UTHEORY OF : Ghosts (Limited Collectors' Edition)

Here's DC's second and final horror tabloid - Limited Collectors' Edition C-32 - Ghosts - from late 1974 (cover-dated Jan. 1975)...10 stories, all written by workhorse Leo Dorfman, who sadly passed away a few months before this issue came out.

7 of the 10 had appeared in the ongoing Ghosts title, which DC had launched in 1971 as part of its horror boom. Weird War Tales debuted the same month, giving DC six - six! - ongoing horror titles.

Dorfman wrote every story in the first several issues of Ghosts and had been writing Superman and Superman-related stories for DC since the late 1950s. Comics writer and historian Mark Evanier has said that Dorfman may have been the most prolific Superman writer of the 1960s. In addition to Ghosts, Dorfman wrote similar stories for Gold Key's horror anthologies such as Twilight Zone.

Most of the stories here are solid, with the "haunted castle" types being more entertaining than some of the international ones. Ghost lions in Africa?

Art-wise, it's a mixed bag. We get two great-looking stories by Tony Dezuniga and well-crafted ones by Jim Aparo and ER Cruz. The rest are professional but not exceptional efforts by Art Saaf, Jerry Grandenetti, Ernie Chan, John Calnan, George Tuska (inked by Nick Cardy), Jack Sparling, Frank Redondo and Gerry Talaoc.

That's a swell cover by Cardy, who drew covers for 34 of the first 35 issues of the Ghosts title.

Ghosts was kind of an odd title to feature here, since it was one of DC's newest horror titles. House of Secrets, Unexpected and Witching Hour all had been around longer. This one and the previous House of Mystery tabloid must not have sold well, since DC didn't do any others...

UTHEORY OF : Aquaman # 41

Comics like this one are why people still love the Silver Age. Aquaman 41, cover-date October 1968. Excellent cover by Nick Cardy with story by Stephen Skeates and art by Jim Aparo. This was only Aparo's second story for DC, but he already was firing on all cylinders. Many beautiful panels. He really had a knack for this character.

Story has Aquaman running into a bizarre undersea civilization while searching for Mera. More depth than the usual superhero punch-up. And I've always thought the Aquaman logo is one of the most perfect in all of comics. This issue is worth picking up if you spot it in a back issue bin...

UTHEORY OF : House of Mystery # 243

Here's another high-quality issue of House of Mystery, # 243, cover-date July 1976. Suspenseful cover art by Ricardo Villagran. First story is a twist tale with a bit of an ecological edge from the productive mind of Bob Haney, well-supported by eye-catching art from Franc Reyes. Reyes only did 18 stories for DC, mostly in the 70s, including 5 Tarzan tales. Wish he would have done more. His work creates a positive impression.

Second story is a creepy number about one of those fortune-telling machine dummies. Brrr... Written by Sheldon Mayer with unsettling art by Jess Jodloman.

Having sampled a few different titles now, it's looking like HOM may have been DC's best-written horror book of the mid-70s.

UTHEORY OF : Kobra # 3

Kobra was one of the more bizarre titles of the 70s. Here's Kobra 3, cover-date July 1976. A gonzo Ernie Chua cover. Look at that robot! Totally looks like Bender from Futurama. And a purple background! Outstanding!

Story by Marty Pasko with interior pencils by Keith Giffen and inks by Terry Austin and Dick Giordano. This was the title's third art team in as many issues. Wld go on to have six in first six before finally getting same art team in 7th and final issue. That kind of volatility plus a bimonthly publishing schedule cldnt have helped...

But it's kind of amazing that DC gave a brand new villain his own comic in the first place. Jack Kirby was listed as plotter in issue 1, so maybe he was to be involved somehow. But never happened. The main plot was Kobra battling his own twin brother, and Pasko threw in all sorts of spies, doubles, world domination, etc. Great 70s stuff. Giffen also was doing the great page designs he was doing in All-Star and later wld do in Defenders. Pretty much imitating Kirby and Steranko and doing a decent job of it.

