Moon Man and Lady Lunar vs Superman and Batman

It's been a while since there has been "one small step for man"...

....yet, the effects of going into space and landing on the moon have been felt by the heroes of Earth...

...just take a look at Moon Man and Lady Lunar!

Moon Man

Astronaut Brice Rogers got powers from exposure to a meteor in space while orbiting the moon, and changing into the Moon Man in the "Menace of the Moon-Man!" in World's Finest Comics #98 (December, 1958 by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang)!  The Moon Man was a separate entity that would take over Brice, and gave him the powers to effect gravity (attracting items or pushing them away), as well as the ability to hypnotize people (afflicting them with a temporary lunacy)....all under the moon's influence (and living a normal life during the day).

There must have been some green kryptonite in that meteor as well, as the green glow Moon Man put off weakened Superman...and it took the help of Batman and Robin to help Brice Rogers see the light of day and be rid of his evil alter ego of the Moon Man!

Lady Lunar

Stacy Macklin was an astronaut working at NASA when Diana Prince joined the program in Wonder Woman #252 (February, 1979 by Jack C. Harris and Jose Delbo) and Wonder Woman faced the menace of Astarte in "The Empress of the Silver Snake!".  Diana continued at NASA for a time, with Stacy also appearing in Wonder Woman #253 (March, 1979, finishing the battle against Astarte), Wonder Woman #254 (April, 1979 with Wonder Woman facing Angle Man), Adventure Comics #463 and #464 (from 1979, with Wonder Woman facing Zazzala the Queen Bee), and Wonder Woman #256 (June, 1979, with Wonder Woman facing the Royal Flush Gang).

Stacy returned in World's Finest Comics #266 (December-January, 1980/1981 by Cary Burkett and Rich Buckler) working for S.T.A.R. Labs as a guest speaker, and being exposed to the capsule of Brice Rogers.  There must have been some meteor dust left, as when Stacy was standing next to Rogers' capsule and struck by moonlight, she changed into Lady Lunar!

As Lady Lunar, Stacy's personality split, and she had the same gravity and hypnotic powers the Moon Man did.  Lady Lunar kidnapped Dr. Jenet Klyburn of S.T.A.R. Labs, used her knowledge to help make a bomb (and as bait to capture Batman), and planned to blow up Metropolis under the cover of night.  If not for Superman making solar reflectors to blanket Metropolis with sunlight, Lady Lunar may have succeeded!

Lady Lunar's days were not finished after that...she returned again as one of the villains to face the heroes  in Crisis On Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985), where she faced the Doom Patrol's Negative Woman (and even made it to the cover of this villain filled issue!).


One never knows what dooms could be unleashed on mankind if Moon Man or Lady Lunar returned...

    

Superman and Batman...Brothers?

It's hard to imagine two more different characters than Superman and Batman...

...one, the last son of doomed planet Krypton, rocketed to Earth to be bright, shining symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis...

...the other, the son of wealthy parents, taken from him in a horrible crime, dedicating himself to a war against all criminals in his home city of Gotham.

Superman and Batman - Brothers

In World's Finest Comics #172 (December, 1967, by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan), readers were given an odd look at Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne's lives if they had intersected earlier...when Clark was Superboy and Bruce just lost his parents (in what they called, in the Silver Age, an "imaginary story", which was one which had significant differences than the normal continuity of monthly comics...and later could be said to have taken place on "Earth-172", as all stories fit somewhere...or maybe they are all imaginary stories?).

The Kents took in young billionaire Bruce Wayne to care for him (and Superboy thought Bruce on his way to becoming a criminal...until he learned the truth...as Bruce had become...Batboy!).

Superboy and Batboy continued their partnership through adulthood (and Bruce getting full control over his parents' fortune and Wayne Manor).  Bruce and Clark moved to Gotham (with Clark becoming a reporter for the Gotham Gazette)...at least until they cross paths with Lex Luthor...and he kills the Kents!

This pushes Batman over the edge..

....with Batman barely able to not kill Luthor! 

For the good of the world, Superman takes Batman to the 30th Century to work with the adult Legion of Super-Heroes, while Superman stays behind to protect 20th Century Gotham and run the Wayne Foundation!

