I think you missed the mark on the Dr. Fate issue. Not only did it give us spectacular Simonson artwork (A sorcerer who looked as cool as Batman! Thanks, Walt Simonson!), it introduced the concept of Fate as a Lord of Order, a concept I don't believe had appeared in the DCU before. This tale also explained to us that the spirit of Nabu possessed Kent Nelson whenever he donned the Fate helmet, and that his responsibilities as Fate had put a strain on Kent's marriage to his wife, Inza. These modern elements applied to a classic Golden Age hero were fresh, and breathed new life into the character. Every story featuring Fate after this one used these elements. It's truly an important issue.
I knew Marty Pasko in the years before he died. He kindly wrote a long intro to one of my own books. He was VERY proud of that Dr Fate story. Generally that's a very well-thought-of story and that's why it's been reprinted so often
Lol, I know. I hate RUclips. I just check my subscriptions regularly to see and put it in my watch later. More than I should have to do, but RUclips recommending more shit I'm not subscribed to instead of what I am subscribed to is a fuckin enigma. This site is managed by bots and idiots though.
I remember seeing someone praise Lady Cop a lot, but after reading it myself, I thought that though having a feminist message isn't a bad thing, it's so non-subtle. Oddly enough, the character appeared in Gail Simone's All-New Atom and was a minor antagonist on the TV series Arrow if it's any consolation.
There is something charming about a time when the big two would try out new characters that were actually new instead of derivative of a preexisting care, although uninspired bronze age comics are usually pretty painful reading
This is what happened when your super hero is a product brand instead of creator’s product. Sure, it can cause issues like Berserk not finishing due to dead writer or Savage Dragon (to be fair, part of me wonder if lewd got too much exposure or just got worse since I was exposed to the cartoon version and only know about its lewd content after comic reviewers cover them in Savage’s son arc) BUT at least it can be consistent and gain closure.
The Dr. Fate issue was groundbreaking, IMHO. Very different from typical DC Comics at the time. I'm amazed it didn't lead into an ongoing -- even though the writer, Martin Pasko, would write a Dr. Fate backup with art by Keith Giffen in the 80s -- as a backup series in Flash, I believe. All of those issues were collected in the 2000s.
I have several of these. The Dingbats would have been fun. I gave away my copy of The Outsiders to a young woman, who was training with my mother. Both of them were nurses. It seems that the medical facility that is shown and renamed in the book was an exact drawing of a place she actually had worked or studied. She was at the house with my mother and found out I was into comic books and asked if I had a copy of the issue. I did and found it and gave it to her. I wonder if she still has it and remembers where she got it.
I managed to read all of these issues some time ago, some were OK, some were boring, but none interested me into reading them again, let alone buying the collected hardcover edition of the run. The only issue I would read again and would want to collect is the Dr. Fate comic, but only because of Walt Simonson's artwork, it was the comic to introduce me to his work and I'm all the more blessed for it.
There were other DINGBATS issues drawn, yes, not a rumor--and they were inked by Royer recently and published in DINGBAT LOVE by Twomorrows. It's well worth getting, it also has other unpublished Kirby.The subsequent issues go into the home life of the Dingbats a bit, and their backstories are tragic. Especially Krunch. He's so fit because he wants to be strong enough that his uncle can't abuse him anymore. Good Looks saw his parents shot dead in front of him. You can feel Street Code vibes in those issues. And sorry you didn't dig possibly the best-known and most-reprinted Dr Fate story ever. I think it's fantastic. Marty was very proud of it.
Ah yes, 1975, high school. I had all of these. I was, and still am, more of a DC than Marvel reader. And before direct sale comics, we had to take what we could get. Mostly the spinning comic rack at the local drug store. But at the time, I enjoyed most of these. I think my favorites at the time were Manhunter and Warlord. Kirby and Grell were two of my favorites. But I’ll take the worst of these over what’s being published today. Thanks again for another great video.
The Mark Shaw Manhunter character did return during Steve Englehart's run on JLA. He became the "hero" Privateer (who was revealed to be a wolf in sheep's clothing) in a complex and well written arc. Actually, Englehart's whole run was pretty great
I did not know that the Mark Shaw version of Manhunter was created by Kirby, I first saw him in the pages of Justice League. It's amazing how many of Kirby's concepts remained after his contentious run at DC.
Fun Fact: When Kahn took over, she looked at sales figuers for the first New Gods series and liked what she saw. She approved a revival and went after Kirby with a royalty deal.
We’re The New Gods ever supposed to be part of DC Continuity? I read that the Marvel Eternals and Celestials weren’t. I love the New Gods and The Celestials:
Uh, yeah. Kirby's, Revival, Hunger Dogs, etc. is all canon. Eternals at Marvel was not supposed to be according to Kirby, but Marvel insisted due to Marvel wanting tight continuity. But New Gods was originally supposed to be a reinvention of Marvel's Thor but that iteration is so different from what we got at DC, it is not worth being part of the question or answer.
@@matthewschwartz6607 The New Gods were definitely in DC continuity from the start, Darkseid appeared in Jimmy Olsen and Superman was in Forever People.
The Green Team were from the Bronze Age of Comics. It's a shame they were never heard again, or even mentioned in the Modern Comic Age. They deserve to be back in the DC multiverse again. It doesn't feel like a superhero story, since they don't have any abilities. It wanted to be a different genre. It's has that Silver Age vibe too. And a self contained story too. Before there was DC Vertigo, DC Young Animal, DC You, DC Black Label, DC Ink and DC Zoom. There was DC 1st Issue Special Anthology Series.
