Longbox Review

No, I’m not missing a few brain cells–I really did skip March 1979. Looking at the Marvel and DC books out at that time, I don’t recall having any from that month.

Flash #275 & 276 (April & May 1979): For sure I bought 275 because you see Flash dancing with Batgirl and there’s that little note in the corner about someone dying. I must have been wanting to know why Batgirl was dancing with Flash and if that weird gas-masked guy really had anything to do with it (plus, it’s the Earth-2 Sandman costume–what is up with that? This was Earth-1 after all.). Kudos, too to the cover artist, Dick Giordano, for making the Bizarro-Superman partier look dead and therefore appealing to a 10-year-old. I bought 276 not only for the continuing story (though I cannot recall any of that issue now), but also for the cool cover (again, Dick Giordano)–there’s something very enticing to seeing heroes fight one another, plus, the images of Green Lantern and Flash together on the comic really stands out to me to this day (something about the green and red splotches of color, I think). I actually do not have those original issues in my collection any more, but I did buy 275 again at my comic shop a couple years ago.

JLA #168 (April 1979): Man, I had no idea what was going on in this issue. All I knew was that cover (Dick Dillon & Dick Giordano) looked cool! And inside, I remember seeing the villains but they were talking like the heroes and vice versa–wth?! It blew my mind at that time. I no longer have this issue either, but I think I kind of want to get it and all the other issues in this storyline. (I can see doing these trips down memory lane may end up costing me….)

Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #254 (May 1979): My very first Legion issue. This one started it all folks, and by “it” I mean my love affair with the Legion. Now that I’m recalling this, I see similarities between it and the JLA issue from the previous month. The villains have the upper hand, and I came into the story in the middle. Plus, Dick Giordano did the cover (ok, he did the inks on the JLA cover, but still)–hmm, Mr. Giordano did a lot of cover work during these two months, at least with my comics. This issue introduced Blok (to me), who would go on to become a Legionnaire. I read and reread this issue so much I broke it, i.e., it’s in bad shape. I should replace this one (see what I mean?!).

Superman #338 (May 1979): I’m looking for this issue to add to my collection again as well. This was cool. I knew about the bottle city of Kandor, and here, early on in my comic collecting experience, Superman is able to restore the city in an “explosive extra-length novel!” I loved how comic publishers, especially DC, would call extra page issues (in this case, from 17 to 23 pages, according to Grand Comics Database) “novels” back then. I recall that Superman braved a super-nova to collect the energies necessary to restore Kandor (in a small gun no less), and then, once he’s done it, the Kandorians berate him (I believe) because a side-effect causes all of the buildings to disintegrate. Know what I call these ungrateful Kandorians? Super-asses.