Villain Solaris is "a crazed astrophysicist" who goes bad after not being recognized for his work. At one point in this story, he's even crying about it. Ah, the 70s...

Kobra later wld battle Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman & the Outsiders, but it's really kinda surprising that DC didnt use him even more. Criminal mastermind...global network...just add superhero!

UTHEORY OF : Superboy # 214

My Cigar Band collection rolls on. Here's Superboy 214, cover-date January 1976. So basically for the first few years of his career, Mike Grell could draw fight scenes and beautiful women but not much else, but his skill with fight scenes and beautiful women made him a fan favorite? Do I have that about right?

That's a Grell cover. First story here written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Grell. Second story written by Cary Bates and drawn by Grell and Bill Draut. First one involves a bratty kid stranded on a machine planet and seems about 10 years out of date for the mid-70s. Maybe Shooter wrote it in the mid-60s then forgot about it. Second one has a nice focus on Shrinking Violet.

As a younger fan, I never noticed the peaks and valleys of early Grell, but man, it really shows in some of these issues. Maybe the workload of this title plus Green Lantern and random other features was proving to be too much, but lots of panels just look unfinished.

Except for the fight scenes and beautiful women, of course...

UTHEORY OF : World's Finest # 249

Sometimes the absolute random craziness of DC's 70s anthologies was part of the attraction. Here's World's Finest 249, cover-date March 1978. That's a great Jim Aparo cover! A vampire Superman tangling with Batman n Phantom Stranger! Take my dollar! 

Page one has the WF heroes welcoming Creeper to the comic. Gotta love DC cheesiness! Then 20 pages of Supes, Bats and PS battling underwater vampires courtesy of Bob Haney and the unlikely cartoonish art of Kurt Schaffenberger inked by Tex Blaisdell. Haney wrote almost 1,000 stories for DC from the mid-50s to early 80s, but his superhero work didnt begin til the mid-60s. That's when the wackiness truly began. The man cld write fast-paced stories taking his heroes in any direction. And his disregard for continuity was legendary. Whaddaya mean Batman never had a brother or a son? Do you want a good story or what? Story here is equally bizarre, but Schaffenberger's style makes it seem like an episode of Scooby-Doo...not that that's a bad thing...

Then 20 pages of Green Arrow n Black Canary fighting Hellgrammite - who oddly enough was more of a Creeper foe - and a gangster who somehow thinks Ollie Queen is Batman, leading GA to spend most of the issue in a Batman costume. Story by Gerry Conway with art by Trevor Von Eeden n Vince Colletta...

The Creeper - one of my favorite characters - makes his return in an 8-pager written n drawn by the legendary Steve Ditko...goofy story abt sabotage at the TV station where Creeper alter ego Jack Ryder works...Ditko was so excited to have a feature again that he gets the villain's name mixed up by the end...

Wraps up with 15 pages of Wonder Woman n Sgt. Rock (!) battling Dr. Psycho during WW2...more bizarre stuff written by Conway with art by Mike Vosburg n Bob Smith...The dollar-sized WF was many things in the 70s, but it was never boring...

UTHEORY OF : Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams

As Neal Adams was rocketing to fame in the late 60s on Deadman, DC somehow thought he wldnt be able to handle Batman as well. So he went to a different editor there and got work on World's Finest and Brave & Bold, resulting in the great run of stories from 1968-69 that are collected here. Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams from 2003. You get WF 175 and 176 and B&B 79-85. Fantastic stuff. Adams handling most art chores by himself with all of those classic B&B stories written by Bob Haney. Batman teams with Deadman, Creeper, Flash, Aquaman, Teen Titans, Sgt. Rock and Green Arrow. Adams' hyper-realistic art and creative page layouts were something comics had rarely seen before...

This was one of my bargain buys from Ollie's...Quite the steal...

