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Doc’s Reviews For The Week Of 6/9/2021 – Graham Crackers Comics

Doc’s Reviews For The Week Of 6/9/2021

BATMAN SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERIES #3     DC COMICS

This a perfect example of a classic all-ages book. Something that is not all that common these days. And while current Batman readers may have an issue with the simplistic take on the Dark Knight and the somewhat “going out on a limb” reasoning behind Two-Face’s masterplan, that’s part of the charm here. There was a point in time when Batman was like this and the stories didn’t have to be grounded in reality. And with this story, it’s interesting to see what happens when the Mystery Inc. team is seperated on different case. With Fred and Velma out on a case already, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby have to make do. Which also highlights the awkwardness when the gang is missing vital pieces of their group. All in all, a good story with a vintage art style. I give it a 9 out of 10 Grahams.

 

IT’S TIME FOR A FANTASTIC FLASHBACK REVIEW !!!!!!!!!!!

SUPERMAN FAMILY #192     DC COMICS     DECEMBER 1978

The late 1970’s and early 1980’s were a magnificent period of innovation and cleverness in comics, especially at DC Comics. In November of 1973, the bells were tolling for Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen. His own title had lasted 163 issues but was running out of pizazz, so he was going to get the ax. However, the creative staff at DC came up with an ingenious plan. With their 100 Page Super Spectacular comics hitting their stride, the decision was made to make issue #164 into a 100 Page Giant but change the concept and title of the book to Superman Family. That way both the Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen title and the Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane title could merge and technically not be cancelled. Plus with the 100 page editions making terrific use of the huge amount of reprint available in the DC master archieves, tales featuring Supergirl and Krypto could be thrown in as well. After the 100 page fad died down a bit, this new Superman Family title (which had picked up numbering where Jimmy Olsen stopped) was switched over to a new DC gimmick … the Dollar Comic. And so by issue 192, we had a pretty stable lineup. Superman, Subergirl, Superboy, Krypto, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Kandorian super-heroes Nightwing and Flamebird. And with all these storylines happening, this title became a mecha for new and obscure heroes and villians. In this issue, Lois Lane’s story continues with not only newer hero the Human Cannonball fighting against the Butcher, the all-new Doom Patrol appearing as guests in the Supergirl story, and the continuation of one of the weirdest most complex storyline going at the time. As Jimmy teams up with the cloned versions of the Newsboy Legion to hunt down Speedy from the Teen Titans to discover whatever happened to the original Golden Age Guardian. All while being persuded by a group of evil Jimmy Olsen clones who refer to the real Jimmy Olsen as Olsen-Prime! But the story that really catches the reader’s attention is a fascinating short story by Gerry Conway, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Tex Blaisdell where Superman puts himself into a computer simulation where Superman is show what would have happened if it was his grandfather that had figured out that Kryton was doomed and not his father. An amazing early concept of the Elseworlds titles! This whole run shows the creative genius of DC back in the day and most of this title can be found in the back issue boxes at your local Graham Crackers Comic stores. I give it a 9 out of 10 Grahams.

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