The Shining Knight Guest Stars

"The Shining Knight Guest Stars" from Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #12 (DC, 2000) by Geoff Johns, Lee Moder and Dan Davis

Yay, 7 Soldiers of Victory! I always hear good things about Geoff Johns' take on the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, probably because it could stand as proof Johns isn't all darkness and violence (to be fair, there are other books that would do, like Booster Gold and Adventure Comics). It really is everything the New52 isn't, am I right?

Sturm und Drang

"Sturm und Drang" from Starman vol.2 #39 (DC, 1998) by James Robinson, Tony Harris and Wade von Grawbadger

James Robinson sort of became DC's new Roy Thomas with Starman, not just because he made use of Golden Age characters, but over the last 20 years, also dusted off obscure ones from intervening years (many from First Issue Special). If Robinson likes to wax nostalgic, his Starman is ABOUT nostalgia, with Jack Knight, latest in the Starman line, running a nostalgia shop and himself struggling with the past. How can he be in love with the past, and yet have such a difficult relationship with his father? In some ways, Starman is really about the post-Crisis DC Universe, specifically its heroic legacies (villainous ones as well). Even the cops in Opal City are part of a long line of iconic cops. And Opal City. Robinson and Harris created an iconic city to rival Metropolis and Gotham City there, and in a fraction of the pages, indeed from issue 1. Wow, I need to reread this series some time.

Starman No More

"Starman No More" from Starman vol.1 #21 (DC, 1990) by Roger Stern, Tom Lyle and Scott Hanna

If that image reminds you of Spider-Man's costume in a trash can, it's because that's totally the reference they're going for. And appropriate, because the Will Payton Starman was a Marvel teen hero type, indeed, I'd call him the Firestorm of the late 80s. Tom Lyle seemed to specialize in youthful heroes (Robin, the Comet, and this), which made the first 30 issues, written by the always solid Roger Stern, a pleasant journey of heroic discovery. And though the costume's yellow and purple color scheme has always reminded me of those sugary two-toned lollipops (what are those called?), I never much minded. I suppose the black and red was better, but not as idealistic. After Len Strazewski came on board as writer, things sadly flattened out, though he managed to pump out 16 more issues before the book met its end.

Starfire Leaps Into Shadow

"Starfire Leaps Into Shadow" from Starfire #6 (DC, 1977) by Steve Englehart, Mike Vosburg and Vince Colletta

After Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

"After Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" from Star Trek: Debt of Honor GN (DC, 1992) by Chris Claremont, Adam Hughes and Karl Story

Siskoid's Blog of Geekery covered every single Star Trek comic DC ever published (and Marvel, and Malibu, and Gold Key, and almost all the IDWs, etc.), and they don't usually offer up outstanding splash pages. Mostly, it's fair to mediocre likenesses or photo referenced art, though DC did have some good runs, especially with the movie era original cast of characters supplemented by new characters. But for art, I've chosen one of the graphic novels, Debt of Honor, the review to which you can find HERE.

The Unknown Soldier's Greatest Role

"The Unknown Soldier's Greatest Role" from Star Spangled War Stories #156 (DC, 1971) by Bob Haney and Joe Kubert

So picking up Star Spangled Comics' numbering with #131, this series turned to the war comics popular at the time and managed to stay in publication for another 15 years, until 1977's #204. In its heyday, it published some memorable strips - Mademoiselle Marie, The War That Time Forgot, Enemy Ace and Unknown Soldier (who took over the numbering with #205 LET'S KEEP GOING!) - and a heck of a lot of Joe Kubert covers.

Liberty Belle vs. the Axis

"Liberty Belle vs. the Axis" from Star Spangled Comics #33 (Detective, 1944) by Don Cameron and Chuck Winter

Liberty Belle is an old favorite from All-Star Squadron and her Golden Age stories seem to have a nice, sleek style. She wasn't Star Spangled Comics's only, or even main, feature of course. The headliners were Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, the Newsboy Legion and eventually, Robin in solo stories, giving the book a distinctly youthful flavor. Of course, there were more adult heroes, like Belle, but also Tarantula, TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite, and Robotman. The book eventually phased out superheroes in favor of strips like Tomahawk and horror stuff, until it became Star Spangled War Stories with #131.

Mars or Bust

"Mars or Bust" from Stanley and His Monster #109 (DC, 1968) by Arnold Drake, Bob Oksner and Tex Blaisdell

First appearing in Fox and the Crow #95, Stanley and His Monster had taken over the book completely by issue 109, and closed the book with 112. I don't know if Bill Watterson ever took inspiration from this strip, because it very much has the same basic premise as Calvin and Hobbes, but regardless, it's nowhere near as funny or charming. Kids' fare, with some amusing art here and there, but little more. If you want to read some S&HM, I'd rather you found Phil Foglio's 90s mini-series, which tied into Gaiman's Sandman, believe it or not, while remaining a cartoony humor comic.

The Flames of Hell

"The Flames of Hell" from Stalker #3 (DC, 1975) by Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood

At 4 issues, Stalker is kind of a mini-series before there were such things. He sells his soul to get combat abilities, and is kind of Ditko's answer to Kirby's Demon. Always thought the concept had a lot of potential, but though he's appeared a number of times (most recently in Sword of Sorcery), never really fulfilling that potential.