UTHEORY OF : Haunted # 38

Tracked down this one recently...Haunted 38, cover-date October 1978...Can recall buying it off of a spinner rack at a convenience store in my hometown of Warren OH...Cover art by Joe Staton taken from a panel of an interior story...First story is a new "mistaken identity" tale probably written by Joe Gill with surprisingly creepy art by Charlton mainstays Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia...The Staton story is next, written by Nic Cuti and reprinted from the first issue of Midnight Tales in 1972...Great twist ending...Wraps up with a "sell your soul" story, also likely by Gill, with cheesecake art from Spanish artist Jorge Galvez that had to flirt with the edge of the Comics Code, if the Code was even bothering to review Charlton titles in the late 70s...This was part of the great unwinding of Charlton's new content as these titles moved to all-reprint, but still proof you cld often find good material in Charlton comics...

UTHEORY OF : Marvel Treasury Edition # 3

Marvel chose Thor for one of its very first treasury comics. Here's Marvel Treasury Edition 3 from late 1974. Swell cover art by John Romita...

Reprints the Thor vs. Hercules saga that ran in the final issue of Journey into Mystery and the first five issues of the renamed Mighty Thor in 1966. Legendary stuff from Stan Lee and the art team of Kirby and Colletta. Epic fight scenes and wondrous Asgardian architecture.

But of course here comes the obligatory shot at Vince Colletta. Once every page or two, he has a panel where he just kinda mails it in. You can usually see it in the faces and especially the eyes, which he often turned into blank ovals. And those panels are even more obvious when blown up to 11 x 17 as they are here.

Colletta worked in the industry forever and was great at making deadlines but still had plenty of detractors. Let's just say Kirby had better inkers.

Marvel only did one other Thor-focused treasury, so sales must not have been that great. The character did however appear on the covers of three others, including one with the Avengers.

The DC and Marvel treasuries and tabloids remain some of my most cherished comics. This one seems harder to track down than some of the others. I'm glad I found it...

UTHEORY OF : Marvel Tales # 202

I know this comic is from '87, but it reprints a classic tale from '78. Marvel Tales 202 = Marvel Team-Up 66. Cover art by John Byrne n Frank Giacoia. Great team-up of Spidey n Capt. Britain by Chris Claremont with art by Byrne and Dave Hunt. Was never really an X-fan, so most of my exposure to Claremont/Byrne magic was through their excellent run on MTU.

The sequence that starts this issue - with Spidey and CB trapped in a giant pinball game - is one of the best action sequences of the 1970s. Great stuff...

This two-part story was the first MTU sequence reprinted in Marvel Tales, which did a great job of providing younger fans with classic Spidey stories for 30 years before ending its run in '94...

UTHEORY OF : Flash Comics # 1

Time to take a look at the final DC anthology to get the tabloid-sized Famous First Edition treatment in the 1970s. Flash Comics 1. Original cover date Jan. 1940, reprinted in 1975.

That’s an iconic cover by DC legend Sheldon Moldoff. Great scene made more memorable by the Flash smiling as he catches the bullet.

Debut Flash story written by the legendary Gardner Fox and drawn by Harry Lampert, who only drew the first three Flash stories. Story and art have a more playful tone, that wld stick with the feature throughout the Golden Age. Lampert’s art is more cartoonish than action-based. Jay Garrick is a brilliant student but a mediocre football player at Midwestern University til a lab accident – caused by him leaning against equipment while taking a cigarette break (!) – causes him to inhale vapors from “hard water” overnight. Super-speed is the result.

Garrick then scores a bunch of touchdowns in the team’s next game and later decides to fight crime. As a sports fan, I’m always intrigued by how sports are depicted in comics. Garrick’s team trails 30-0 until he gets in and leads them to a 65-30 win. 65 points in football? 10 touchdowns while missing 5 extra points? And the other team is held scoreless the rest of the way? Apparently Garrick played linebacker on defense as well…

Story also has a great scene of Garrick playing tennis against himself and also introduces longtime love interest Joan Williams. Here, Joan’s dad is an airplane manufacturer. Was this part of other stories? Bad guys are a group of four saboteurs – including a mustachioed hunchback named Sieur Satan - all of whom are dead by the end of the story. Gotta love the swift justice of Golden Age comics.