This little gem can be found in DC's Greatest Imaginary Stories Volume 1, and (in black and white) in Showcase Presents: World's Finest Comics Volume 3, and above all else, it teaches us to appreciate the family we have, and to be willing to accept the family that finds us...a central theme, common to both Superman and Batman!

Comic Book Sharks

With all the excitement around Shark Week, and the movie franchise, Sharknado, you’d think sharks were just discovered!

Even back in 1975, when Bruce popped up in Jaws, sharks were around….and even before that! Both DC and Marvel Comics (as well as other comic companies) used the shark imagery to menace their heroes...

The earliest villain who was a shark…was the Shark!

The Shark

Introduced in Green Lantern #24 (October, 1963) by John Broome and Gil Kane, the Shark was a shark, mutated by radiation into a more human form, and he caused problems for Green Lantern Hal Jordan of space sector 2814! He returned in Green Lantern #28 (his first cover appearance), and then on and off over the years in Adventure Comics (facing Aquaman and Wonder Woman, separately in #443 to #448 and #459), Superman (in Action Comics #456) the Justice League of America (#40 and #162), returned to fight Green Lantern a few times (#126, #174-#176 and #196 to #199), took part in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and even menaced Black Condor!


Now, mutating a man into a shark….well, that was the basis of the Tiger Shark, a foe of the Sub-Mariner’s!

Tiger Shark

Starting with Sub-Mariner #5 (September, 1968, by Roy Thomas and John Buscema), Todd Arliss was an Olympic swimmer who had lost his ability to swim after being injured saving a drowning man…and was transformed in an experiment by scientist (and foe of Namor’s) Doctor Dorcas, into Tiger Shark! Tiger Shark came back to continually stalk his prey of Namor, in the Sub-Mariner title (#6, #7, #9, #16, #24, #43 to #46), the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #160, and even in Marvel Team-Up (#14) and Super-Villain Team-Up (#1 thru #3), and menaced Namor’s relatives like Namorita (in the pages of Ms. Marvel #15 and #16), as well as later joining up with the Masters of Evil (with Avengers #222, not battling the Sub-Mariner). More recently, he battled Wolverine during the Acts of Vengeance, and joined with Terrax, Baron Mordo and Red Hulk in an alliance against the early Defenders (Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange and the Hulk…their respective foes!).

A few other sharks worth a brief mention….

King Shark first appeared in Superboy #0 (October, 1994) by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, (and first cover in Superboy #9). Nanaue later helped Aquaman during the Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis run, and joined the Secret Six...

...and is now a part of the Suicide Squad along with Deadshot and Harley Quinn in the new 52.

And he’s always hungry!

Killer Shark burst to the surface first in Blackhawk #50 (March, 1952 by Reed Crandall), but was mostly an aerial ace fighting Blackhawk (at least in the Quality Comics days), until Blackhawk switched to DC Comics with Blackhawk #108 (January, 1957), he continued to fight Blackhawk and his squadron (in Blackhawk #123, #128, #130, #139, #155, #170, #183, #200, #204, #216, #225, #228, #249, #250, #269 and #270), and even Lady Blackhawk (continuing his fight with her in Birds of Prey #114 thru #116 and Batman Confidential #36 thru #38).

But, with all this shark talk, you think you’d need Bat-shark repellent!

Oddly enough, Batman faced both the Tiger Shark (in Detective Comics #147 May 1949, art by Dick Sprang….Dr. Gaige…this villain decided to take over on the sea, resulting in Batman and Robin fighting him with the Bat-Submarine! Odd how this cover reflects how Batman encountered a shark in the 1960s Batman movie with Adam West) and the Shark (of the Terrible Trio, along with the Fox and the Vulture, in Detective Comics #253 in March, 1958 by Dave Wood and Sheldon Moldoff).

These were just ordinary criminals, using the shark name to inspire fear (and they returned later, in Detective Comics #321, and much later to face Dr. Mid-Nite)…

...but if you want to feel safe to go back into the water, call Batman!

Batman Villains First

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a push on making Batman's five most dangerous foes...the Riddler, the Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman and the Joker....

but. they all started in the 1940s!

