Holy New Year, Batman

On New Year's, usually it is a glowing ball of light dropping from the sky onto Times Square...

...but, for the 1978 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters, it was Batman getting the drop on JLA foe, Dr. Light, (as drawn by Dick Giordano) to start off the New Year!

Happy New Year!

Wanted Doctor Light Iron Mask Mist Blue Lama Yellow Wasp

Even more of the E. Nelson Bridwell goodness that was the 1970s reprint magazine called Wanted The World's Most Dangerous Villains....

...here with the fifth and sixth issue of that series, mostly wonderful little treats from the Golden Age, with foes of Doll Man, Starman, Sargon and Wildcat, but it starts off with Green Lantern's battle against JLA foe Dr. Light....before going on with Iron Mask, Mist, Blue Lama and the Yellow Wasp!

Wizard Of The Light-Wave Weapons

First up, from the first story reprinted in the fifth issue is Green Lantern #33 (December, 1964) by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Sid Greene (under an original cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson), is the battle between Green Lantern and Doctor Light!



Hal Jordan, the alter ego of Green Lantern, starts the issue by facing himself over an award....but, that might be jumping ahead to much.  A little bit earlier, Hal and his pal, Thomas Kalmaku, were getting ready for the trophy presentation as Ferris Aircraft when Coast City was suddenly overcome by an Aurora Borealis, prompting Hal to investigate as Green Lantern.

Over the city, Green Lantern found Doctor Light, who was trying out his new light weapon, the Lightolater, and sends Green Lantern crashing into the ground, unconscious.  Green Lantern's ring keeps him from hitting the ground, but when Hal revives, Dr. Light is gone.  So, back at Ferris Aircraft, Hal prepares for the gala again, as his ring is searching for Dr. Light. Sadly, it finds the doctor just as Hal is going to accept his award, so he power ring's Tom into a "Hal duplicate" to get the award, so Green Lantern can face Dr. Light.  Dr. Light uses his weapon to send a VIBGOYR army after Green Lantern (light constructs as warriors based on the seven colors of the spectrum).  Hal only has trouble with the yellow one, but successfully turns it against Dr. Light and defeats the villain.  Hal returns to the gala, finding Tom as Hal, turns him back to Tom, and they exchange how their respective evenings went (with Hal dropping a lot of knowledge on light phenomenon as well).

Dr. Light first premiered fighting the JLA, with that story being reprinted many time, including in a JLA Giant, and then faced the Atom, in a story that has been reprinted a few times (including in an Atom Archive) as well.

The Man In The Iron Mask

The second story of the fifth issue is from Doll Man #15 (Winter, 1947) by William Woolfolk and Alex Kotzky (under an original cover by Al Bryant), with the mighty miniature Quality hero of Doll Man fighting against the dangerous menace of the man in the Iron Mask!



Darrell Dane was being tormented by a model plane, but it was an invention of Dr. Roberts, the father of his girlfriend, Martha, who suggested that this could be a weapon in Doll Man's arsenal, being the Dollplane!  Darrell couldn't wait to try it out as Doll Man, and used it to stop mob boss Don Vittorio, who looked like he perished in a car crash off a bridge into a river.  But, Don survived, burned badly, to find a kindly hermit who helped nurse him back to health (and showed off his collection of metal masks with key locks). 

Taking off his bandages, Don saw he was burned, killed the old man and vowed to live under an Iron Mask.  Doll Man was going after Frank Morbo (who had taken over the Vittorio mob), but was beaten there by the Iron Mask, who killed his former lieutenant, and took control.  Doll Man showed up, but was beaten by a headbutt from the Iron Mask.  Iron Mask then left Doll Man to drown in a fish tank, but Doll Man escaped that trap.  Doll Man then faced Iron Mask at the home of a stamp collector, but Iron Mask escaped the ground, but Doll Man wouldn't follow.  Waiting, Iron Mask returned and Doll Man stopped him.  Iron Mask had lost the key to his mask, and had to return or he would have starved in his mask.