Green Lantern Legacy 2020. I like the main protagonist of the story. Tai Pham. Who needs to face his fears and insecurities to be a hero. I feel relatable to that too. I am also shy, timid, and curious in my mindset a heart. A self contained story, and a coming of age tale. Like a young adult story. You don't have to be a professional, job expert, or veteran to be like a hero. Young people can become heroes in fiction or in real life too. It just takes baby steps, to be a hero. Legacy, it isn't about coming from a bloodline, or follow someone's footsteps. To me, there's no such thing as one life style fits all. I think of it as family, volunteering, peaceful resolutions, passionate, and understanding others feelings. That's my philosophy and viewpoint about what is a legacy.
Until these anthology comics stories were butchered and derailed to point of being a far cry, by going against what these stories once stood for. In the Danger Street comic series. It was ruined by none other than Tom King. Danger Street, I hope this this gets retconned away and be brought back to it's former self again.
I bought a random issue of Danger Street because I liked the look of it: the cover, inside art and characters like Manhunter, Fate and Creeper. I had no idea that there was a connection between this comic and an obscure anrhology from the 70s - how cool, I'm going to rewatch this video and them go back and reread the comic I bought to see if it makes any more sense to me, I liked the issue of Danger Street I read so I may decide to pick up the rest of the series now.
Interesting video! I love hearing about oddball comics like this. Before now, I'd only known about the Green Team via their cameo in Grant Morrison's Animal Man where they were stuck in comic book limbo with other forgotten DC characters like the Inferior Five and the Red Bee.
I'm older, and while I admit a lot of stuff back then was trash, upon rereading some of it was better than I remembered. Then again I liked some things that never caught on. Shanna the She Devil, Black Goliath, and the Cat were stories that once I got one issue of, I wanted the rest, even if you can count the runs on 1 to almost 2 hands.
4:26 How many Dr. Destiny are in DC Comics? 6:49 so the "Manhunters" weren't always tied to green lanterns? 11:04 Surprised they haven't tried to tie the Outsiders with the DOOM PATROL..... or the "Outsiders" that tend to be more associated with Batman (Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana and Metamorpho)
Ive had a bunch of these off and on over the years, you always seemed to find them in those random plastic bag comic collections that bookstores would throw together back in the day. I always had a strange fascination with these 'lets see what sticks' one-shot titles.
I would point out that when Kirby returned to Captain America at Marvel, there was much complaining in the letter columns. I think, even though I’m a big Kirby fan- that he was, by the early to mid 70’s, a little behind the times with his fashion and even drawing of humans, which to my eyes now and then seem out of date. I would also say that I became a huge Kirby fan after seeing the splash page on The Eternals issue 2, which came out in 76. It all made sense after that. Look it up.
I don't care for the original Manhunter but I loved this one, Mark Shaw, during the 80's and I love that the 3rd one, that lady lawyer, basically just took his mask, gear and ran with it. She was my favorite of the bunch and her title was one of the coolest things on the stands when it came out. Is that character still around?
Kate Spencer is still around, but not getting much use. She was in a big Bendis event comic a while back that also used Mark Shaw, and more recently she was in the Joker's comic.
The Atlas issue -- ick! That story has the "honor" of being the most shoehorned-in element of the phonebook sized "DC Showcase Presents: The Great Disaster" collection, which attempts to collect all the DC tales that supposedly take place in the dystopian alternate reality shared by Kamandi, the Atomic Knights, the Hercules Unbound series and a bunch of Weird War and House of Mystery shorties. HINT: None of it fits together worth a damn...
I’m sure someone has to have mentioned that there were at least a couple attempts at characters named Starman after this first issue special appearance and prior to James Robinson’s…
I had no idea Atlas had appeared in a comic prior to All-Star Superman! Seems like the brash personality he has there was purely Grant Morrison’s invention
I’ve never heard of Danger Street but even if you didn’t tell me I’d know Tom King wrote it because that is the most Tom King idea Tom King ever had. Also you should totally make that ManHunter video because I had no idea it was more that just the first thing Green Lanterns always have to fight.
I loved this series when it came out. Sure, I was young, but I bought each of them off the stands, enjoyed them, and like most series at the time, only realized it had been canceled until many months passed after the last issue.
Having read the whole series via the excellent hardcover trade that came out a year ago, I can say with confidence that it failed miserably in its stated goal. The most successful character of the lot, Warlord, already had a series commitment, so his issue was mostly a professional courtesy to Mike Grell. Kirby's issues, the most dynamic of the bunch, were all variations on ideas he'd done previously, and not even terribly original ones at that. The rest were either not substantial enough to support an ongoing book or, in Lady Cop's case, a bit more progressive than one might expect, just coming out at the wrong time and with the worst tone imaginable for the subject. Great to see a lot of these concepts getting fleshed out more in the recent "Danger Street" mini. Now, where the heck were they during the past five decades?!
I would like to be clear that I adored this video, but I also think it is *extremely* funny to me on a personal level that you described who Robert Kanigher is and didnt mention that he co-created Barry Allen! Thats like the thing people remember him for these days! Great video, and I really appreciate how you distilled each issue down, while trying to give them a fair shake and give credit where its due
This was an odd series that I first discovered with issue #1. Years later I found out there were more so I sought out the rest. Thanks for highlighting this series I love hearing about these unusual comics.
