Ivy Town - Hellmouth of Weirdness

"Ivy Town - Hellmouth of Weirdness" from All-New Atom #6 (DC, 2007) by Gail Simone, Eddy Barrows and Trevor Scott

I really liked All-New Atom's brand of high weirdness under Gail Simone's pen, and was disappointed when Rick Remender's short run turned out to be so dull (I'm enjoying his Marvel work though). Of course that's nothing compared to how I felt when DC killed off Ryan Choi for no good reason. Because they sure did something with Ray Palmer after that, right? I mean for the year it took before Ryan would have inevitably gone the way of Stephanie Brown in the Flushpoint anyway. Or maybe the fans saved Ryan Choi after all. By showing outrage at his death during Brightest Day, we may have insured his survival. He's apparently set to join Johns and Lee's Justice League as the New52's Atom. It was also cool to see him co-star with Batman in the awesome Brave and the Bold cartoon.

Of course, Ryan Choi is only one element of All-New Atom I miss. The other is that weird and wacky Ivy Town.

The Golden Age Star Sapphire

"The Golden Age Star Sapphire" from All-Flash #32 (DC, 1948) by Robert Kanigher, Lee Ellias and Moe Worthman

In the Golden Age, the Flash was a headliner as important as Superman and Batman, appearing in Flash Comics along with other features AND in his own solo book, All-Flash. I'm a big fan of the Fastest Man Alive superhero concept, so I'm not surprised. However, I DO find it surprising the strip took like it did with rather primitive art of Everett E. Hibbard on the character from his third appearance on. I did manage to find a splash of historical interest, as it features the Golden Age version of Star Sapphire you didn't know existed! The art, much in the style of Hibbard, is by Lee Elias. The issue, All-Flash's last, also featured the introduction of the Fiddler.

Black Lightning Used to Be a Western Star

"Black Lightning Used to Be a Western Star" from All-American Western #103 (DC, 1948) by Robert Kanigher and Alex Toth

Picking up the numbering from All-American Comics after interest in superheroes evaporated in the late 40s, the book became the home of western stars like Johnny Thunder, before turning into All-American Men of War after 24 issues and for the remainder of its existence. It probably helps that Thunder was named after a JSA member, because All-American's other features aren't so well remembered - Overland Coach, Minstrel Maverick, and Foley of the Fighting 5th.

Cannon Rider!

"Cannon Rider!" from All-American Men of War #52 (DC, 1957) by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert

I see a war comic anthology, I immediately think of Joe Kubert. And that's what I want to see. Every time. Even if that means not showcasing one of the book's more memorable features, like Johnny Cloud, Gunner and Sarge, or Balloon Buster (who WAS drawn by Kubert on one occasion, but alas, no splashes).

Green Lantern Gets Himself Into the Headlines

"Green Lantern Gets Himself Into the Headlines" from All-American Comics #22 (All-American, 1941) by Mart Dellon and Bill Finger

Be careful with that headline's punctuation! All-American Comics turned super-hero with #16 with the introduction of Green Lantern. Other characters that came out of All-American include the Atom, Ma Hunkel's Red Tornado, Doctor Mid-Nite and Sargon the Sorcerer. All-American Comics and all its characters would be bought up by DC Comics in 1946, which was a good move seeing how important the Green Lantern brand is to the company's success today.

Goodbye, Smallville

"Goodbye, Smallville" from Adventures of Superman #450 (DC, 1989) by Jerry Ordway and Dennis Janke

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superman was rebooted to #1, but his historic first series continued as Adventures of Superman (as of #424). The title's early years were Jerry Ordway's, at first illustrating Marv Wolfman's and John Byrne's scripts, and then writing it himself. I doubt it was ever as good later. 20 years later, the book merged back with the Superman main series, returning to the title Superman with #650. Hope you enjoy the crying Superman splash I chose to represent the book and that particular era.

Rex the Matadog

"Rex the Matadog" from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #36 (DC, 1957) by Bob Haney, Gil Kane and Bernard Sachs

Olé! (Yeah, I should be put down for the above pun. I beg your forgiveness.) Rex the Wonder Dog was an awesome dog strip from the 50s (with Detective Chimp back-ups!) that lasted 46 issues, eventually dipping a little too deeply into science fiction, but originally based on adventures of doggie heroes like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, except on a more global stage, constantly parachuting into dangerous situations around the world. I'm a cat person, but I'm all about Rex.

Batman Meets Jerry Lewis

"Batman Meets Jerry Lewis" from The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #97 (DC, 1966) by Arnold Drake and Bob Oksner

For its first 40 issues The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, losing Dean meant Jerry could team up with others, like Batman, Superman, Flash and Wonder Woman. Just as in-continuity as Bob Hope, it seems.

Super-Hip!

"Super-Hip!" from The Adventures of Bob Hope #97 (DC, 1966) by Arnold Drake and Bob Oksner

When Super-Hip appeared in the last few issues of Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol last year, it made Bob Hope's comic book adventures canon. CANON! No wonder continuity had to be Flushpointed. GIIIIIIFFFENNNNNNN!!!! (If you want to know more about Super-Hip, check out this Time Capsule!)

Alan Ladd, Man's Man

"Alan Ladd, Man's Man" from The Adventures of Alan Ladd #1 (DC, 1949) by Joe Certa and Sy Barry

The stories featured film actor Alan Ladd in a variety of adventurous situations. I think they should re-invent this type of market crossover comic for the modern age. With Jason Statham. Or Jackie Chan. Or KISS. Or Adam West. Oh wait...

Blue and Gold in: Another Fine Mess

"Blue and Gold in: Another Fine Mess" from Adventures in the DC Universe #8 (DC, 1997) by Steve Vance, John Delaney and Ron Boyd

You didn't think I would skimp on the animated DCU comics, did you? They were some of DC's best output in the 90s!