The Riddler

Edward Nigma cheated to beat puzzles, and used that ability to take on the identity of the Riddler in Detective Comics #140 (October, 1948 by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang), wherein Batman and Robin solved the Riddler's puzzles and thought him dead, at least until Detective Comics #142 (December, 1948); these two tales being Riddler's only Golden Age appearances (both reprinted in Batman Archives #7, and the first in the Batman: Featuring Two-Face and the Riddler tradepaperback). 

If not for an appearance in Batman #171 (May, 1965) and Frank Gorshin's Riddler on the 1960s Batman TV series and 1966 Batman movie (though John Astin subbed for Gorshin for a season) and being portrayed by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever...

...the Riddler might have only been a big question mark!

The Penguin

Oswald Cobblepot began his career as an art thief, stealing painting from a gallery in Detective Comics #58 (December, 1941 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, with this tale bring reprinted in the Batman Archives #2, Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told tradepaperback #2, and in Batman Chronicles #5).  This bird came back to face Batman many times during the 1940s, but didn't get his first cover appearance until his fourth appearance in Detective Comics #67 (September, 1942).

This bird came to life and rose to fame played by Burgess Meredith in Batman TV show and 1966 movie...

...and helped the screen time fly by as portrayed by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns, continuing to waddle along and threaten the Caped Crusader!

Two-Face

Harvey Kent was Gotham's district attorney, pressing a case against Boss Maroni, until Moroni threw acid at Kent, scarring his half his face and turning the lawyer to crime, using Maroni's two-faced coin (with one side now scarred) to make decisions on how to proceed, starting with Detective Comics #66 (August, 1942, by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson), and the tale concluding in Detective Comics #68 (October, 1942, where he appropriately made his first cover in his second appearance) and both tales can be found in the 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-20, Batman Archives #2,  the Batman: Featuring Two-Face and the Riddler tradepaperback, Batman vs. Two-Face tradepaperback and Batman Chronicles #7.  Two-Face's alter ego's last name was switched (with no explanation) to Dent in Batman #50 (December-January, 1948-1949).

Sadly, Two-Face never made it into the Batman TV show, but did make (appropriately) a pair of movie appearances, in Batman Forever (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and in the Dark Knight (played by Aaron Eckhart)...

...for twice as much fun as any other foe!

Catwoman

Selina Kyle began her career as a jewel thief called the Cat in Batman #1 (Spring, 1940, by Bill Finger and Bob Kane), and changed to the Catwoman in Batman #2 (Summer, 1940) after helping Batman find the Joker (with both villains escaping the dynamic duo).  Surprisingly, it took until Detective Comics #122 (April, 1947) for this femme fatale to make a cover of a Batman comic book!

Catwoman was portrayed in the Batman TV series by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt in the Batman TV series, by Lee Meriweather in the 1966 Batman movie...

...by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, by Halle Berry in her own Catwoman movie (though she wasn't Selina Kyle), and by Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises.

Joker

This criminal was a jack of all trades, menacing Batman and Robin twice in the very first Batman issue (Batman #1 of Spring, 1940 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane), and returned again and again to menace Batman and Robin (as well as other villains like Catwoman and Penguin, as well as the whole of Gotham).  Joker made his first Batman comic cover with Detective Comics #62 (April, 1942...quite the April's Fool joke indeed!).

Joker also is one of the most popular of Batman's live action foes..

...being portrayed by Cesar Romero in the Batman TV show and 1966 movie, getting a load of him as Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman movie, and very seriously by Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight.

Joker and Catwoman were both in Batman #1, and all the Batman stories of that issue were in Famous First Edition F-5, Batman: The Dark Knight Archives #1, Millenium Edition: Batman #1 and the Batman Chronicles #1! 

Let no one play you for a fool as to who Batman's MAIN foe is...and if you don't know, then the joke is on you!

Though Joker has been teased on two episodes of the first season of Gotham, with promises of more in its second season, the show still focuses on everyone else...Edward "Riddler" Nygma as played by Corey Michael Smith, Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepott portrayed by Robin Lord Taylor, Harvey "Two-Face" Dent played by Nicholas D'Agosto and Selina "Catwoman" Kyle played by Camren Bicondova...all helping to build the legend of Batman.