Great video. Such an odd series - so much talent involved and yet...well, you made the video, you know. And yes, would love to see a video on DC's Manhunter history. The original clone saga!
Hm. Danger Street is a fascinating idea... I had no knowledge of this one. I *love* Mike Grell's Warlord and really want to read that Outsiders now -- it somewhat reminds me of Marvel's villain group The Headmen. Thank you; I appreciate your viewpoints and insights always.
How could you compare the Outsiders to the Headmen? Unless there's a modern revival I never read, the 1970s Headmen were a brilliant Steve Gerber creation while the other is a messy pile of kid stuff.
I read several of these when I was a kid. One of the things I vaguely remember was the idea that Starman had something to do with Shadow Lass from the Legion, besides both being. Lue. Not sure if that was canon or something I heard randomly.
I remember seeing issues of First Issue Special back in the day but I don't recollect buying or reading any of them. Except maybe the Dr Fate issue since it seemed familar in the recap.
Lady Cop had a nice cover by Giordano. New Gods spawned a series as Warlord did. The Dr. Fate concept spewed a series. To my surprise it took DC decades to revisit Atlas and Code Name: Assassin (in Superman). DC wanted a Creeper series than, but it did not take. The sales on Metamorpho must have been bad, as Boltinoff liked the character but never used him again. The Mark Shaw Manhunter returned about a year later in JLA as a pawn of the Guardians original agents, the robotic Manhunters.
I really loved the Manhunter issue by Kirby when I was a kid. Remembered buying it off the rack as a kid and held onto that book until I (regrettably) sold off my collection in the early '80s.
As a youngster with very little money, I loved tryout series and team up comics. This was a fun, if uneven and slightly goofy series. All the ideas had potential enough, that I would have liked to have seen where any of them would have gone. Danger Street was an interesting idea that turned into a typical Tom King story. Did like that Lady Cop was one of the main narrators, but 3/4 of the cast was written like King didn't actually read their issue.
I've heard conflicting accounts about whether or not this was actually a try-out series. I think it would make a lot of sense if most of these stories were never really meant to continue, although there are a few more Green Team stories in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. The Outsiders is absolutely the strangest comic I've ever read, I thought it was awful at first but I've really come to like it. I haven't read much of Doctor Fate's history, but I've heard that this story was the first time the Helm of Fate was shown to influence or dominate its user. I was drawn to this series by Danger Street, which I'm really enjoying. I haven't seen much discussion of it, and what I have hasn't been all that positive, but I hope it gets a bit more attention once the whole thing is out.
amazing video man. I/ve been picking up this book because i love the creeper. i saw king was writing it and became hooked. your channel always has the right videos at the right time! keep up the good work brother!
Thanks for doing this. I didn’t know about all of these. I do want to check out the old Metamorpho comics (I like him .). Most of these 60’s comics are just painful to read .
The most recent issue of Danger Street the 3rd half had me rolling 🤣. Lady Cop was blasting. Darkseid and Highfather had a moment. And those airplane scenes involving the diamond sword were hilarious.
Bought most of these, Simonson's "Dr Fate " was one of his best. Legend - Steve Gerber - wrote the first issue of the "Metal Men" series he worked on until (vastly overrated) Gerry Conway kicked him off it. Gerber also wrote the first issue of the restarted Mister Miracle series producing another great story with Russ Heath before he was replaced by Englelhart and Rogers which was good but...Had forgotten the "rub your nose in it" quality the "Return of the New Gods" was as part of this series. (with some fine work by tragically short-lived Don Newton) Janette Kahn revealed the petty vindictive scapegoating that Infantino based his gutting of Kirby's most ambitious work when she revived those titles based on their sales figures.
Have all the Kirby issues, a bunch of the others, but Warlord was the one I loved .Was a huge fan of Mike Grells early DC work Legion, Green Lantern Green Arrow, Aquaman, some of the best comic art ever .
This was not the first or last time DC would do something similar. There are a lot of DC titles that are an amalgamation of other DC titles usually consisting of just a single issue for each.
I loved the Dr. Fate issue! Best art from Simonson EVER! I wish that they had continued a Dr. Fate title with Simonson doing the art. But I completely disagree about the New Gods. I absolutely LOVED Newton's art and the new stories and characters. A great run, and this coming from a HUGE Kirby fan!
Kirbys time with DC was no doubt his best. OMAC and Kamandi being true strange masterworks. The New Gods is his DC version of Thor. After his time with DC he was somewhat zapped of juice. So to demand that he be given New Gods again, is like perhaps meeeh I dont know! His Black Panther run and his work at Pacific were interesting but clearly outside what mainstream companies would be looking for. Did he not return to DC with Superpowers and the New Gods follow up "War dogs"? So he in fact had a sort of last hurrah with those characters.