Doll Man had a few reprints of his Quality tales in the Super Spectaculars of the 1970s, with new stories as a part of the Freedom Fighters to follow soon.

Finder's Keepers

Starting the sixth issue off by shining bright with the Starman story from Adventure Comics #77 (August, 1942) by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley (under a Sandman cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon), as astral avenger faces the return of his most tenacious foe, the Mist!

Starman's foe, the Mist, escaped from jail after one of his henchmen, Whitey, had slipped him some of his inviso solution, so the Mist turned his cell invisible and escaped in the confusion.  The Mist had a new plan, using items people would find to hypnotize them into stealing for him.  This plan was fouled by Honey Jenkins, who tried to return her item to the police.  Ted Knight heard of these odd thefts from his fiancee, Doris Lee, and went to check out Honey as Starman.  Good thing, as the Mist's men were trying to kidnap Honey, to prevent her from revealing the plan.  Starman went to the Mist's new windmill headquarters, where he faced a few traps, and even had his gravity rod taken from him by the Mist, but was able to beat his foe with some reflected light.

The Mist had previously faced Starman once, returned again as Starman teamed up with Black Canary, then the Mist represented himself as a Black Canary foe in a battle with the JLA and JSA as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains..

The Man Who Met Himself

A nice surprise for the sixth issue, as this Sargon the Sorcerer tale from Sensation Comics #71 (November, 1947) by John Broome and Paul Reinman (under an original Wonder Woman cover by Harry G. Peter), facing off against his regular foe, the mysterious Blue Lama.


Sargon the Sorcerer was finishing his onstage magic show when he was met by two versions of his assistant, Maximillian O'Leary. 

Taking the two backstage to solve the mystery, Sargon is thrown into the otherdimensional world of his foe, the Blue Lama.  She took advantage of Sargon's confusion to draw him into her world.  She had him tied, unable to use his Ruby of Life (as he couldn't touch his bonds to control them), but he could control his Ruby of Life as she tried to take it from him.  This allows him to get free, where he escapes the Blue Lama and the Max doppleganger to return to the stage.  There, he faces his own duplicate....the Blue Lama in disguise!  The two battle, and she retreats, to face Sargon again.

Sargon was a member of the All-Star Squadron, but mostly featured in Golden Age comics, with a few reprints in the 1970s, as well as appearing in the Flash as a villain, and helping out in a JLA/JSA adventure involving Black Canary.

The Wasp's Nest

Last, but not least, taking a swing in the sixth issue, is a reprint of a  Wildcat story from Sensation Comics #66 (June, 1947) with no known writer and art by Joe Kubert (also under a Wonder Woman Peter cover), where he faces off against his old foe, the Yellow Wasp.




A crowd was attacked by giant wasps, and it was from an old foe of Wildcat's, the Yellow Wasp, who had escaped jail. 

The Yellow Wasp challenged police, until a radio call hit the office of Stretch Skinner, detective pal of boxer Ted Grant, with Stretch going into action (allowing Ted to change into Wildcat, and pursue his foe as well).  Wildcat and Stretch were captured, with the Yellow Wasp planning to kill Wildcat by flooding a room he was in with water.  Wildcat remained calm and floated on the water until he could reach a roof skylight and escape.  Wildcat had to find the Yellow Wasp, who was to leave Stretch to die on a subway track, but Wildcat found and freed him, then defeated the Yellow Wasp, throwing him back in jail.

The cover of the Wanted issue had the villain listed as the Golden Wasp, which caused confusion for years, but a Golden Wasp, who was the protege of the Yellow Wasp, faced Wildcat as as member of the Injustice Society in the JSA's 2000 revival.

The letters' pages still teased the idea of new villain stories in Wanted (which never did happen), along with letters about the first two issues, Golden Age stories like in the third and fourth issue, and let readers know of a new series of Secret Origins due out soon, also edited by E. Nelson Bridwell, with a first issue that had a Hawkman story facing the Gentleman Ghost (who would appear in the next issue of Wanted).