2015 Hasbro Marvel San Diego Comic Con Exclusives

A pair of items that Hasbro is releasing at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con sure to get Marvel fans and Hasbro toy collectors excited...


...just in time for the Ant-Man movie and a certain magical hero and his friends as well!

Marvel Legends

We'll start small, with the Ant-Man exclusive 0.75″ figure “that’s smaller than a penny”, and it’s the smallest figure ever created by Hasbro.


The figure will retail for $9.99, and is modeled after Paul Rudd’s character in the upcoming Marvel release, and comes in matchbox packaging.

But, if you have a hankering for more Ant-Man product...

Hasbro is also bringing along a deluxe Ant-Man pack that includes 12-inch Giant Man, 6-inch Goliath, 3.75-inch hank Pym (who comes in a lab coat with swappable heads), 1.5-inch Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and 1-inch Hank Pym/Ant-Man (as you can better see here....).

The set is packaged inside a cardboard helmet with a swiveling antennae...


...and will be available for $64.99.


Last, but not least, getting ready for his movie to come out in 2016, a set of figures on Doctor Strange and other magic users of the Marvel Universe for Hasbro's Marvel Legends line.

The collection’s edition includes 6-inch figures of Strange in his blue astral form, his ally Brother Voodoo, Strange’s arch nemesis Dormammu, the Asgardian goddess of death Hela, and mutant sorceress Magik.

The entire set comes packaged in a box resembling Stephen Strange’s magical Book of Vishanti, and includes a wearable role-play Eye of Agamato and is priced at $104.99 according to the official Hasbro description.

Have A Super 4th of July

Have a super Fourth of July with this cover, of Superman #24 from September-October, 1943 by Jack Burnley.

Seven Soldiers of Victory In Leading Comics

If you've followed this blog, you might remember a little about the Seven Soldiers of Victory's members, the Green Arrow, Speedy, Vigilante, The Shining Knight, the Star Spangled Kid, Stripsey, the Crimson Avenger and Wing (and yes, that was 8 members, but hey...what's one extra between friends?).

See, when they started in Leading Comics #1 (Winter, 1941-1942, overall story by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin, with chapters by Jerry Siegel, John Lehti, George Papp, Hal Sherman and Craig Flessel), there WERE eight members...the Law's Legionnaires included their sidekicks!

Leading Comics #1 

This bunch of heroes gathered in Leading Comics #1's "Blueprint For Crime" to fight the Hand, a criminal who thought he was dying, and gathered the greatest villains of the time (or at least those he had access to)...


…Green Arrow’s foe, Professor Merlin from More Fun Comics #75…Star-Spangled Kid’s adversary, the Needle, who first appeared in Star-Spangled Comics #4…Red Dragon, who fought the Shining Knight in Adventure Comics #69…and a few new villains, Big Caesar to fight Crimson Avenger and the Dummy to face the Vigilante; these were to be his “fingers of crime”…

...and the team continued to fight on!

Leading Comics #2 to #4

For 14 issues of Leading Comics (up until Spring, 1945), the 7 Soldiers fought many menaces, including criminal master mind Black Star in Leading Comics #2 (Spring, 1945, by writers Mort Weisinger and Bill Finger, and artists Mort Meskin, Craig Flessel, Harold Sherman, George Papp and John Lehti) who led small-time crooks False Face, Captain Bigg, Hopper, the Brain and the Rattler against the team; time traveling Dr. Wilfred Doome in Leading Comics #3 (Summer, 1942 by unknown writers, but art by Mort Meskin, Craig Flessel, Harold Sherman, George Papp and John Lehti and the story being adapted in All-Star Squadron #29); the Sixth Sense (aka Dr. Brett) in Leading Comics #4 (Fall, 1942, by Bill Finger and Ed Dobrotka and the story being adapted in All-Star Squadron #56).

