Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #54 - Nov. 1984

sgAh, DC found a way to squeeze a few more Superman-themed collections in before Best of DC went belly up. It features a particularly brutal cover, too--Bizarro really looks like he's got Superman good, and with all the bad guys cheering it reminds me of that opening scene in Justice. The cover is Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson, and it's partly due to Janson's rough edge that I think this cover has that feel. Ouch!

Stories include:
"Mxyzptlk Spelled Backward is T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by Martin Pasko, Curt Swan, and Frank Chiaramonte
"The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy" by Steve Englehart and Murphy Anderson (guest-starring Swamp Thing, who when you come to think of it is a great sparring partner for Grundy!)
"Gorilla Grodd's Grandstand Play" by Eliott S. Maggin, Swan, and Anderson
"Target of the Toymen" by Cary Bates, Swan, and Anderson
"The Man With the Kryptonite Heart" by Pasko, Swan, and Tex Blaisdell
"Happy New Year...Rest in Peace" by Pasko, Swan, and Chiaramonte

...the Toyman story is notable because it includes an appearance by a Toyman that looks just like the one that appeared on Challenge of the Super-Friends, a version I thought only ever existed on the cartoon.

4 comments:

Plaidstallions said...

I have this, doesn't the Toyman get whacked by the original in this digest?

rob! said...

they try to kill each other, but Supes knocks Toyman II "out cold", so no he doesnt die in it.

i was surprised to see him when i first read the book, since like i said i had always thought he only existed in that Super Friends universe along with the Wonder Twins, Wendy and Marvin, Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan!

Anonymous said...

I think Toyman 1 killed Toyman 2 in a later story.

I too thought the SF Toyman was just that, no comic appearances at all!

I also thought the same of Giganta. Turns out I was half right. She wasn't a giant-woman in the comics, just a mutated, evolved APE!!!

Chris

Doug Slack said...

I'm pretty sure by now everybody in the DC universe has been killed at least once.