Krypto Waits for No Man

"Krypto Waits for No Man" from Adventure Comics vol.2 #6 (DC, 2010) by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul

Possibly the last Johns comic I thought was truly excellent?

Tiny Legionnaires

"Tiny Legionnaires" from Adventure Comics vol.1 #338 (DC, 1965) by Jerry Siegel and John Forte

Adventure has had so many classic features over its 50 years, it was hard to choose, but it's best known for having launched the Legion of Super-Heroes so it seemed most appropriate. Still, here's to everyone from the original Starman to Aquaman, the Spectre and Dial H for Hero, and even Black Orchid and Captain Fear! Did YOU have a favorite Adventure Comics feature?

Adam Strange Trips Out

"Adam Strange Trips Out" from Adam Strange vol.1 #1 (DC, 1990) by Richard Bruning, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert

Really going after their father's style too. The series is sometimes subtitled The Man of Two Worlds. (I'll skip vol.2, because I've done it before, last year.)

Calling Nancy Reagan Out

"Calling Nancy Reagan Out" from Action Comics Weekly #610 (DC, 1988) by Mike Baron, Dan Jurgens and Tony DeZuniga

After Byrne's team-up approach to Action, DC briefly turned the book into a double-sized weekly anthology that mixed big stars like Green Lantern and Nightwing with former stars like Blackhawk and Phantom Lady, and lesser lights like Hero Hotline and Wild Dog. Superman kept a foothold in the book through a two-pager in the style of newspaper Sunday strips.

Krypton Dies... Again

"Krypton Dies... Again" from Action Comics vol.2 #5 (DC, 2012) by Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang

The new Action Comics re-invents a lot of the Superman mythos, but some things just never change.

Post-Crisis JLA vs. Apokolips

"Post-Crisis JLA vs. Apokolips" from Action Comics vol.1 #650 (DC, 1990) by Roger Stern and George Perez

Over the past year, we've seen two versions of the JLA fighting the forces of Apokolips, one on the new Earth-1, and the other on the new Earth-2, with very different results. I hadn't realized the old continuity ALSO featured this event, and it's even at a time when Superman didn't yet know he was from Krypton.

Bizarro's New Album

"Bizarro's New Album" from A.Bizarro #3 (DC, 1999) by Steve Gerber, M.D. Bright and Greg Adams

Don't know much about this one, but it's on my reading list for the Blog of Geekery's Reign of the Supermen. Steve Gerber though, so it's at least interesting.

Destination: Home Earth

"Destination: Home Earth" from 52 #52 (DC, 2007) by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, Mike McKone, Justiniano, Eddy Barrows, Chris Batista, Pat Olliffe, Darick Robertson, Andy Lanning, Walden Wong, Rodney Ramos, Drew Geraci, Darick Robertson

Somebody in there was responsible for the 2-pager, at any rate. 52 was the book that made weekly comics both cool and marketable, something DC was never able to recapture. Sadly, they took so long to build on the return of the multiverse, we had to suffer through various other events before things settled down to the "New 52".

The Cave of the Talking Heads

"The Cave of the Talking Heads" from 1st Issue Special #5 (DC, 1975) by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry

I had an idea that I could fiddle with Daily Splash Page's format and give it more focus, so let's call the next couple weeks an experiment... My challenge is to showcase one splash for every DC Comics series in alphabetical order (if I can find them, and if they exist, of course). To keep it under control (and so I don't spend a year on Batman alone), I'll likely skip mini-series and one-shots that start with a character's name followed by a colon, you know like "Batman: Haunted Gotham", but historical importance may trump that. Either way, it's a good opportunity to talk about the series themselves.

So that's how we get to 1st Issue Special. A series devoted to series try-outs, only Mike Grell's Warlord and the Return of the New Gods actually went to series. The rejects were Atlas, Green Team, Metamorpho, Lady Cop (a favorite), Manhunter (above), Dingbats of Danger Street, Creeper, Doctor Fate, Outsiders (not the ones that teamed up with Batman eventually), Codename: Assassin, and Starman (the alien), despite the considerable talents of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Walt Simonson, Joe Simon, Haney, Kanigher, and others.

Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (14 of 22)

"Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (14 of 22)" from Thor #380 (Marvel, 1987) by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema

Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (13 of 22)

"Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (13 of 22)" from Thor #380 (Marvel, 1987) by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema

Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (12 of 22)

"Thor vs. the Midgard Serpent (12 of 22)" from Thor #380 (Marvel, 1987) by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema

The 7 Super-Deadly Sins

"The 7 Super-Deadly Sins" from JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice GN (DC, 2002) by David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino

It's Sunday! Repent!

Catwoman vs. Batman - Sorry About That

"Catwoman vs. Batman - Sorry About That" from Catwoman: When in Rome #1 (DC, 2004) by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

FF Safari

"FF Safari" from FF #19 (Marvel, 2012) by Jonathan Hickman and Gabriel Hernandez Walta

I'm on vacation!

An Amethyst and her Dog

"An Amethyst and her Dog" from Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld #3 (DC, 1983) by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Ernie Colon

She's getting animated and will be the lead in a DC comic soon, so I thought I'd go back in time for this one.

Today? Who else but Captain America?

"Today? Who else but Captain America?" from Captain America vol.3 #213 (Marvel, 1977) by Jack Kirby and Dan Green

Happy 4th, Yanks!

Welcome to Sextillion

"Welcome to Sextillion" from Saga #4 (Image, 2012) by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples

Planes vs. Ships

"Planes vs. Ships" from Our Fighting Forces #156 (DC, 1975) by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer

Happy Canada Day!

"Happy Canada Day!" from Alpha Flight vol.1 #17 (Marvel, 1984) by John Byrne