First Issue Special was a wonderfully weird series. Just like Showcase or any other try-out book, you can't expect every issue to be a winner or appeal to everyone. But like you, the train wrecks can be fun to watch anyway. I liked the Metamorpho, Dr. Fate, and Creeper issues. The Dr. Fate story seemed pretty solid to me, so it wasn't just the great Simonson art that made that issue enjoyable. Codename: Assassin had potential, but really needed something to make it more compelling and interesting. It was just too plain the way it was done. I don't understand Simon and Kirby's fascination with kid groups (usually all boys, by the way). Boys' Ranch, Boy Commandos, the Newsboy Legion, etc. etc. They never really appealed to me, especially with Simon and Kirby's over-the-top dialogue for the characters. And the Green Team especially reminded me of Richie Rich on steroids (and possibly other mind-altering drugs). I also don't know why the creators think we needed an entirely different character with the name Manhunter or Starman. Maybe the names themselves are just compelling enough that they wanted to re-use them. But the Goodwin and Simonson Manhunter which came after this is the best and most interesting version to me. James Robinson's series incorporating all of the DC characters called Starman was interesting, though. I did like The Warlord, as long as Grell was writing AND drawing it. I only regret that Grell was unable to ink his own pencils, because that's when his art is at its best. Instead we had to live with reliable Vince Colletta, who always managed to smooth over and dull all the rough edges and interesting areas.
I collected this entire series when I was chasing down Warlord issues. I do enjoy the crazy and outlandish 70s ideas but the New Gods did leave a sour taste as I'm sure it did to Kirby
I don't think that anything Jack Kirby did after he finished doing "New Gods"/ "Fourth World", was any good at DC, or when he returned to Marvel. "New Gods" was admirable but I think it was too big a concept for Kirby to take on by himself and with the sister comics too. He needed another writer and a better one to assist him, but he wanted to do it all on his own. What he did later at marvel was imaginative but awful. I bought a British black and white reprint "Superman" comic about the time of my fourteenth birthday, but I didn't like it, and Marvel were now my favourite comics. It would be another five years before I would buy anything by DC, I felt sceptical, but "Swamp Thing" was the first one enticing me into buying their comics. It was excellent and I still liked it when the the original writer/artist team was replaced. I thought Marvel were the best at this time in the mid-1970s though, and I wasn't keen on a lot of the comics done by DC. Marvel cancelled a lot of their best titles in 1975 though, but Kirby's return was the worst thing that made them fall into decline, with either creating new comics or taking over existing titles, none of which were any good, and he was doing so many of them.
I believe Robert Kanigher co-created the Bronze Age version of Rose and the Thorn for the back up in Lois Lane. The Thorn was a very capable, independent heroine -- much better than Lady Cop. Odd that they didn't give The Rose and the Thorn as proper spotlight in this series -- and she was MIA after the cancellation of Lois Lane.
As much as I agree with you Kirby should’ve done the new gods going forward. I did enjoy the new guides by Conway, also enjoyed the new Mr. miracle Gerber and Inglehart. I didn’t think either one was bad and I actually enjoyed Mr. miracle by Gerber and Inglehart probably a little more. The warlord I stayed with through its entire run, to be honest I would’ve liked to of seen an atlas series I would’ve at least stuck with it a while if Kirby would’ve done it. Also the Manhunter idea I agree was pretty cool. The rest I didn’t care for it all. I still have this entire run. Don’t know what it says about me lol. But I just couldn’t let go of them.
3 Random, Vaguely-Affiliated Thoughts on This Issue: 1) I liked Atlas, Dr. Fate, The Outsiders, and Metamorpho. 2) The Green Team comic sounds positively lame and awful. 3) The Dingbats sound like a very cool concept.
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I think you missed the mark on the Dr. Fate issue. Not only did it give us spectacular Simonson artwork (A sorcerer who looked as cool as Batman! Thanks, Walt Simonson!), it introduced the concept of Fate as a Lord of Order, a concept I don't believe had appeared in the DCU before. This tale also explained to us that the spirit of Nabu possessed Kent Nelson whenever he donned the Fate helmet, and that his responsibilities as Fate had put a strain on Kent's marriage to his wife, Inza. These modern elements applied to a classic Golden Age hero were fresh, and breathed new life into the character. Every story featuring Fate after this one used these elements. It's truly an important issue.
I knew Marty Pasko in the years before he died. He kindly wrote a long intro to one of my own books. He was VERY proud of that Dr Fate story. Generally that's a very well-thought-of story and that's why it's been reprinted so often
Hmmm. Lots of Freemasonry elements in that DR. FATE origin story.
Ramona Fradon is vastly underrated. She's one of the top talents of the Silver Age.
Damn straight. And she's still alive in her 90s and still taking commissions.
Ten seconds ago, in a special universe, I received a Strange Brain Parts notification, and rejoiced.
Lol, I know. I hate RUclips. I just check my subscriptions regularly to see and put it in my watch later. More than I should have to do, but RUclips recommending more shit I'm not subscribed to instead of what I am subscribed to is a fuckin enigma. This site is managed by bots and idiots though.
I remember seeing someone praise Lady Cop a lot, but after reading it myself, I thought that though having a feminist message isn't a bad thing, it's so non-subtle.
Oddly enough, the character appeared in Gail Simone's All-New Atom and was a minor antagonist on the TV series Arrow if it's any consolation.
There is something charming about a time when the big two would try out new characters that were actually new instead of derivative of a preexisting care, although uninspired bronze age comics are usually pretty painful reading
This is what happened when your super hero is a product brand instead of creator’s product.
Sure, it can cause issues like Berserk not finishing due to dead writer or Savage Dragon (to be fair, part of me wonder if lewd got too much exposure or just got worse since I was exposed to the cartoon version and only know about its lewd content after comic reviewers cover them in Savage’s son arc) BUT at least it can be consistent and gain closure.
The Dr. Fate issue was groundbreaking, IMHO. Very different from typical DC Comics at the time. I'm amazed it didn't lead into an ongoing -- even though the writer, Martin Pasko, would write a Dr. Fate backup with art by Keith Giffen in the 80s -- as a backup series in Flash, I believe. All of those issues were collected in the 2000s.