Giant Justice League of America The Fifth

Giants were getting to be a little less so, with the fifth Justice League of America Giant, Justice League of America #76 (November-December, 1969, also listed as Giant #G-65) clocking in at about 64 pages....

...still, it did have that incredible Murphy Anderson cover, as well as two tales of the Justice League of America, as well as a couple of extras that made this a real special issue.

Justice League of America 7

The first of the reprints was from Justice League of America #7 (October-November, 1961), where the original JLA members (plus Green Arrow) entered "The Cosmic Fun-House" in a story by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs, under an original cover by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson.

This time around, aliens from the planet Angellax had taken over a fun house (coincidentally the one Snapper Carr had taken his girlfriend, Midge, to), transporting the couple to an alien world (which they were rescued from by the JLA).  Still, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow went to check it out in their alter egos, whom the aliens then duplicate (and the duplicates send Superman, Batman and Martian Manhunter into the far future seeking Xotar to keep them busy).  Then, the aliens (also in disguise) lure Aquaman to the park.  The captured JLAers escape, but are distorted by the attempt (like a fun house mirror), and have to work harder to defeat their foes, return to normal and call Superman, Batman and the Martian Manhunter back from the future. 

Once all that is accomplished, the heroes come back to the park in their alter egos, with their appropriate paramours (Lois Lane, Kathy Kane, Steve Trevor, Diane Meade, Iris West, Carol Ferris and Bonnie King, with poor Aquaman left out at the time), to enjoy the rides!

Justice League of America 12

The second reprint was from Justice League of America #12 (June, 1962) featuring "The Last Case Of The Justice League" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs (and cover by Murphy Anderson).  Laying on a bit thick with that title (especially considering a few issues came out after the original story....but, read on.....).

This issue starts with a new villain, Doctor Light, confronting a late to a meeting Snapper Carr, alone in the JLA HQ....as the villain asks Snapper to record his history of the last case of the Justice League.  Arthur Light was a scientist who figured out how to manipulate light, and using that and other methods, first captured Aquaman, then using his signaling device, attracted the other JLAers, sending them to other worlds that would negate the Leaguers powers.  But, Superman and Batman, the last to arrive, figured out that something bad was afoot, and used their tried and true method of switching identities, which allowed Superman to leave Batman's planet trap, and eventually rescue all his teammates (with a little help to get the Batman dressed as Superman).  The team find Snapper at the Secret Sanctuary, then go off chasing Dr. Light at three different locations....capturing him, and finding out all three were light duplicates designed to distract the JLA, except one JLAer had planned a distraction of his own, which allowed the team to defeat the Doctor.

Pin-Ups

There were two special pin-ups in this issue, harking back to the Golden Age of DC Comics, with both of them being rendered by Murphy Anderson.

The first was a two page spread of the Justice Society of America, with its membership as it was at the time this issue came out including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Robin....as well as an extra half a page with a little of the JSA's history.

The second pin-up was that of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, who were the leaders of 14 issues of Leading Comics, and this team had not been seen in decades, with a few of the members not even active in current comics! 

This was a first step to bringing them back....

...that, and more Giant coverage coming in the future!

Green Lantern Fights Christmas Lights

True, some people have their Christmas lights up before Thanksgiving, but some wait until December to do that ritual...and Hal Jordan seems to be one who waits.


While enjoying Christmas with his brothers, Jim and Jack, and their family, Green Lantern has to face the Justice League villain, Dr. Light.


That puts a little "bah, humbug" into Hal's holiday, in this story from Green Lantern #36 (February, 1993) titled "The Ghost Of Christmas Light" by Gerard Jones, Gene Ha and Romeo Tanghal.

Targeting Green Arrow’s Villains

Everyone knows Oliver Queen was a millionaire playboy, who, after being shipwrecked on an island, and then found, went into action as the swashbucking archer…Green Arrow. But, what of the villains he faced?

