Superman was heavily involved in the story, as he had been in Legends, this time the target of a Manhunter conspiracy in Smallville that extended back to the days he had first landed on Earth as a baby. His participation extends to the Justice League International book and team-ups with Green Lantern and the Spectre.
Batman also made a surprisingly strong crossover, given that most sf elements were generally kept strictly out of the series, lest they hurt the ‘believability’ of the ‘real world’ he operated in. But the infiltration of a manhunter into even his own circle of associates was apparently too good to resist…
The best series of covers (Detective Comics, Suicide Squad, Captain Atom and The Spectre) came about during the fourth week during a four-way crossover/interaction as four separate investigations dovetail in the swamps just outside of Belle Reeve. You didn’t need to read all four books, but if you wanted to know why it was snowing at the end of the story in Detective, you needed to read Captain Atom. (Why Swamp Thing wasn’t involved, I’ll never know.)
The Millenium event ends with a new title: The New Guardians. My understanding was that Englehart was angling for a new, edgy title that would take advantage of the Baxter format in order to produce more mature stories, touching on adult themes that couldn’t be done in the more mainstream DC books… but wound up being overruled by his editors who guided the series into a more mainstream superhero team. The series barely lasted more than a year.
I wonder if it would have worked better as a Vertigo title? Ah, well – Vertigo was still years away yet…
Another highlight from 1972, Luke Cage: Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972). Romita not only penciled and inked the first two covers, he also designed the character and costume (with input from Roy Thomas).
What do you mean was? Joe is still drawing professionally. He does the Dick Tracy strip (which is a lot of fun, by the way), among other projects. A lot of the stuff he’s been doing lately is educational material which he does with his wife, so it’s not on the comic fandom radar, but he still does regular comic stuff now and then.
Yeah, I definitely agree that Staton is underrated. I've been enjoying his work since his E-Man days at Charlton. And every now and then I find myself wishing they had recruited him to work on the Batman books these days.
Yeah, I definitely agree that Staton is underrated. I've been enjoying his work since his E-Man days at Charlton. And every now and then I find myself wishing they had recruited him to work on the Batman books these days.
And here’s another then-new character featuring a Romita-penciled cover. This time it’s Killraven on the cover of Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973). Inks by Giacoia.
I own that one! Loved the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Their story arc where they and the Defenders team up to free the Earth from the Badoon is one of my all-time favorites.
Comments
Covers by John Byrne.
Cover by Jim Aparo.
Four interlocking covers by Jerry Bingham.
I wonder if it would have worked better as a Vertigo title? Ah, well – Vertigo was still years away yet…
Cover by Joe Staton and Mark Farmer.
But, yes, he is underrated.
If you weren't there, you just can't understand.
<:-P