I have several of these. The Dingbats would have been fun. I gave away my copy of The Outsiders to a young woman, who was training with my mother. Both of them were nurses. It seems that the medical facility that is shown and renamed in the book was an exact drawing of a place she actually had worked or studied. She was at the house with my mother and found out I was into comic books and asked if I had a copy of the issue. I did and found it and gave it to her. I wonder if she still has it and remembers where she got it.
I managed to read all of these issues some time ago, some were OK, some were boring, but none interested me into reading them again, let alone buying the collected hardcover edition of the run. The only issue I would read again and would want to collect is the Dr. Fate comic, but only because of Walt Simonson's artwork, it was the comic to introduce me to his work and I'm all the more blessed for it.
This channel really scratches an itch that no other can reach, thank you.
There were other DINGBATS issues drawn, yes, not a rumor--and they were inked by Royer recently and published in DINGBAT LOVE by Twomorrows. It's well worth getting, it also has other unpublished Kirby.The subsequent issues go into the home life of the Dingbats a bit, and their backstories are tragic. Especially Krunch. He's so fit because he wants to be strong enough that his uncle can't abuse him anymore. Good Looks saw his parents shot dead in front of him.
You can feel Street Code vibes in those issues.
And sorry you didn't dig possibly the best-known and most-reprinted Dr Fate story ever. I think it's fantastic. Marty was very proud of it.
Ah yes, 1975, high school. I had all of these. I was, and still am, more of a DC than Marvel reader. And before direct sale comics, we had to take what we could get. Mostly the spinning comic rack at the local drug store. But at the time, I enjoyed most of these. I think my favorites at the time were Manhunter and Warlord. Kirby and Grell were two of my favorites. But I’ll take the worst of these over what’s being published today. Thanks again for another great video.
The Mark Shaw Manhunter character did return during Steve Englehart's run on JLA. He became the "hero" Privateer (who was revealed to be a wolf in sheep's clothing) in a complex and well written arc. Actually, Englehart's whole run was pretty great
I did not know that the Mark Shaw version of Manhunter was created by Kirby, I first saw him in the pages of Justice League. It's amazing how many of Kirby's concepts remained after his contentious run at DC.
It’s interesting how Kirby’s Atlas design has become the design for the mythological Atlas in the DC universe.
Kirby's Atlas shows up in Kingdom Come, too. Pretty good legacy for such a nothing character.
Lady Cop is a personal favourite...
I guess Police Woman was being used at the time?
Honestly this comic looks quite interesting.
Danger Street needs a bit more structure and 20% of the scenes can be cut but yeah, it´s pretty good as of Nr. 11. More Ladycop pls.
Fun Fact: When Kahn took over, she looked at sales figuers for the first New Gods series and liked what she saw. She approved a revival and went after Kirby with a royalty deal.
We’re The New Gods ever supposed to be part of DC Continuity? I read that the Marvel Eternals and Celestials weren’t. I love the New Gods and The Celestials:
Uh, yeah. Kirby's, Revival, Hunger Dogs, etc. is all canon. Eternals at Marvel was not supposed to be according to Kirby, but Marvel insisted due to Marvel wanting tight continuity. But New Gods was originally supposed to be a reinvention of Marvel's Thor but that iteration is so different from what we got at DC, it is not worth being part of the question or answer.
@@matthewschwartz6607 The New Gods were definitely in DC continuity from the start, Darkseid appeared in Jimmy Olsen and Superman was in Forever People.
"Khan"? Is that a Freudian slip? Her name was Jenette Kahn. And while she wasn't as colorful as Stan Lee, she had a smile that never stopped!
@@macsnafu Caught the spelling error.
All these great creators ran so Tom King could crawl as he wiped his ass with their work.
LOVE THE NEW INTRO MUSIC, not gonna lie, despised the previous track. Great video as always!
The Green Team were from the Bronze Age of Comics. It's a shame they were never heard again, or even mentioned in the Modern Comic Age. They deserve to be back in the DC multiverse again. It doesn't feel like a superhero story, since they don't have any abilities. It wanted to be a different genre. It's has that Silver Age vibe too. And a self contained story too. Before there was DC Vertigo, DC Young Animal, DC You, DC Black Label, DC Ink and DC Zoom. There was DC 1st Issue Special Anthology Series.
Green Lantern Legacy 2020. I like the main protagonist of the story. Tai Pham. Who needs to face his fears and insecurities to be a hero. I feel relatable to that too. I am also shy, timid, and curious in my mindset a heart. A self contained story, and a coming of age tale. Like a young adult story. You don't have to be a professional, job expert, or veteran to be like a hero. Young people can become heroes in fiction or in real life too. It just takes baby steps, to be a hero. Legacy, it isn't about coming from a bloodline, or follow someone's footsteps. To me, there's no such thing as one life style fits all. I think of it as family, volunteering, peaceful resolutions, passionate, and understanding others feelings. That's my philosophy and viewpoint about what is a legacy.
Until these anthology comics stories were butchered and derailed to point of being a far cry, by going against what these stories once stood for. In the Danger Street comic series. It was ruined by none other than Tom King. Danger Street, I hope this this gets retconned away and be brought back to it's former self again.