Glad you asked, because here a few facts on Green Arrow’s most wanted bad guys!

Tick Tock

First up is the most timely of those foes, the Clock King.

The Clock King first appeared in World’s Finest Comics #111  (August, 1960, by Ed Herron and Lee Elias – he’s not on the cover because Green Arrow was on few covers back in the early 1960s).  William Tockman was a man out of time…he thought he was going to perish, and planned to rob a bank using his impeccable ability to schedule (and a clock costume…well, hey, it was the Silver Age!) to get money to support his sister, but he was stopped by Green Arrow and Speedy…and sent to prison.  He worked with Dr. Destiny and the first gathering of foes of the Justice League of America…and later still, found out that he wasn’t really dying at all!  The Clock King faced Green Arrow a few times in  before the Crisis on Infinite Earths (and appeared in that book as well, issue #9 with all the villains), and then joined the Injustice League with Justice League International #23 (January, 1989) with Major Disaster, Multi-Man, Cluemaster and Big Sir.  He worked with that team for a while (even when it changed to Justice League Antarctica), both helping and hindering the JLI.  He even worked with other foes who had a time fascination, like Atom’s foe – Chronos, the Batman’s Calendar Man and Batman/Green Lantern/Animal Man foe the Time Commander in a group called the “Time Foes” in Team Titans #13 and 14 (in 1993) and in Showcase ’94  for Zero Hour.

He even tried forming his own group, the Clockwatchers (with members Acidia, Sharpe, Crackle and Radiant) and fought the Teen Titans, Firehawk and Booster Gold in Chase #4 (May, 1998).  But, time finally ran out for William Tockman when he rejoined the Injustice League at the behest of the U.S. government in Suicide Squad #1 (November, 2001).  Another man took the name of the Clock King, and he seemed to have some ability to manipulate time, and he faced the Teen Titans just before Flashpoint, when time ran out for all….

Dream A Little Dream

Clock King dreamed of a better life for his sister…and maybe that’s why he was recruited by Dr. Destiny, the next foe we’ll discuss.

Making his first appearance in Justice League of America #5 (June-July, 1961, by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky), John Dee was a criminal scientist who was the first foe Green Arrow faced as a member of the Justice League, having joined the issue before, and he was the first villain who recruited the foes of the members to battle the team together (in case you are wondering, those foes are Wonder Woman’s Professor Menace, Aquaman baddie –  the Electric Man, Martian Manhunter nemesis –  the Getaway Mastermind, Flash foe - Captain Cold and Green Lantern’s villain - the Puppet Master…who later took the name the Puppeteer…).  After a few more battles with the JLA, Dr. Destiny invented the Materioptikon…which allowed him to manipulate dreams into reality.  This made him much harder to defeat, and after stopping another gathering of villains (foes after the hero – Superman/Luthor, Batman/Penguin, Aquaman/Cutlass Charlie, Flash/Captain Boomerang, Green Lantern/Tattooed Man, Martian Manhunter/Dr. Light, Atom/Plant-Master and Hawkman/Mr. I.Q. in Justice League of America #61, March, 1968) where the JLAers all acted as Green Arrow, the team had Dr. Destiny hypnotized to be unable to dream.

This caused Dr. Destiny no end of problems, as shown in Justice League of America #154 (May, 1978) where he came back to try to kill the team because his inability to dream caused him to get a more skeletal appearance, and ended him up in Arkham Asylum.  Still, this didn’t stop him from returning to face the team again a few times, requiring the League to get help from the Jack Kirby‘s second Sandman (Garrett Sanford) in their first Annual, and even confronting the King of Dreams, Morpheus…aka Neil Gaiman‘s Sandman.

He even returned to face the JLA a few times after before he was only a dream….

Turn on the Light

Dr. Light was another Justice League foe who also battled the amazing archer individual after facing him in the Justice League (starting with his first appearance, in Justice League of America #12, June, 1962, by Gardner Fox  and Mike Sekowsky).