The second story here is Cliff Cornwall, an aviation strip by Fox and Moldoff. Kinda stiff with Moldoff likely swiping from similar features of that era. They try to make the love interest a bit sassy, but it doesn’t do much to improve the story. Cornwall’s run wld end after 17 issues.

Next up is the debut of Hawkman by Fox and artist Dennis Neville, who wld only draw the feature a few times. Striking concept and art with Neville I’m sure borrowing from Alex Raymond’s work on Flash Gordon. The back-n-forth confusion of the Hawkman story is here right away, as four pages of this one are a flashback where research scientist Carter Hall remembers his previous life as Prince Khufu. The imagery is Egyptian, even though it’s never described as such. Love interest Shiera – also reincarnated – is here from the very start as well. Reincarnated villain Hath-Set dies at the end here, but surely returns.

The power of flight is attributed to ninth metal, which Hall already had invented. The Hawkman headpiece at times sits on his head and at times looks like a full mask. Overall, this is one of the better features here and led to Hawkman alternating with Flash as the cover feature in this title for most of its 104-issue run – the only DC title to do so.

Next up is Johnny Thunder, here described as Johnny Thunderbolt. A lot happens in this short story by John Wentworth with art by Stan Aschmeier, often credited as Stan Asch. Johnny is kidnapped as a baby and taken to a foreign country where he’s given the power to control a magic thunderbolt before returning to his family at age 5.

The thunderbolt here is just that – not the pink genie character that it would evolve into. Story is humorous in tone, mostly played for laughs. Johnny later wld join the Justice Society and last 91 issues in Flash.

Feature number five here is one of the oddest series I’ve ever come across. Flash Picture Novel by Ed Wheelan is a version of Minute Movies, a comic strip that Wheelan made to some success from 1920 to 1935. It parodied movies of the time, showing that irony and self-aware satire regarding pop culture was around long before the 1960s.

The chapter here is the first part of a two-parter titled “The Demon Dummy,” and is about a ventriloquist taking orders from - yes – his dummy. Apparently, this already was a movie cliché even in 1940. Maybe the audience of the time saw this being played for laughs, but it still strikes me as a bit creepy. Wheelan’s art is pretty basic and cartoonish, but the feature had a solid 58-issue run here, mostly after reverting back to the Minute Movies title with stories complete in one issue.

The first issue of Flash Comics wraps up with the Whip, a Western action series by Wentworth with art by George Storm. Bored playboy Rod Gaynor takes a trip to the Southwest and takes on the identity of the Whip, a vigilante hero from the previous century. The Whip’s fake Spanish accent kinda makes you cringe, but overall it’s a good story with solid art by Storm. The Whip wld enjoy a 55-issue run in Flash.

When Flash debuted, Superman, Batman and Sandman already were headlining anthologies on the DC side of the company. Superman also was headlining his own title, with Batman getting his own three months later. Flash was the first title on the All-American side to feature a superhero. Spectre wld take the cover of More Fun for DC the next month, with Green Lantern doing the same in All-American for – of course – All-American – six months later. The final two monthly anthologies – Sensation (AA) and Star-Spangled (DC) wldnt come along til 1941.

(DC and AA each wld have a quarterly anthology – DC with World’s Finest and AA with Comic Cavalcade. Superman, Batman and Robin shared the covers of WF, with Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman doing the honors for CC.)

Flash comics succeeded to the point where its title character in 1941 got his own comic – titled All-Flash to avoid confusion. The Flash character and Hawkman also wld be founding members of the JSA in the pages of All-Star, with Hawkman having the distinction of being the only member to appear in all 55 of the team’s Golden Age appearances.

