A nice contrast to last issue's over-crowded cover, though the heroes shown don't represent three worlds.The Story: "Crisis on Earth-S!" by E.Nelson Bridwell, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, this time we have Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Bulletman, and Bulletgirl on Earth-S trying to save a town full of people from an erupting volcano.
WHIZ's own Billy Batson is broadcasting about the weird goings-on, including a steel building that has somehow come alive and walking on its own, while the Joker is robbing a jewelry store(this is the old, Earth-2 Joker, and he's still just robbing jewelry stores?), but he is stopped by Batman, Robin, Mr. Scarlet, and Pinky.
Then The Shade shows up, but he's defeated by the Hawks, part of him being turned to wood. Then Kull's plans for Earth-S are scuttled, so he moves on to Plan C, which is to destroy Earth-1. To be continued!
Roll Call: Hawkman--no other JLAers appear in this story
Notable Moments: I admit it...I have absolutely no idea what's going on by this point. Why do I get the feeling Grant Morrison read this comic as a kid?
Many artists, when having to draw Billy Batson and/or Captain Marvel, frequently try to subsume their own art style and go the C.C. Beck route, some more successful than others.Dick Dillin gives it the old college try here, but Billy does sort of look like a different species than everyone else in the story.
Man, this is a bad comic. I liked how Hawkman and Hawkgirl(woman) interact with the others, but that's about it. I remember how down-right rude it was to have Batman of Earth 2 finally making an appearance, and then not being able to talk because his jaw was turning to rock or something....? The cover is the best thing about this issue, hands down.
ReplyDeleteThe cover's okay, but the splash page is better. All the heroes scouring the Earth for clues. Kind of reminds me of the splash pages for the original All-Star Comics.
ReplyDeleteIt was cool to see the Earth-Two Batman (finally!), but I agree with russell about his "disability". Then again, it seemed like everyone in this story was finishing someone else's lines. There was a bit of a "too many cooks" feel, with two pairs of flying heroes and two pairs of detectives. At least the bad guys were two pairs of opposites!
The bit about people (or parts of them) turning to inorganic matter was weird. I couldn't figure why Pinky's hair turned to diamond when the people on page 6 were completely turned to diamond -- except for their hair!
I did like the part where the paintings in the Louvre came to life. With a little more imagination, they could have built the entire story around this.
Interesting that Hawkman is the only JLAer in this issue. Just three issues ago, Superman was the only JLAer in a story (altho there were fake JLAers).
The art seemed to be much better in this issue than in the last. The Earth-Two Robin looked better here than he did in All-Star Comics #58-59. But his costume sure is similar to Pinky's.