The DC Lucky Bag - June 1976.

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

***

Plans are of no use to a man like me. Like all men of destiny, I rely on random happenstance to guide me.

Therefore, let's see what appears when I spin the Steve Does Comic Wheel of Fate and see upon which DC comics that bear this month's cover date its untutored arrow settles.

Many times, as a child, did I see Jonah Hex comics on the spinner racks.

And many times did I see house ads for his book.

And, yet, strangely, in all that time, never once did I actually get round to buying an issue of his comic.

I suspect the lure of the Phantom Stranger, Spectre and Weird War Tales, sitting there, beside him, on those racks, always diverted my attention away from the gun-slinger.

Regardless, I do know that, in this thrilling epic, our hero's forced to contend with a rival bounty hunter who keeps stealing his captives, in order to claim the reward money for himself.

But forget all that. Whatever else happens, this is the big event of the month, when a brand new mag descends upon our favourite retailers.

And does so by creating a team consisting of DC's greatest villains - and Captain Boomerang.

Surely, no hero nor group of heroes, could hope to stand against such a gargantuan gaggle of gallivantingly galevolent galoots.

And it all happens when one of Manhunter's clones brings them all together under the auspices of a mysterious but wealthy benefactor.

But who could that benefactor be?

Could it be Lex Luthor?

Or Darkseid?

Because, let's face it, who else is it going to be?

But enough of such concerns. Karate Kid hits his second, thrilling issue. And, no doubt, hits a few wrongdoers, as well.

In fact, he probably hits Major Disaster who launches some sort of attack on the United Nations!

I don't know who he is but I'm not sure I'm impressed by any villain who wants to be known as Major Disaster.

Then again, maybe he's the mystery man behind the Secret Society of Super-Villains?

Jack Kirby may be long-gone but the last boy on Earth just keeps on lasting, thanks to the efforts of Gerry Conway and Chic Stone.

Which is a matter of curiosity to me, as I don't think I've ever seen anything pencilled by Stone. I know him purely as an inker.

As for what occurs within, it seems the trouble-finding teen seeks out someone called Mogul who may be to blame for recent attacks on him.

I've never read this one - and that cover does have a real Silver Age throwback feel to it - but I can sensationally reveal that the League is making some kind of effort to stop a bunch of natural disasters that turn out not to be so natural.

In fact, so not-natural are they that they're part of a plan to destroy the team!

It's the meeting that had to happen, as the Joker and Superman's arch-nemesis co-star in a tale called Luthor-- You're Driving Me Sane!

Not that I know what happens in it, beyond that it features a bunch of people called the Mountebank Malefactors.

From that name, I shall assume they are bad guys.

And that they are well-heeled.