Bring on the Back-ups: Black Canary: Adventure comics 418 & 419

As I noted in my first “Bring on the Back-Ups” post one of the good things about DC comics in the early -mid 1970’s were their back-up strips. Now not all of these were classics of comic book literature as is the case here with this two part story from Adventure Comics issues 418 and 419. The script is pretty basic although it has a nice little surprise in the last panel. The real reason this is for me, one of my favourite back up tales is down to the art of Alex Toth that elevated this average tale to a different level. The above illustration of Black Canary by Toth has nothing to do with this strip but it is a cracker and it shows just how good Toth was.

Adventure Comics at this time featured Supergirl who I found quite a bland character (and let’s face it in 1972 this was considered a girl's only comic) so it was never on my “must buy list” .But as DC published 48/52 page comics at this time that all featured reprints from the golden age to the 1960s, I would pick up any comic book for these reprint strips. In the case of “Adventure” they reprinted stories from the Phantom Stranger, Legion of Super-Heroes Dr Mid-Nite, Animal Man and the Enchantress along with (then) new strips like Zatanna (dawn by Gray Morrow and Dick Giordano) and of course Black Canary who I knew from reading the Justice League.

As mentioned above this is a pretty average story where Black Canary lands a new job teaching martial arts to members of the Women's Resistance League (WRL) , a feminist group (remember this was written in the early 1970’s when the Women’s Lib movement was at its peak) . Anyway in the story BC sees that the group is being held at gunpoint by masked terrorists which she swiftly defeats only to be knocked unconscious by one of the WRL students that she was teaching. The first part of the story ends when the WRL head, Bertha, for no seeming reason tells one of the group to kill Black Canary.

In part two Bertha elects not to kill Back Canary but instead to use her as a hostage. She then has BC bound and placed inside a van they are driving to a point where they intend to intercept and free their leader who is a prisoner being escorted from one prison to another and who turns out to be (da-da the surprise ending...of sorts!) Catwoman!

As can be seen from the illo below from 1980, Toth drawing Black Canary was a match made in heaven. Now calm down fanboy it's ony a drawing!

Ten of the best from the 1972/3 spinner rack

As the world seem to lurch between one disaster to another with climate change, volcanic eruptions, a pandemic, inflation, and now a potential war in Europe it’s good to take time out and look back to a time when life seemed so much easier and stable. No not the 1970’s specifically, that wasn’t that great either and it contained many of the same horrors we are facing today, but rather to a time when we were kids and take a look at some of the comic book covers that got us excited in the early 1970’s. If you weren’t around in 1972/73 then just enjoy looking at some of the great comic books we could pick up in any local newsagent back in the day for the price of a chocolate bar. The above cover to X-,Men issue 79 by Gil Kane was my first ever US X-Men comic book and I wasn’t impressed. I love the cover (and the X-Men) but this was a reprint X-Men issue 31 from 1967. My copy of X-Men 79 is badly ripped so I took this from the Marvel database.

Captain Marvel issue 25:Cover by Jim Starlin. This was my first Captain Marvel comic and it was also only the second time I had ever seen the character, the first time being in a cameo appearance in Avenger issue 106 a few months earlier. I still remember seeing this comic lying on a newsagents counter tucked away under some newspapers with only part of the corner box image of Cap showing. It's strange the silly litle things that stick in your memory.

Teen Titans issue 28: Cover by Nick Cardy. One of my favourite covers.

Batman issue 248: Cover by Michael Kaluta. My abiding memory of this comic was constantly trying to draw the cover. I actually got quite good at copying it and a family member asked me to draw it on his broken arm plaster cast….errr lets just say it didn’t look as good as it should have but luckily for him he only had to walk around with his “stookie” (plaster cast- behave! ) for a few weeks before they cut it off.

Justice League of America issue 98: Cover by Neal Adams.

Detective Comics issue 426: Cover by Michael Kaluta. I still remember my utter disappointment (nee outrage) when I opened the pages of this comic and saw it was drawn by Frank Robbins . The next day I gave it to a friend, a bad move as only a mere 10 years later I “got” Robbins art and I now pick up everything I can by him and this comic would now costs a small fortune to replace nowadays.

Defenders issue 4: Cover by Sal Buscema. As Stan used to say ““Nuff said!” It’s a cracker of a cover and was probably my favourite Marvel comic book at this time.

Monsters on the Prowl issue 16: Cover by John Severin.

Conan the Barbarian issue 16:Cover by Barry Smith: This issue reprinted a coloured version of the Frost Giants Daughter (from Savage tales issue 1).

Action comics issue 414: Cover by Nick Cardy.

Page turners: Neal Adams' best pages.......well some of them!