I bought a random issue of Danger Street because I liked the look of it: the cover, inside art and characters like Manhunter, Fate and Creeper. I had no idea that there was a connection between this comic and an obscure anrhology from the 70s - how cool,
I'm going to rewatch this video and them go back and reread the comic I bought to see if it makes any more sense to me, I liked the issue of Danger Street I read so I may decide to pick up the rest of the series now.
Interesting video! I love hearing about oddball comics like this. Before now, I'd only known about the Green Team via their cameo in Grant Morrison's Animal Man where they were stuck in comic book limbo with other forgotten DC characters like the Inferior Five and the Red Bee.
I'm older, and while I admit a lot of stuff back then was trash, upon rereading some of it was better than I remembered.
Then again I liked some things that never caught on. Shanna the She Devil, Black Goliath, and the Cat were stories that once I got one issue of, I wanted the rest, even if you can count the runs on 1 to almost 2 hands.
4:26 How many Dr. Destiny are in DC Comics?
6:49 so the "Manhunters" weren't always tied to green lanterns?
11:04 Surprised they haven't tried to tie the Outsiders with the DOOM PATROL..... or the "Outsiders" that tend to be more associated with Batman (Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo, Katana and Metamorpho)
Make a dedicated Manhunter video. It's the specific niche content this channel is made for!!
Hear, hear!
In another universe, the Green Team went on for 300 issues.
These are characters I only know about from reading DC's Who's Who series in the mid 1980s.
Ive had a bunch of these off and on over the years, you always seemed to find them in those random plastic bag comic collections that bookstores would throw together back in the day. I always had a strange fascination with these 'lets see what sticks' one-shot titles.
I nominate the Creeper as the most underused DC hero ever. Would love to see a live action series
I would point out that when Kirby returned to Captain America at Marvel, there was much complaining in the letter columns. I think, even though I’m a big Kirby fan- that he was, by the early to mid 70’s, a little behind the times with his fashion and even drawing of humans, which to my eyes now and then seem out of date. I would also say that I became a huge Kirby fan after seeing the splash page on The Eternals issue 2, which came out in 76. It all made sense after that. Look it up.
Hey these panel-flip moments are really well done in here! Nice work.
I don't care for the original Manhunter but I loved this one, Mark Shaw, during the 80's and I love that the 3rd one, that lady lawyer, basically just took his mask, gear and ran with it. She was my favorite of the bunch and her title was one of the coolest things on the stands when it came out. Is that character still around?
Kate Spencer is still around, but not getting much use. She was in a big Bendis event comic a while back that also used Mark Shaw, and more recently she was in the Joker's comic.
Do you mean Manhunter from Mars?
The Atlas issue -- ick! That story has the "honor" of being the most shoehorned-in element of the phonebook sized "DC Showcase Presents: The Great Disaster" collection, which attempts to collect all the DC tales that supposedly take place in the dystopian alternate reality shared by Kamandi, the Atomic Knights, the Hercules Unbound series and a bunch of Weird War and House of Mystery shorties. HINT: None of it fits together worth a damn...
I knew I read that one somewhere. That was it.
I’m sure someone has to have mentioned that there were at least a couple attempts at characters named Starman after this first issue special appearance and prior to James Robinson’s…
I love the wacky silver age
5:40 Incorrect! (kind of.) Joye Hummel actually wrote the book until 1948 or so.
Joe Simon wrote and drew along with the young Kirby.
I had no idea Atlas had appeared in a comic prior to All-Star Superman! Seems like the brash personality he has there was purely Grant Morrison’s invention
James Robinson wrote Atlas into Superman comics in 2008. Pretty sure that was the first reappearance of the character since Kirby.
It will be hilarious if Lady cop is adapted in modern day
The character did return in "The All-New Atom" series, as the police chief of Ivy Town.
I watched this and became a kid again… amazing work.
I’ve never heard of Danger Street but even if you didn’t tell me I’d know Tom King wrote it because that is the most Tom King idea Tom King ever had.
Also you should totally make that ManHunter video because I had no idea it was more that just the first thing Green Lanterns always have to fight.
I loved this series when it came out. Sure, I was young, but I bought each of them off the stands, enjoyed them, and like most series at the time, only realized it had been canceled until many months passed after the last issue.
Thanks for going through these! You cleared up some things I'd been wondering about! (In other words, some of these I will track down!)
Having read the whole series via the excellent hardcover trade that came out a year ago, I can say with confidence that it failed miserably in its stated goal. The most successful character of the lot, Warlord, already had a series commitment, so his issue was mostly a professional courtesy to Mike Grell. Kirby's issues, the most dynamic of the bunch, were all variations on ideas he'd done previously, and not even terribly original ones at that. The rest were either not substantial enough to support an ongoing book or, in Lady Cop's case, a bit more progressive than one might expect, just coming out at the wrong time and with the worst tone imaginable for the subject. Great to see a lot of these concepts getting fleshed out more in the recent "Danger Street" mini. Now, where the heck were they during the past five decades?!
I would like to be clear that I adored this video, but I also think it is *extremely* funny to me on a personal level that you described who Robert Kanigher is and didnt mention that he co-created Barry Allen! Thats like the thing people remember him for these days! Great video, and I really appreciate how you distilled each issue down, while trying to give them a fair shake and give credit where its due
Since you brought it up at the beginning of the video, are you going to do a follow-up when Danger Street is completed?
Loved 1st Issue Special. Adapted a number of them. Bronze Age is my g-er-sweet spot.
