyclone power works in outer space, despite what was claimed just two issues ago.
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