If Secret Origins of Super-Heroes worked, why not give the Super-Villains a turn?The cover blurb is pretty funny: "Revealed At Last! The Origin of the Penguin!" Yeah---kids were just screaming to find out the origin of The Penguin. Other than that, this is a slam-dunk cover--fun as all get out; it looks like the Most Exciting JLA Cover That Never Existed.
Stories include:
"The Origin of the Penguin" by Michael Fleisher(!), Romeo Tanghal, and Tex Blaisdell
Ocean Master in "Aquaman, Coward of the Seven Seas" by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy
"Here Comes Captain Boomerang" by John Broome, Carmine Infantino, and Murphy Anderson
"The Shark That Hunted Human Prey" by Broome, Gil Kane, and Joe Giella
"Shadow-Thief of Midway City" by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert
"Green Arrow Vs. Red Dart" by ? and George Papp
"Power of the Parasite" by Jim Shooter and Al Plastino
The oddest feature of this book, hands down, is "Villainous Double-Dactyls" by E.Nelson Bridwell, featuring short poems(well, poem-ish) about each hero/villain combo. Try this little gem:
Zoomery Boomery
Australian George Harkness
As Captain Boomerang
Signed up to serve
But to crime he turned his
Knowledgeability
Only to have The Flash
Throw Him a curve
...can you imagine being ENB, sitting in his DC office somewhere, saying to himself, "I'm getting paid to write a poem about Captain Boomerang."
I guess the one question to ask about this book was, why no Wonder Woman/Cheetah story? We've got Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and GL in here, she's the only big name missing. I would say throwing in The Red Dart as a representation of a Green Arrow villain is stretching it, to say the least.
4 comments:
I loved that GL story. The Shark really creeped me out at age 10. The Hawkman story was pretty cool, too.
The poems were definitely strange. ENB was having way too much fun.
I remember thining the Red Dart must be GA's #1 arch-enemy, or he wouldn't be in this book. Imagine my surprise 4 years later, when he never even warranted a Who's Who entry. When Clock King trumps you, you're lame.
If I'm not mistaken Grant Morrison used a new version of the Red Dart in his JLA run. Or he alluded to him anyway.
Chris
i think you knew you were a loser if you got left out of the original Who's Who--ouch!
i always assumed Count Vertigo was the #1 GA villain...
Yeah, the Count would be my pick for #1 GA foe, but he's fairly recent (late 70s). Old school GA had...Clock King and the Red Dart. No wonder they revamped Ollie. :-)
Chris
Post a Comment