And if Gardner Fox’s contributions to DC history were ever questioned, consider that in Flash 1 alone he created two bedrock concepts in Flash and Hawkman that wld continue in some version to the present day, almost 80 years later…

The Famous First Edition reprint of Flash Comics 1 hit the stands in May 1975. It was the last of eight such titles that DC did until they did one of Superman 1 in late 1978 to capitalize on the Superman movie. But parts of that issue were reprinted from Action 1, which had bn DC’s first Famous First Edition in early 1974.

I’ve always wondered which comics DC wld have done next if they’d continued the series in the mid-70s. The first appearance of Green Lantern in All-American 16 might have been a candidate, but it didn’t include the modern version of the character and unlike Hawkman in Flash didn’t include any other DC features that were still in print. All-Star 12 with its glorious V for Victory cover that included Wonder Woman and Hawkman? That wld have bn amazing to see at a tabloid size, and DC already had done All-Star 3 earlier in 1975.

The final decision as in most cases likely came down to low sales. But the glory of the DC and Marvel tabloids lasted into the early 80s. They were some of my favorite comic as a comics-addled kid and remain some of my favorites as a still comics-addled adult.

UTHEORY OF : Sensation Comics # 1

Almost forgot I had this one. The 1974 Famous First Edition reprint of Sensation 1, cover-date Jan. 1942. Wonder Woman’s second appearance, hitting the stands just a few weeks after she debuted in All-Star 8. Cover by longtime WW artist HG Peter, but looks like some of those figures might have been reworked by someone else. They don’t look as cartoony as most of his work.

This is a fascinating issue in that Sensation was the last of DC’s anthology titles, arriving just a few months after Star-Spangled. Most of the features in this issue had lengthy Sensation runs.

We start off with “Wonder Woman Comes to America,” laying the groundwork for much of the Amazon’s career. William M. Marston handled the writing and Peter the art on this title for years. Marston passed away in the late 40s. Peter soldiered on til passing away in the late 50s, when he was still drawing the title at age 78.

The other features :

- Black Pirate, swashbuckling character set in the 1700s. Had actually debuted in Action in 1940 and appeared in about 20 issues there before being transferred to Sensation. Made about 45 Sensation appearances til again being moved to All-American in 1946. He’d make about 25 appearances there.

BP story and art by Sheldon Moldoff, who would go on to be one of Bob Kane’s ghost artists on Batman for many years. Here, he uses a more realistic style along the lines of Will Eisner or Lou Fine.

- Mr. Terrific, super-smart Terry Sloan uses his intellect and abilities to fight crime. Kinda generic, but noteworthy for the unique “Fair Play” emblem he wore on the front of his costume. He’s wearing yellow gloves here. Not sure how long that look lasted. MT would last 63 issues in Sensation, til 1947. He made only one appearance with the JSA in All-Star, but that was enough for him to be represented as a major member of the group during the Silver Age comeback.

Story by Charles Reizenstein (43 DC story credits til 1943) and art – also somewhat generic - by Hal Sharp, who would rack up 63 DC art credits on MT, Flash and Tarantula til 1947.

- The Gay Ghost, British nobleman Keith Everet is killed and resurrected as a spirit in modern times. He inhabits the body of murdered playboy Charles Collins and befriends Deborah Wallace, the reincarnation of a past love. Later would manifest powers similar to that of the Spectre – strength, invulnerability, growing to giant size, etc. GG would make 34 Sensation appearances – issues 1-33 and one more in 38 – then dissipate by 1945.

Story by comics legend Gardner Fox and nicely done art by Howard Purcell, who drew almost 500 stories and 60 covers for DC from the early 40s to late 60s but is largely forgotten today, mostly because his features never crossed over to other media. Purcell started drawing Mark Lansing (?) in Adventure but did most of his early Golden Age work on GG, Sargon and Red, White & Blue. In the late 40s, he drew mostly Green Lantern and Hop Harrigan. In 1948 he was tabbed to draw Mr. District Attorney and wld handle most issues and covers for that title over its 67-issue, 11-year run.