This was an odd series that I first discovered with issue #1. Years later I found out there were more so I sought out the rest. Thanks for highlighting this series I love hearing about these unusual comics.
Great video. Such an odd series - so much talent involved and yet...well, you made the video, you know. And yes, would love to see a video on DC's Manhunter history. The original clone saga!
Hm. Danger Street is a fascinating idea... I had no knowledge of this one.
I *love* Mike Grell's Warlord and really want to read that Outsiders now -- it somewhat reminds me of Marvel's villain group The Headmen. Thank you; I appreciate your viewpoints and insights always.
How could you compare the Outsiders to the Headmen? Unless there's a modern revival I never read, the 1970s Headmen were a brilliant Steve Gerber creation while the other is a messy pile of kid stuff.
@@markshulusky6680Fair enough! I just meant each uniquely bizarre character design and how motley the teams are because of that.
I read several of these when I was a kid. One of the things I vaguely remember was the idea that Starman had something to do with Shadow Lass from the Legion, besides both being. Lue. Not sure if that was canon or something I heard randomly.
This channel keeps on giving :D
Great job 👍❤
I remember seeing issues of First Issue Special back in the day but I don't recollect buying or reading any of them. Except maybe the Dr Fate issue since it seemed familar in the recap.
Lady Cop had a nice cover by Giordano. New Gods spawned a series as Warlord did. The Dr. Fate concept spewed a series. To my surprise it took DC decades to revisit Atlas and Code Name: Assassin (in Superman).
DC wanted a Creeper series than, but it did not take.
The sales on Metamorpho must have been bad, as Boltinoff liked the character but never used him again.
The Mark Shaw Manhunter returned about a year later in JLA as a pawn of the Guardians original agents, the robotic Manhunters.
I really loved the Manhunter issue by Kirby when I was a kid. Remembered buying it off the rack as a kid and held onto that book until I (regrettably) sold off my collection in the early '80s.
As a youngster with very little money, I loved tryout series and team up comics.
This was a fun, if uneven and slightly goofy series.
All the ideas had potential enough, that I would have liked to have seen where any of them would have gone.
Danger Street was an interesting idea that turned into a typical Tom King story.
Did like that Lady Cop was one of the main narrators, but 3/4 of the cast was written like King didn't actually read their issue.
Atlas...is just some guy? Why does he hate Superman then? Also woah!! Mr.Simeson!!
I've heard conflicting accounts about whether or not this was actually a try-out series. I think it would make a lot of sense if most of these stories were never really meant to continue, although there are a few more Green Team stories in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade.
The Outsiders is absolutely the strangest comic I've ever read, I thought it was awful at first but I've really come to like it. I haven't read much of Doctor Fate's history, but I've heard that this story was the first time the Helm of Fate was shown to influence or dominate its user.
I was drawn to this series by Danger Street, which I'm really enjoying. I haven't seen much discussion of it, and what I have hasn't been all that positive, but I hope it gets a bit more attention once the whole thing is out.
amazing video man. I/ve been picking up this book because i love the creeper. i saw king was writing it and became hooked. your channel always has the right videos at the right time! keep up the good work brother!
Thanks for doing this. I didn’t know about all of these. I do want to check out the old Metamorpho comics (I like him .). Most of these 60’s comics are just painful to read .
I bought a bunch of these a while back and... yeah.
This video does a great job.
This was great! I hope you do Danger Street when it's done because I have no idea what's going on there.
I owned alot of these as a kid...I am very surprised you didn't point out that the Creeper was Ditko
The most recent issue of Danger Street the 3rd half had me rolling 🤣. Lady Cop was blasting. Darkseid and Highfather had a moment. And those airplane scenes involving the diamond sword were hilarious.
Bought most of these, Simonson's "Dr Fate " was one of his best. Legend - Steve Gerber - wrote the first issue of the "Metal Men" series he worked on until (vastly overrated) Gerry Conway kicked him off it. Gerber also wrote the first issue of the restarted Mister Miracle series producing another great story with Russ Heath before he was replaced by Englelhart and Rogers which was good but...Had forgotten the "rub your nose in it" quality the "Return of the New Gods" was as part of this series. (with some fine work by tragically short-lived Don Newton) Janette Kahn revealed the petty vindictive scapegoating that Infantino based his gutting of Kirby's most ambitious work when she revived those titles based on their sales figures.
Have all the Kirby issues, a bunch of the others, but Warlord was the one I loved .Was a huge fan of Mike Grells early DC work Legion, Green Lantern Green Arrow, Aquaman, some of the best comic art ever .
This is the story of the ultimate man, Metamorpho,Metamorpho!
This was not the first or last time DC would do something similar. There are a lot of DC titles that are an amalgamation of other DC titles usually consisting of just a single issue for each.
I loved the Dr. Fate issue! Best art from Simonson EVER! I wish that they had continued a Dr. Fate title with Simonson doing the art. But I completely disagree about the New Gods. I absolutely LOVED Newton's art and the new stories and characters. A great run, and this coming from a HUGE Kirby fan!
Kirbys time with DC was no doubt his best. OMAC and Kamandi being true strange masterworks. The New Gods is his DC version of Thor. After his time with DC he was somewhat zapped of juice. So to demand that he be given New Gods again, is like perhaps meeeh I dont know! His Black Panther run and his work at Pacific were interesting but clearly outside what mainstream companies would be looking for. Did he not return to DC with Superpowers and the New Gods follow up "War dogs"? So he in fact had a sort of last hurrah with those characters.
