Classic Crisis #11 - The Princess Of Myrg!

By 1966 traveling to and from Earth-2 had become not very particularly noteworthy anymore. The team ups between the assembled heroes and between individuals had apparently become a fixed part of the DC landscape. Hence we end up with this frothy and light-hearted entertainment.

"Prince Peril's Power Play" was written by John Broome and drawn by Gil Kane with Sid Greene on inks. This tale begins on the planet of Myrg with the Princess Ramia presented with the dilemma of either choosing a husband or having Prince Peril become her betrothed. Not yet ready to submit to such an archaic custom the liberated Ramia jumps into a spacecraft and darts off to look for better options. On Earth-2 Doiby Dickles drops off his boss Alan (Green Lantern)Scott when Ramia's ship lands in front of him. Ramia can communicate telepathically and Doiby thinks that his boss would be a good choice for her despite being smitten with her himself. Abruptly Prince Peril appears and the battle is on. Green Lantern appears but is defeated and in desperation Doiby takes Ramia to Earth-1. In Part 2 Doiby and Ramia aboard Goitrude (his jalopy) are pursued by Prince Peril to Earth-1, but Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan learns of their arrival and comes to the rescue. But his ring is out of power and he and Peril battle it out hand to hand on a movie lot. Lantern is defeated and Peril takes both Ramia and Doiby back to Myrg. Part 3 opens with Doiby relegated to the role of court jester and Ramia seemingly forced to eventually wed Prince Peril. But the two Lanterns recover, join forces and travel to Myrg and defeat the Prince and his forces. Ramia then makes her choice, and it is not either one of the Lanterns, but rather Doiby who stays on Myrg with his beloved princess a very happy fellow.

This story is a lot of fun. The Lanterns do their heroic duties, but Doiby gets the girl, and they are just fine with that. This story breaks the fourth wall as in several panels artist Gil Kane shows up to gives us cues about the action. This kind of storytelling can be fun, but does break the spell somewhat of the fiction. Some titles take to it better than others and I don't especially mind it here. As we'll eventually see there are lots of Earths out there and Gil Kane is part of the DCU proper. 

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