In the 50s and 60s, Purcell would do a great deal of work for DC’s sci-fi and suspense titles and also wld draw numerous stories featuring Sea Devils and Space Ranger, including several Sea Devils covers as well.

See what I mean? With the exception of GL, most of Purcell’s 25+ year DC output was Mark Lansing, Sargon, Red, White & Blue, Hop Harrigan, Mr. DA, Sea Devils and Space Ranger. Many of these characters are little known even by hardcore DC fans.

- Little Boy Blue, Tommy Rogers, young son of a district attorney, and two pals (the Blue Boys), don costumes and fight crime. Story by batman co-creator Bill Finger and unexceptional art by Jon Blummer, best known for drawing many adventures of Hop Harrigan. Lighter tone of stories may have helped it stick around through the first 82 issues of Sensation, lasting til 1948.

- Wildcat, boxer Ted Grant uses his fighting skills to fight crime. Story again by Finger with wonderfully primal art by Irwin Hasen. Wildcat appeared in the first 90 issues of Sensation - til 1949 – and in two issues with the JSA in All-Star. Even moreso than Mr. Terrific, Wildcat has been more popular from the Silver Age to today, appearing with almost every incarnation of the JSA.

Hasen notched around 230 DC art credits from 1940-55, drawing a lot of GL stories and quite a few Wildcats. He’d go on to greater fame – in the world outside of comic books – for the long-running comic strip Dondi.

Wildcat, Mr. Terrific and Little Boy Blue also would appear in Big All-American Comic Book, a 128-page one-shot from 1944. That title would feature rare cover appearances for those three features – in fact, for LBB and the Blue Boys, Big All-American wld provide them with their one and only cover appearance.

Different features would occupy Sensation over the years, but it’s impressive that three of the five non-cover features would last 60+ issues in the title.

UTHEORY OF : Detective Comics # 27

Picked up another copy of this recently...The 1974 Famous First Edition reprint of Detective 27 from 1939... I must not have read it for a long time, because I'd forgotten what a glorious mishmash this comic was...The classic Batman debut remains riveting... Finger stole the plot from a Shadow pulp and Kane stole half of the art from a Big Little book...Doesn't matter...Still oddly spooky when Batman emerges...

As for the rest...well, even with these rough styles, Batman was far from the best-drawn feature in this issue. Many of these, of course, already had been running in Detective for some time. Superman creators Siegel & Shuster have two features here - Spy and Slam Bradley, both in that rollicking style that was perfected by putting a red cape and blue tights on their protagonist. Two people die in the first eight panels of the Spy story. Slam Bradley's sidekick Shorty Morgan is drawn as a cartoon character, making him look not even human. Ah, the Golden Age.

The best-drawn feature here likely is Crimson Avenger by Jim Chambers. Chased off the lead spot by Batman, CA was basically a pulp character that never quite caught on. The Bruce Nelson feature - another private eye or cop or something - also was well-drawn by Tom Hickey.

The rest is fairly forgettable. Zatara artist Fred Guardineer does a sub-par job on Speed Saunders. Leo O'Mealia also doesn't offer much on Fu Manchu. Two dull features here are printed n their original two-tone pink and white. (Maybe it was supposed to be red?) Cosmo by Sven Elven and a Western strip called Buck Marshall by Homer Fleming.

(I had to look up Sven Elven. Yes, there really was an early comic book artist by that name.)

Humor features Plainclothes Pete and Flatfoot Flannigan seem oddly out of place here, even as comic relief.

Batman would soar to glory. Most of the rest would be forgotten, although CA wld don a full costume and join second-string super-group 7 Soldiers of Victory. He'd linger on the edges of the DC Universe and even make a cameo on the Justice League United cartoon in the 21st century. Slam Bradley would run for many years, and later be re-introduced into the DCU.

Even with its uneven content, Tec 27 remains a milestone comic both for DC and the entire comics industry.