Phantom Stranger #41. Will the Real Black Orchid Please Stand Up?

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Those with keen memories will know that, just three months ago, I took a look at the last issue of the Bronze Age run of the Phantom Stranger's legendary comic.

But the fedora-flaunting downfall of fools and fiends wasn't the only star of that book, as there was also a backup strip. One that starred none other than the Black Orchid.

Or perhaps I should say it starred a whole gang of Black Orchids.

For in the mag's previous issue, heiress and Black Orchid fan Ronne Kuhn had been invited to join a secret society composed entirely of Black Orchids!

Yes, it was true. In a shocking development, there was never one Orchid. There were a whole bunch of them who worked together to fight crime. And so impressed by Ronne were they that they invited her to become a member of their team.

But it turned out she'd been duped. They weren't Black Orchids at all. They were a gang of criminals and had hoodwinked her into helping them commit their latest heist, the robbery of a bank vault!

Holey Moley!

Now, at the start of this month's instalment, they've tied her to that vault's door, along with a bomb that's all set to blow it - and her - to kingdom come!

Is it curtains for the woman dressed as a woman whose costume seems to have been made from curtains?

No, it isn't because, just as all seems lost, the real Black Orchid appears, tears the vault door off its hinges, with her bare hands and flings it into the sky where it won't do any harm to anyone apart from anyone stood beneath it when it showers a rain of deadly chunks of metal down on them.

That menace dealt with, the Orchid and Ronne quickly set about rounding up the wrongdoers, with Ronne capturing their ringleader Karen, via the judicious use of a fire hose.

Of course, job done, the Orchid disappears, as she always does, leaving Ronne to deal with the police who are convinced she's the real Black Orchid.

It has to be said it's a very simple episode, reminiscent of the Golden Age days of heroes who'd simply burst in and give the villains a good leathering with no difficulty at all. But, then, it never was a strip that had you worried about the survival chances of its heroine.

However, it's interesting to see the Orchid make reference to Batman, Robin and even the Justice League, even though I've always been under the impression that, like the 1970s Spectre stories, the idea behind the strip is that it takes place in a world in which super-heroes - apart from the protagonist - don't exist. I can only put this down to writer Michael Fleisher and his legendary continuity adviser Russell Carley possibly forgetting this.

Then again, I could just have always been wrong and maybe it is set on a world in which super-heroes exist.

Regardless, I approve of it being set in a world in which super-heroes exist.

And we should be honest about it, writing is for wimps. The appeal of the strip was always its art and it has to be said that this issue's penciller Fred Carrillo is no Nestor Redondo but he does, at least, give us a style that's in the same ballpark.

And so it's all over for the heroine and, as the book hits cancellation, she, for now, departs our lives, as big a mystery as she was when first she appeared. Was she a scientist? Was she a supernatural being? Was she - given the nature of her various powers - Supergirl in disguise?

It looks like, unless some fool brings her back and gives her an origin story, we shall never find out.

Just as long as she doesn't turn out to be a human/plant hybrid.

I don't think I'd ever get over that.

August 25th, 1976 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

I remember being on holiday, this week in 1976, merrily hoovering up comics on the streets of Blackpool, in order to import them to the fair city of Sheffield.

But, when it came to Marvel UK, just what were the comics I was hoovering up?

Good gravy above! It was these precious gems!

Prince Namor once again shows his awesome intellect by teaming up with a super-villain, having totally failed to spot that that super-villain is up to no good.

This time, it's Magneto who has the honour of duping the world's most dupable man.

And, of course, it all leads to war with the surface dwellers!

The week's Nick Fury story reveals that SHIELD Agent John Bronson is secretly the Supreme Hydra! I think we can assume the colonel isn't going to put up with that for long.

Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze accepts an offer to ride in a Las Vegas demolition derby.

Captain America's still battling the Red Skull's Fourth Sleeper which now threatens a military base. However, the star-spangled superstar has a magic tuning fork that can potentially stop the unstoppable machine.

Finally, the Sub-Mariner takes the Helmet of Power back to Atlantis. Whereupon, it transforms into the deadly Serpent Crown!

That's quite a dramatic cover.

I do believe it's by Ron Wilson.

Admittedly, I only know that because the Grand Comics Database tells me it is.

Regardless, in this book, Brutus learns that Malagueña and Gilbert survived his attack.

Jason and Alexander, meanwhile, encounter the mysterious Keeper of the Light!

Far away from that, and in another time period entirely, Ka-Zar's having trouble in the city of Tordon-Na. Sadly, I can be no more specific about it than that.

The Man-Thing, meanwhile, is futilely attacked by Spanish conquistadors, despite being in modern-day Florida.

But, obviously, the highlight of this issue is our encounter with Grottu, King of the Insects, a radiation-mutated giant ant that decides it would be absolutely spiffing to conquer the planet. This is, of course, a Lee/Kirby short-form classic.

Finally, Marvel's adaptation of the original Planet of the Apes movie sees the wounded Taylor being treated in an ape hospital - and coming to the attention of one Dr Zira...

I think we can all surmise that this one in which the Hulk must battle his own shadow.

