Comic Reader Résumé: June, 1984

By June 1984, I was no stranger to G.I. Joe a Real American Hero. The animated commercials were on the air, the toys were in the aisles, and friends were collecting the comics. #27 was special though: it was "Snake-Eyes: The Origin Part II," with a battle against his nemesis Storm Shadow, and a sweet Michael Golden cover. I was going to have to keep a closer eye on the book, because this issue was full of teh awesome for a kid of my age.

Blue Devil #4 was my proper introduction to Zatanna, and her flirtation with Dan made it easy to fall for her. I hadn't read much about the Satellite Era Justice League, so I was as much an awestruck visitor as Blue Devil, even with Elongated Man and Superman being the only other heroes aboard. I'm sure a big part of what endeared me to this series was Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin allowing me to be introduced to the DC Universe alongside Dan, and take part in the wonder of the experience with fresh eyes. Paris Cullins and Gary Martin had a friendly, inviting art style, each complementing the other well. By the way, despite being a fan of Cullins for the majority of my life, I never saw a picture of him before today...



Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #6 was a good primer for learning the garden variety villains of the Marvel Universe. Mike Zeck was back on art, and there were some okay subplots.

I'm pretty sure I bought at least one issue of Mighty Crusaders, because I had a few of the toys and was interested in off-brand super-heroes. I think #9 was the one I had, probably maybe. The figures sucked, and I remember nothing about the comic today (or ten years ago, or ten days after reading it that one time.)

Comic Reader Résumé: May, 1984

I was all over May, 1984. I bet I must have spent over five whole dollars on comics that month!

Possibly looking for an alternative monthly Spider-Man fix, I tried Marvel Team-Up #144 in hopes of rekindling my glory days with The Brave and the Bold. It featured the visually awesome Moon Knight and the kinda kewl/kinda stoopid villainy of the White Dragon in New York's Chinatown. I liked the art by Greg LaRocque and Mike Esposito, but barely remember anything about Cary Burkett's script. I tried it again though, so it couldn't have been too bad. Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #93 also came out, but I don't recall if I bothered to buy it or not.



Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #5 had a lot of action, but I was noticing elements in Bob Layton's art I didn't like, and the fighting seemed pointless. I really can't tell you anything about this comic, except that the battle on the cover happened inside.



I probably didn't get Blue Devil #3 in its month of relief, and I surely didn't pay more that fifty cents second hand from a flea market (and more likely, closer to $0.20.) There was a couple that worked the booth, and I guess they or someone they knew had a subscription. I couldn't find it, or many other DC titles, on the stands. I was happy to have an alternative source, and loved the book. Dan Cassidy was a stunt man and special effects artist who, while filming a monster movie on a remote island, got trapped in the sophisticated Blue Devil prosthetic by a blast of magic from a demon. Dan had to live with his condition, and the "weirdness magnet" that kept drawing him into wacky adventures. Here, Dan was being studied at S.T.A.R. Labs when Metallo crashed the party. A lot of mileage was made of Blue Devil being faced with a dangerous Superman villain, and I dug his unusual look/color scheme. The most essential element was his kryptonite heart, and I never forgave John Byrne for doing away with all those neat aspects of Metallo Post-Crisis and simply treating him like a Terminator T-800 model. Clearly, this issue sold me, and sold me hard.



I surely purchased Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #1 on the strength of that grim What If...?? tale from 1983, and despite my affection for the inking prowess of Danny Bulanadi, this didn't cut it. J.M. DeMatteis would eventually become one of my favorite comic writers, but he was an Aquaman veteran, and it showed here. Too much time hanging out with ocean faring scientists and flirting with cute blondes, not enough shouting "Imperious Rex" and attempting murder over imagined slights. Bob Budiansky was no Marc Silvestri, either.

Comic Reader Résumé: April, 1984

In April 1984, I must have found comfort in the familiarity of Al Milgrom's (and Jim Mooney's?) art, or liked the chromatically challenged pairing of symbiote-enhanced Spider-Man and Black Cat, since I bought Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92. Perhaps I was just intrigued by the bold cover question, "What is... The Answer?" A cheesy villain in a lame story, that's what.




Daredevil #209 was better, though off-puttingly weird. A legion of little girl robots with bombs in them were set to explode, so Daredevil has to run around the city "deactivating" them. For instance, in one encounter, blind attorney Matt Murdock has to quietly knock one down an elevator shaft. Arthur Byron Cover had a black sense of humor that played heavy under the art of David Mazzucchelli and Danny Bulanadi. I suspect I'd enjoy it better today, as I'm now more adulterated. My strongest memory at the time of publication was sitting in the bedroom of the family trailer, cutting out an order form for Secret Wars action figures that I'd never send, and ruining my copy.




Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #4 showed great improvement, starting with an impressive cover image of the Hulk holding up 150 billion tons of mountain. I got hit with a lot of then-current continuity minutiae (Iron Man's a black guy now, and no one else knows?) that added value to the series as a means of keeping up to date with the entire universe. Bob Layton drew the issue, and I didn't mind, even though I was an established (if consciously unaware) Zeck fan.



Boy, I sure wasn't giving DC Comics much attention, was I? I didn't buy Blue Devil #2 for another few years, and I've yet to read the copy of the first issue I only acquired in the past decade or so. Still, it deserved mention before next month...