Spirit in Blood

"Spirit in Blood" from The Spirit vol.2 #2 (DC, 2010) by Mark Schultz and Moritat

When DC started the (doomed) First Wave imprint, they immediately rebooted their Spirit book and gave it to other people. Why not just slap "First Wave" on the ongoing they had? Or had it lost all its good will when Cooke left?

The Maneater

"The Maneater" from The Spirit vol.1 #2 (DC, 2007) by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone

DC has published two Spirit series, both within the last 6 years. The first is very well regarded, and might even be as good as Will Eisner's original strips, especially the Cooke issues. And you can sort of see why.

The Spectre Corps

"The Spectre Corps" from The Spectre vol.4 #16 (DC, 2002) by J.M. DeMatteis, Norm Breyfogle, Jim Royal and Joe Rubinstein

Making Hal Jordan the new Spectre may have been a case of destroying one character to redeem another, but it did make sense in the context of the clusterfrak thay made of this particular Green Lantern to make way for a younger model. Parallax wasn't a good idea, but it did make Hal a sort of "spirit of vengeance", which plugged him into the Spectre persona (for 27 issues of his own book, plus the Legends of the DC Universe arc where the idea premiered, and on until his resurrection in Blackest Night/Brightest Day), but it's not like this was a plan from the start.

Moon Bullets

"Moon Bullets" from The Spectre vol.3 #1 (DC, 1992) by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake

The Spectre was back to his omnipotent self in the 90s series, which was a huge step up in every way. John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, who had worked together on Firestorm, did almost the entire run of 62 issues. Despite the Spectre's near-infinite power, he was plagued by moral dilemmas and doubts about the divine motive behind his mission. Ostrander didn't shy away from uncomfortable subjects, and Mandrake was great at nightmarish retribution gags. Ostrander even brought the priest from Suicide Squad into it. Oh, and the three glow in the dark covers are pretty neat, and probably made sure readers sampled the comic early on, contributing to its success. Man, I gotta read this again some time (indeed, the entire 80s-90s Ostrander oeuvre, which all ties together somehow).

The Lacquer Look

"The Lacquer Look" from The Spectre vol.2 #4 (DC, 1987) by Doug Moench, Gene Colan and Steve Mitchell

The 80s Spectre series lasted less than three years and was unremarkable (I mostly remember its cool house ad, the first cover by Mike Kaluta). Basically, Jim Corrigan was brought back from the dead, made a private eye, and the Spectre sprang out of him for a 48-hour window lest Corrigan start dying again (he was the supernatural equivalent of Aquaman then). It may just have been too gritty and down to earth for a Spectre book. After all, this guy was throwing planets around in the Golden Age.

A T Rex Follows the Spectre Home

"A T Rex Follows the Spectre Home" from The Spectre vol.1 #5 (DC, 1968) by Neil Adams

Neil Adams, when writing, was an odd duck even early in his career, wasn't he? Anyway, this is pulled from the first Spectre solo series, which lasted only 10 issues and that aside from Adams' work, is a bit unremarkable. Especially for Spectre fans, as he becomes just another horror host by the end.

Just Another Ninja Babe

"Just Another Ninja Babe" from Sovereign Seven #3 (DC, 1995) by Chris Claremont, Dwayne Turner and Jerome K. Moore

Chris Claremont does love his ninja babes... Sovereign Seven was creator-owned which is why we didn't see much of this team outside their own book. Signing one of Marvel's big stars was something of a coup, but the series he came up with was derivative of his X-Men work (hey, if all the Image artists could do it...).

Allred Draws the DC Universe

"Allred Draws the DC Universe" from Solo #7 (DC, 2005) by Lee and Michael Allred

A lot of choices from Solo, the book that gave celebrity writer/artists the chance to do ANYTHING THEY WANTED with DC properties. Always been partial to Mike Allred's stuff, so here you go.

Midnight Is Not the Spirit, We Swear

"Midnight Is Not the Spirit, We Swear" from Smash Comics #73 (E.M. Arnold, 1947) by Jack Cole

From the Quality family of books, Smash was the home of the Ray, the Invisible Hood, Magno, The Jester, Black X, Lady Luck and the robot Bozo the Iron Man, but the one that most dominated the book by far, earning the cover from #28 all the way to #85, was Midnight, a straight-up replacement for the Spirit while Will Eisner went to fight in the war, but whose strip continued after Eisner's return. Having Jack "Plastic Man" Cole on your side does wonders for your career, no matter whose shadow it started under. Of course, today, Midnight isn't well remembered at all.

Not Flying Yet

"Not Flying Yet" from Smallville #11 (DC, 2005) by Dan Thomsen, Tom Derenick and Adam Dehraker

I never followed Smallville (and it seems daunting to do so now), and I certainly didn't read the tie-in comic book (which wasn't a success based on the fact it ran only 11 issues, while the show lasted 10 years) despite some fair likenesses (above), but I AM a huge fan of Bryan Q. Miller's Smallville Season 11 digital-direct comic. I discovered them in a liveblog HERE. Just sharing the love.

Simon Dark Loves Cephalopods

"Simon Dark Loves Cephalopods" from Simon Dark #17 (DC, 2009) by Steve Niles and Scott Hampton

Lurks in Shadows. Hides in the dark.
Simon. Simon. Simon Dark.

If you're good he'll stay away.
If you're bad he'll make you pay.

Lurks in Shadows. Hides in the dark.
Simon. Simon. Simon Dark.