Or, at least, the alien warlord Kaa masquerading as it. You'd struggle to call this tale a classic but I do have a soft spot for it.

When it comes to the Avengers, the Skrull Emperor orders Captain Marvel to build an Omni-Wave Projector for him and says he'll crush the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver beneath a pile of furry things if he doesn't.

Conan, meanwhile, avoids being eaten by rats but then has a bunch of wolves to contend with!

And Brother Brimstone kills the actor who plays him on television, dragging Daredevil into a full-blown murder mystery.

I believe it was in this Spider-Man tale that I first discovered you can tell Hollywood movie fake dust from real dust by licking it to see if it tastes like soap.

This is a piece of knowledge that has, so far, not yet proven to be at all useful to me in my life.

However, of more concern is that the villain has blown up our hero's flat - and his girlfriend with it!

Fortunately, Mary Jane Watson will live to dance another day.

But will the Goblin, after pulling a stunt like that?

Elsewhere, Iron Man must put a stop to Midas' plans to destroy Tony Stark. I suspect Madame Masque will prove to be an unlikely ally for the tycoon.

In the Savage Land, the Thing is looking into unusual volcanic activity that could threaten mankind's survival and, along the way, encounters a pterodactyl, an allosaurus, a Ka-Zar and a Zabu.

But it looks like game over for Thor because Hela's decided to pop his clogs for him.

But, wait. Odin has a plan and sends him back to Earth, as Don Blake, in the hope that the goddess of death will not be able to find him there.

And it's good news for us all because Doctor Strange finally defeats Dracula and cures himself and Wong of their recent bout of vampirism!

Speak Your Brain! Part 132. Fads and crazes of the 1970s & '80s.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Can it be true?

Can there really be a human left on the planet Earth who doesn't know what the purpose of Speak Your Brain is?

It seems unlikely but, just in case there is, I can exposit that it is the red hot and legendary feature in which only the reader and nobody else can decide just what is to be the day's subject for debate.

That being the case, make sure to register that subject in the comments section below, before it's too late and all is lost.

The DC Lucky Bag - August 1976.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

It is time for me to spin my Steve-Does-Destiny Wheel of Fortune marked "August 1976" and see what random DC comics appear on it when I do so.

As is worthy of the only war comic I have ever liked, Weird War Tales is still going strong.

And, this month, it goes strong with such knuckle-whitening nightmares as Bloodbath of the Toy Soldiers, Justice for All Includes Children 5, The Day after Doomsday and The Warrior.

Maybe it's just me but I'm convinced that every other issue of Weird War Tales featured a story called The Warrior.

The Secret Society of Super-Villains hits its second issue and, from that Dick Giordano cover, it seems that Captain Comet hits the Green Lantern!

As for the book's juicy innards, that selfsame Captain returns to Earth where he mistakes Hal Jordan for a villain and launches into a punch-up with him.

Clearly impressed by such smarts, Gorilla Grodd and Hi-Jack invite him to join the Society.

And it's a society that's about to become a little more transparent, as this is the month in which we also discover the identity of the gang's mysterious funder!

I may or may not detect an Ernie Chan cover tribute to Neal Adams' frontage for Detective Comics #413. The similarity is vague enough to be pure coincidence or to be seen as merely subtle, depending on how you look at it.

Regardless, we've reached the series' penultimate issue, in which the Joker commits a robbery while dressed as the Scarecrow.

Needless to say, the real Scarecrow isn't having that sort of thing and decides to hunt down the clown prince of crime, in search of vengeance.

I could never resist an issue of House of Mystery and in this, no doubt, irresistible offering, we encounter tales with such nightmare-inducing titles as Kronos -- Zagros -- Eborak!, Justice for All Includes Children 6 and Your Epitaph Is Only a Birthday Card.

According to the GCD, Qwardian youths turn Arthur Sommar into Skragg the super sniper.

I've no idea what any of that means but I can only conclude that it's bad news for the Freedom Fighters - and for everyone else.

The site also informs me that this issue's inks are credited to Juan Canale who seems to be Vince Colletta but no one seems to know why he's so pseudonymously credited.

It would appear it's not just the Green Lantern who has to worry about a team of super-villains. So does the Flash when a bunch of them learn the Top has died.

However, before he went, he forced them to go in search of six pieces of a bomb that will destroy Central City if they don't stop it.

And there's more because, in our second adventure, the Ravagers of Olys devolve Green Lantern into an ape.

The unmitigated bounders.

August 18th, 1976 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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Let us tarry not... ...and leap straight into the action.

I detect the tale in which the Fantastic Four find themselves up against the Maggia - and having more trouble with them than you'd expect.

I shall declare that the whole idea of those villains turning up in the FF's book seems like near-heresy. Surely, the people who took on Galactus, Annihilus and Dr Doom shouldn't be lumbered with fighting a bunch of small-time gangsters who can't even beat Daredevil.

And, speaking of FF foes, the Sub-Mariner clashes with the Thing in New York City, for possession of the Helmet of Power. Clashes, that is, until Betty Dean shows up to talk some sort of sense into Namor's head.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury's trapped aboard SHIELD's Helicarrier, by a Hydra infiltrator who's been going by the name of Professor Trojak.