Arthur Light was kind of a failure as a scientist, and he carried that on through the rest of his life.  Arthur ended up facing the Justice League to make himself feel superior, and he’s been losing ground ever since.  Using light based weapons, he was able to isolate the individual JLA members, and dispatch them to alien planets…and, but for a bit of luck and honorary JLAer Snapper Carr, the members would still be there.

Dr. Light went on to face members individually, then even attacking the gathered sidekicks of the group in the Teen Titans (first time, in Teen Titans #44, November, 1976, with Green Arrow’s own sidekick, Speedy, in attendance).  Dr. Light even formed a group of villains to attack the teens (under the direction of the demon, Trigon), the Fearsome Five (other members included Gizmo, Mammoth, Shimmer and Psimon in New Teen Titans #3, January, 1981, by Marv Wolfman and George Perez).

This also didn’t work out well for the doctor….he was in prison quite a bit, which didn’t turn out well for him either.  Dr. Light got recruited to the Suicide Squad…and killed on Apokolips.  Still, hell didn’t want this loser and sent him back to Earth…where he still had problems.

He got a new costume (which he later dumped), faced the new Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), which got him recruited to play in Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang (from JLA #10-15, as Green Lantern’s foe, with Luthor there for Superman, Joker for Batman, Ocean Master for Aquaman, Circe for Wonder Woman, Mirror Master for Flash…and a surprise for Martian Manhunter!).  Still, Arthur ended up in jail, and even partnering with the Joker didn’t keep Dr. Light safe from the toxic Joker’s Last Laugh…but that was nothing compared to the Identity Crisis he’d later have.  Seems Arthur was really villainious one day, so bad that the JLA had to wipe his mind…and that started a whole nasty chain of events, leading to tons of problems for the world’s heroes.  And, it was after all this that Arthur faced Green Arrow alone (well, not so alone….as he brought help, including Killer Frost, Mirror Master, Deathstroke the Terminator and Merlyn, all in Green Arrow #54-59 in 2005/2006!).

Archery is Black Magic

Dr. Light’s help against the emerald archer included one of his individual foes, the “magician” Merlyn.

Merlyn didn’t really use magic, but his skill with a bow was like magic.  Arthur King first came on the scene in Justice League of America #94 (November, 1971, by Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin); he was a member of the League of Assassins, and had been an archer idolized by young Oliver Queen, and even once able to beat Green Arrow early in his career before Arthur became an assassin.  Merlyn was also a recruit in an “anti”-Justice League (composed of foes of the team, including Superman’s foe-Brainiac, Batman villain-Clayface, Aquaman’s opposite-the Ocean Master, Flash nemesis-Grodd, Green Lantern’s arch enemy-Sinestro, Atom’s foe-Chronos, Black Canary villain-the Harpy and the Queen Bee to face Elongated Man and Red Tornado) in Action Comics #443 (January, 1975) and faced Black Lightning (a future friend to Green Arrow with lightning powers) in that electric hero’s second issue.

Merlyn ended up facing other heroes for quite a time when Green Arrow went “urban hunter” in Seattle, even joining a group, the Killer Elite (with Bolt, Chiller, Deadline and Deadshot) to fight the Justice League America branch under the direction of Neron during the Underworld Unleashed, fighting Arrowette and the rest of the Young Justice kids as a member of the Zandian olympic team, and Merlyn was also involved in the Identity Crisis, mostly fighting the new female Manhunter, Kate Spencer.  Still, he couldn’t stay away from Green Arrow, and faced him again, both before and after Ollie’s wedding to Black Canary, and Black Canary as well during her 2007 mini-series, and a quick reunion with some of the League of Assassins to face the Bat-family…after, Merlyn was faced with a female psychopathic admirer of Green Arrow’s named Cupid…who made him see stars.

A Shot in the Dark

Deadshot is an odd case, and is here mostly because of his friends.