Ramona Fradon's art is very nice.
As for Dr. Fate Fights the Menace of the Mummy; the artwork is cool.
This sounds like a concept created during the Speculator Boom of the 90's.
6:10 Her reply would be hailed as Progressive Genius writing nowadays.
Kirby's C efforts are still really cool.
You did a very good job. I enjoyed what you made!
Can't wait for that Manhunter rabbit hole can't wait for that video at least for me I'm a huge comic history nut sounds like it'd be a fun video
I had only ever seen the cover to Lady Cop and until this video I thought it was a fake comic made for a meme.
First Issue Special was a wonderfully weird series. Just like Showcase or any other try-out book, you can't expect every issue to be a winner or appeal to everyone. But like you, the train wrecks can be fun to watch anyway. I liked the Metamorpho, Dr. Fate, and Creeper issues. The Dr. Fate story seemed pretty solid to me, so it wasn't just the great Simonson art that made that issue enjoyable. Codename: Assassin had potential, but really needed something to make it more compelling and interesting. It was just too plain the way it was done. I don't understand Simon and Kirby's fascination with kid groups (usually all boys, by the way). Boys' Ranch, Boy Commandos, the Newsboy Legion, etc. etc. They never really appealed to me, especially with Simon and Kirby's over-the-top dialogue for the characters. And the Green Team especially reminded me of Richie Rich on steroids (and possibly other mind-altering drugs). I also don't know why the creators think we needed an entirely different character with the name Manhunter or Starman. Maybe the names themselves are just compelling enough that they wanted to re-use them. But the Goodwin and Simonson Manhunter which came after this is the best and most interesting version to me. James Robinson's series incorporating all of the DC characters called Starman was interesting, though. I did like The Warlord, as long as Grell was writing AND drawing it. I only regret that Grell was unable to ink his own pencils, because that's when his art is at its best. Instead we had to live with reliable Vince Colletta, who always managed to smooth over and dull all the rough edges and interesting areas.
I think i would have enjoyed a full series of Digbats seemed like it wouhave been very fun
Manhunter was also a mini series by Archie Goodwin and Walter Siminson. Was really good .
That was a different guy. Personally I don't care about that iterarion of Manhunter even though it had Walt Simonson's involvement.
@@RogerioPereiradaSilva77 - That was the Paul Kirk one, Ruth?
Er, sorry. Right.
I collected this entire series when I was chasing down Warlord issues. I do enjoy the crazy and outlandish 70s ideas but the New Gods did leave a sour taste as I'm sure it did to Kirby
I don't think that anything Jack Kirby did after he finished doing "New Gods"/ "Fourth World", was any good at DC, or when he returned to Marvel. "New Gods" was admirable but I think it was too big a concept for Kirby to take on by himself and with the sister comics too. He needed another writer and a better one to assist him, but he wanted to do it all on his own. What he did later at marvel was imaginative but awful.
I bought a British black and white reprint "Superman" comic about the time of my fourteenth birthday, but I didn't like it, and Marvel were now my favourite comics. It would be another five years before I would buy anything by DC, I felt sceptical, but "Swamp Thing" was the first one enticing me into buying their comics. It was excellent and I still liked it when the the original writer/artist team was replaced. I thought Marvel were the best at this time in the mid-1970s though, and I wasn't keen on a lot of the comics done by DC. Marvel cancelled a lot of their best titles in 1975 though, but Kirby's return was the worst thing that made them fall into decline, with either creating new comics or taking over existing titles, none of which were any good, and he was doing so many of them.
I believe Robert Kanigher co-created the Bronze Age version of Rose and the Thorn for the back up in Lois Lane. The Thorn was a very capable, independent heroine -- much better than Lady Cop. Odd that they didn't give The Rose and the Thorn as proper spotlight in this series -- and she was MIA after the cancellation of Lois Lane.
Love these videos
Dude idk, "Dingbats of Danger Street"...? I would read that just for the name.
I would've ranked Dr. Fate a lot higher thanks to the Simonson art.
The 1st was a mixed bag of Good and Bad but its FUN to read.
Do you plan on covering more obscure Moore works?
Excellent video thanks
As much as I agree with you Kirby should’ve done the new gods going forward. I did enjoy the new guides by Conway, also enjoyed the new Mr. miracle Gerber and Inglehart. I didn’t think either one was bad and I actually enjoyed Mr. miracle by Gerber and Inglehart probably a little more. The warlord I stayed with through its entire run, to be honest I would’ve liked to of seen an atlas series I would’ve at least stuck with it a while if Kirby would’ve done it. Also the Manhunter idea I agree was pretty cool. The rest I didn’t care for it all. I still have this entire run. Don’t know what it says about me lol. But I just couldn’t let go of them.
Another GREAT video ❤❤
If only Ditko hadn't contracted TB during his time at DC, a shame :(
these are really interesting
This era of comics was quite often silly and kind of junk. But I have a lot of trouble saying it was boring.
“A bad idea, done poorly”
Did DC eventually get a restraining order against Joe Simon submitting anything?
Hilarious, I still have most of those comics.
Honestly, I like The Assassin's costume.
I had that Metamorpho comic
3 Random, Vaguely-Affiliated Thoughts on This Issue: 1) I liked Atlas, Dr. Fate, The Outsiders, and Metamorpho. 2) The Green Team comic sounds positively lame and awful. 3) The Dingbats sound like a very cool concept.