Elsewhere, Johnny Blaze again becomes the Ghost Rider and sets off after evil biker Big Daddy Dawson who's kidnapped Roxanne Simpson!

And Captain America and Agent 13 seek to stop the Red Skull’s Fourth Sleeper from destroying large chunks of the United States.

Zzzax is back!

And I still don't have a clue how many times the letter Z should feature in his name.

Neither does he, I suspect.

And neither does the Hulk, I suspect.

Then again, the Hulk probably doesn't know how many times the letter Z should feature in his own name.

Sadly, the voltage-packed villain isn't here to stay, because the scientists who inadvertently recreated him soon discover a way to stop him.

Following that, the Super-Skrull takes the captured Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to the Skrull homeworld, only to be greeted by hostility from the locals.

Next, Conan finds himself tied to the ground and left to the tender mercies of the rats of Ravengard.

And Brother Brimstone's stalking the streets of Hollywood!

But he won't be for long if Daredevil has his way.

It's a tale of pulse-pounding drama, as the Tarantula continues his reign of terror.

Perhaps more importantly, Harry discovers Peter Parker's secret identity!

In Thor's strip, Infinity's finally thwarted when our hero and his allies manage to prevent Odin from merging with the menace.

But this means Hela will now be after the thunder god's blood.

Iron Man finds himself captured by a fabulously wealthy man called Midas. Not to mention that man's mysterious sidekick Madame Masque!

As far as I can make out, the Thing and Morbius return to Earth, after their recent banishment, where they defeat the Living Eraser by using his own technology against him. 

And Doctor Strange's physical form has fallen victim to Dracula.

However, what the fang-flaunting fiend doesn't know is that his victim's mind has astrally fled his body and is looking for a solution to his problems.

Happy Herb Trimpe gives us the cover to a story we can only know as Society of the Psychedrome.

If only I could remember anything about that tale, other than that Jason and Alexander are in it.

Following that, we - and Ka-Zar - encounter a place called Tordon-Na, the Golden City! And I can't say that one's ringing any bells for me either.

But I do recall the next section because it's SFX on the Planet of the Apes Part II: Simian Illusions in which we discover more about the magic of the effects men and women who worked on the movies.

Next, things are set to go conquistador on us when the Man-Thing stumbles across a hidden community in the swamp. One that possesses the legendary Fountain of Youth.

And we end the issue with yet more of Marvel's adaptation of the original movie. In this week's exciting episode, we've reached the bit where our intrepid astronauts have their first encounter with the cheeky simians.

Speak Your Brain! Part 131. Musical duets!

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

A wise woman once sang, "Surprise surprise. The unexpected hits you between the eyes."

But what could possibly surprise a man of my sagacity?

There's only one thing.

And that's the feature in which it is not I but you The Reader who gets to decide just what is to be the topic of the day's debate.

Multifold are the subjects that could be covered, running the gamut of A-Z and back again.

Therefore, hesitate ye not to launch that topic via the comments section below and we shall discover just how surprised a man can be.

2000 AD - July 1988.

ThanKs to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for Their Sponsorship of This Post, via The Magic of Patreon. 

***

Who remembers Glenn Medeiros?

I certainly do.

And July 1988 was doing its best to make sure it stayed that way, as he spent almost the entire month at Number One on the UK singles chart, thanks to his smash hit Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You, before being dislodged by Yazz and the Plastic Population's The Only Way Is Up.

Over on the accompanying album chart, July launched with Tracy Chapman holding sway, via her self-titled album, before that was usurped by Now That's What I Call Music! 12.

Change was afoot in politics because the Soviet government voted to end the CPSU's monopoly on economic and other non-political power and to further economic changes towards a less rigidly Marxist-Leninist economy.

While, in engineering, Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia via the Bosporus.

But what of cinema?

Just what was on offer to us when we handed over our money for that ticket?

It was a month that saw the release of such never-to-be-forgotten masterpieces as Short Circuit 2, Arthur 2, It Couldn't Happen Here, Phantasm II, The Dead Pool, Die Hard, A Fish Called Wanda, Big Top Pee-wee, Caddyshack II, Cocktail and Monkey Shines.

Upon consideration; of that lot, I think Die Hard was the film most likely to get me to hand over my money, bearing, as it does, a remarkable resemblance to how I live my own life.

And of the galaxy's greatest comic?

What news?

It was, as so often before, producing a diet of Bad Company, Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd, A.B.C. Warriors and Sláine. Not to mention the return of Tyranny Rex.

But there was novelty too, with the arrival of an intriguing-sounding strip called Tribal Memories in which writer Peter Milligan and artist Tony Wright present the story of Mohammed “Mo” Robinson, a cynical memory trader in a future where personalities are assembled from memories that have been bought.

The internet informs me that he visits our world, seeking a Maasai warrior whose memories are completely authentic, and what begins as a satirical sci-fi tale of cultural commodification develops into an exploration of colonialism, exploitation and prejudice.