One of the core components of a good comic book has always been that killer page where the artist really goes out on a limb to create a splash page or a set of panels that sticks in the memory years after you first saw it. Jack Kirby, the Buscema brothers , John Romita and Gene Colan were all master of this craft but few artists surpassed Neal Adams in this arena. The above 2 page spread from the Avengers issue 93 filled me with complete awe when I first saw it as a teenager in glorious black and white in the pages of the UK weekly Mighty World of Marvel comic. The effect was just as strong when I eventually tracked down a copy of the US original a few years ago. The story, an obvious "tip of the hat" to the 1960's SF film "Fantastic Voyage" is encapsulated in this amazing 2 page spread with Ant-Man about to enter the Vision via his mouth to see why he has collapsed. Below are a selection of some of my other favourite pages from the magical pencil of Neal Adams.

The above page is from the same issue of the Avengers (issue 93) and is the second last page of sumptuously illustrated 9 page sequence where Ant-Man is inside the Vision trying to evade the attacks of his android immune system.

This splash page from Conan the Barbarian issue 37 is one of my all time favourite Conans pages and it doesn't even show Conan.

House of Mystery issue 186. HoM was always a great comic to pick up at this time as it regularly featured the art of the likes of Alex Toth, Russ Heath , Nester Redondo and Bernie Wrightson. This issue was a classic as not only did it have a nice little Bernie Wrightson strip it also featured this 11 page Adams story "Nightmare" . It’s been reprinted several times but I never fail to marvel at this atmospheric page. Seemingly the young girl was modelled on Neals daughter.

The above page is from Astonsihing Tales issue 12 featuring Ka-Zar.This was obviouly shoehorned into the main storyline that took place in the Everglades in order to recap the Man-Things origin. This strip was obviosly intended for another comic (perhaps Savage Tales) but was deemed to good not to use.

This page from the Crazy Super Special issue 1 (1975) is a parody of the then popular TV show McCloud featuring Dennis Weaver, and retitled as "McClown" for the purposes of ripping the @+$% out of the TV show. I think Adams is a marvellous cartoonist and while he may not be up there with the likes of Mort Drucker I love this 5 page story (and this page in particular) - that horse is just priceless.

Of course Adams also certainly knew how to draw sexy women as well as monsters as can be seen from the above illustration of Vampirella from issue 44 of her own magazine. This illo appeared only as the front piece for that particular issue and was not part of a comic strip but it is a beautifully drawn piece of art . Adams did draw a full Vampirella tale in issue 1 of her comic but I have yet to track that down. .

My Famous Firsts: Avengers issue 86

This comic was not only my first US Avengers comic but it was also the first time I had “meet” the Squadron Sinister who I had absolutely no idea were meant to be a pastiche / tribute? to the Justice League of America, so for an 11/12 year old it was quite an exciting comic to have with so many characters to read about. Unfortunately, like many things from my distant childhood the memory of picking this issue up are for the most part lost to me with my recall being limited to seeing this comic on a spinner rack on a trip with my parents and brother to our then home town (a town we were shortly to leave) around March/April 1971.

The above illo (from issue 85 ) shows a more detailed picture of some of the Squadron members. So above are Lady Lark (Black Canary), Hawkeye (Green Arrow), Tom Thumb (possibly meant to be the Atom?) and American Eagle (Hawkman) .Other characters like Doctor Spectrum (Green Lantern) , Nighthawk (Batman), Hyperion (Superman) and the Whizzer (The Flash) also appear in this tale at some point.

This issue, "Brain-Child to the Dark Tower came...!" while not being “rocket science” is quite a confusing tale to recount as it spans at least 3 issues (84,85 and 86) with different versions of the Squadron characters from different dimensions/worlds being involved so it is probably best to try to summarise the story with the pages below drawn by the wonderful Sal Buscema (story by Roy Thomas). But basically the baddy in this tale “Brain -Child” is a child genius (Arnold) that had been working with the Squadron but he is bitter at the world because he's not accepted due to his deformity and as a result he deicides he is going to destroy it. It takes the combined powers of the Avengers and the Squadron to fight past his tricks and traps and put a stop to him and in the end he is reverted to a normal child with no memory of his “ big-headed” past. Looking back with adult eyes this reads more like a tale that I would associate with DCs JLA , which was perhaps Roy’s intention.

I lost my original copy of Avengers issue 86 many years ago but I found this replacement copy in the back issue section of a Brighton comic shop (Dave's) on a recent holiday weekend trip. As soon as I saw the cover I was immediately taken back to the time I first saw that image of American Eagle (I though he was pretty cool back then) . It was a great bargain as I got the comic and a wee trip back "home" all for a measly £4.