Deadshot started off as a Batman villain in Batman #59 (June, 1950, by David Vern and Lew Schwartz), and then sat out for a while, all the way until Detective Comics #474, where Steve Englehart returned the character (and the late Marshall Rogers gave him his one-eyed fully-masked assassin look).  Then, with the manipulations of Darkseid turning the world against its heroes in Legends, Deadshot joined the Suicide Squad, where he remained a member for most of its original 66 issue run (all under the talent of writer John Ostrander, fleshing out the character of Floyd Lawton, and why this rich kid went to the wrong side of the tracks, becoming a trickshot artist and assassin), even boasting a 4-issue mini-series all his own!  Even after the Squad went away for a while, Floyd stayed in groups, joining the Killer Elite, and even coming back to other versions of the Suicide Squad, where this man could use his deadly talents to help people (because, even though Deadshot is a killer, somewhere with him, he wants to be an old style gunslinger, pulling into town to keep the law…like he did the first time he met Batman).

And, all of this…and no Green Arrow?  Well…yes, that’s true.  Green Arrow and Deadshot really didn’t cross paths until around the Identity Crisis and Deadshot’s 2005 6-issue mini-series, and the Villains United series…which led to the Secret Six mini-series and regular series (wherein Floyd worked with Cat-Man, another Batman villain that crossed paths with Green Arrow).

These two incredible marksmen…just kept missing each other.  Seems something must have kept them off-balance…

Down With the Count

Keeping people off-balance is par for the course for Count Vertigo.

Werner Vertigo started off fighting Green Arrow’s ladyfriend, the sonic-empowered Black Canary, in World’s Finest Comics #251 (June-July, 1978, by Gerry Conway and Trevor von Eeden), trying to take back jewels owned by his family, as he was part of the ruling class of the small Eastern European country of Vlatava that the Russians had taken over; and his genetic inner ear disorder,  which he inherited as well, had been neutralized by mechanical means, by which he could affect the vertigo of anyone around him.  Vertigo returned in the next issue of World’s Finest to face Green Arrow (switching with the Stinger in a “tag-team” style, where the Stinger faced Black Canary…but still ending in defeat for the villains).  Green Arrow kept Vertigo as a villain for a few more battles…until Darkseid turned Earth against its heroes in Legends, and Count Vertigo faced Black Canary again.  Count Vertigo was captured by Manhunter Mark Shaw, and went to work with the Suicide Squad, starting with issue #24, where he and Deadshot had a few confrontations over time.  Still, Count Vertigo stayed with the team through issue #66, when the members left to pursue individual interests.

Count Vertigo returned home to Vlatava to help his people, but instead was there to watch as the Spectre killed them all (in Spectre #13, December, 1993, by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake).  Count Vertigo returned to the Suicide Squad briefly, then was recruited to join Johnny Sorrow’s Injustice Society as a foe of Black Canary’s.  Still, after a chance encounter with Green Arrow (in Green Arrow #22, May, 2003 by Scott Beatty and Phil Hester) on Starfish Island (the place where Ollie learned the basic archery and survival skills and came to the realization he wanted to help people), Count Vertigo also realized the evil life wasn’t for him, and wanted to help people again (Count Vertigo was also a little bi-polar, which he also needed help with on occasion).  So, after the Infinite Crisis, he joined Checkmate (with JSAers Green Lantern Alan Scott, Mr. Terrific and JLI member Fire)…but, was still attached to the Suicide Squad (which pit him against the Justice League once again…this time, with that team being led by Black Canary, and against Manhunters Mark Shaw and Kate Spencer…leading one in a dizzying circular path…why, it’s enough to give one…vertigo!).
All of which is a way to show how interconnected Green Arrow’s foes are, both with each other, the Manhunters, and the various villainous organizations of the DC Universe.

Even so, this is just a few of the people that Green Arrow has faced over the years…and there are many more as well…and we’ll explore that further, starting with Replikon, Deathstroke and all of the other of Batman’s foes Green Arrow has faced over the years.