Leading Comics #5 to #8

Master manipulator the Skull in Leading Comics #5 (Winter, 1942, with art by Ed Dobrotka and no identified writer); the treasure hunting Copperhead (Scrivener) in Leading Comics #6 (Spring, 1943, by writer Joe Samachson and artist Maurice Del Bourgo) and a new wrinkle of the heroes working in teams in individual chapters; the Wizards of Stanovia fighting to keep a country free in Leading Comics #7 (Summer, 1943 by Joe Samachson and Pierre Rice); the Dummy returns (after facing Vigilante alone in Action Comics) to send the team through time in Leading Comics #8 (Fall, 1943, by Joe Samachson and artists Jon Small and Maurice Del Bourgo).

Leading Comics #9 to #14

Mr. X bets with other villains like Red Heister, Dopo the Dip, Blackie Kraul and Lazy Dyers that he can defeat the Law's Legionaries in Leading Comics #9 (Winter, 1943, by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve); getting shipwrecked on an island and switching partners to face Baby-Face Johnson in Leading Comics #10 (Spring, 1944 by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve); deal with where the winds take the hat of Handsome Harry in Leading Comics #11 (Summer, 1944 by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve); working to get money for a charity from millionaire Weldon Darrel in Leading Comics #12 (Fall, 1944 by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve); facing crime trophy collector Barracuda who was filling his Museum of Crime in Leading Comics #13 (Winter 1944 by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve)...


...and taking on fictional characters (like Long John Silver) freed from their books in Leading Comics #14 (Spring, 1945, by Joe Samachson and Arthur Cazeneuve, the last of the Golden Age adventures of the Seven Soldiers); getting aid from Vigilante’s partners, Billy Gunn (first in Action Comics #43, December, 1941) and Stuff the Chinatown Kid (Jimmy Leong, premiering in Action Comics #45, February, 1942) and the Shining Knight’s flying horse, Winged Victory!

No Longer Leading!

Then, the team disappeared….at least, for the world to see. Crimson Avenger and Wing had lost their spot in Detective Comics, but the other members still had individual adventures (and, one last Seven Soldiers story saw print in the mid-1970s in Adventure Comics, from Adventure Comics #438-443), using a script from Joe Samachson, who wrote most of the team’s last Leading Comics stories, with art by Dick Dillin on the whole team, Howard Chaykin on Shining Knight, Lee Elias drawing Green Arrow & Speedy, Mike Grell working on Crimson Avenger & Wing, Ernie Chan doing Star-Spangled Kid & Stripsey, and Jose Luis-Garcia Lopez rendering the Vigilante, all during their magical battles with Willie Wisher…and, oddly enough, this is the only Seven Soldiers story pre-1980s that has NOT be reprinted, as DC has gathered the 14 issues of Leading Comics in three Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives.

In the real world, the team resurfaced in Justice League of America #76 (November-December 1969), but only as a drawing by Murphy Anderson, and a text page, detailing the members. Still, the characters made a return in Justice League of America #100-102 (1972, by Len Wein and Dick Dillin), where the Hand (now, the Iron Hand) had made a deal to restore the Nebula Man, who the Seven Soldiers stopped in an untold tale of the 1950s…with a loss of one of their own, and the rest being scattered in time, to be rescued by the members of the Justice League of America and Justice Society of America (this story collected in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #11 in 1981 and in Crisis on Multiple Earths #3 in 2004.

It was the Crisis on Infinite Earths that messed up the Law’s Legionnaires taking out Green Arrow and Speedy’s World War II tales (which we saw a little more of in All-Star Squadron) and, eventually having them replaced by the Squire, an English youth that befriended the Shining Knight in Roy Thomas‘ Young All-Stars (who would be a Knight of his own, who first appeared as the Knight in Batman #62, December, 1950)..

...the aforementioned Billy Gunn and Stuff, as well as archer Alias the Spider (Thomas Ludlow Hallaway, first in Crack Comics #1 in May 1940) in Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 (April, 2000) by Geoff Johns and Scott Kollins, and explosive heroes TNT (Thomas N. “Tex” Thomas”) and Dan the Dyna-Mite (Dan Dunbar, both first in World’s Finest Comics #5, Spring, 1942) by Len Wein & J.H. Williams in DCU: Legacies #2 (August 2010)

This was not the end of the Seven Soldiers of Victory...



...but it is the end of our coverage for now!