Earth-Prime Day!

Julie Schwartz was born on this date in 1915. He was among the earliest science fiction fanboys and published a sci-fi fanzine called The Time Traveler with buddy Mort Weisinger. The two ended up working in the comics business as editors primarily for DC Comics. Schwartz oversaw the updating of the DC Universe in the Silver Age. 

When I was a new fan my comic book tastes were broad and inclusive, limited only by my meager cash resources. I read Marvel, Charlton, Harvey, Gold Key, Archie, and of course DC. The first DC character I latched onto was the Flash and the very first Flash story I read had him go to Earth Prime, and not only was I not confused by this parallel Earth story, I was utterly fascinated, and it remains one of my all-time favorite DC stories.

"The Flash--Fact or Fiction?" is not strictly a crossover tale, but this 1968 classic does introduce the world of Earth Prime, our world where comic book heroes are just that, the stuff of comics. The Flash ends up here after clashing with an alien creature named the "Nok" which has escaped from a space zoo transport. The Nok attacks the Flash propelling him into another dimension and another Earth on which he discovers he's just a comic book hero like Jay Garrick is on Earth-1. Flash needs his Cosmic Treadmill to return home but has no resources so he visits the DC Comics offices and meets up with Julie Schwartz. Schwartz is soon convinced of the fantastic situation and helps Flash, who quickly puts together a treadmill and rushes back to Earth-1 to defeat the Nok. I've not mentioned Schwartz in these reports, since his role as editor is largely an invisible one, but as it turns out none of the crossover stories would have happened without him. All of the stories I've taken a look at happened in books he edited and he had a hand in plotting all of them I'd reckon. So it's fitting that he actually turns up in one of the crossovers, and it all started so to speak with this Flash story.

 

Later in the Flash series, Cary Bates, the book's writer ends up on Earth-1 also, where he helps out the Flash too. This 1974 story sets up in a manner of speaking the big crossover which would happen only a few months later in 1975.

 

"Where On Earth Am I?" was written by Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin and drawn by the ever reliable Dick Dillin who is joined by his longtime inker Frank McLaughlin. The cover is by Ernie Chua/Chan. The story begins in the office of Julie Schwartz where Bates and Maggin are hashing out the latest Justice League plot. They are stuck but Bates remembers the Cosmic Treadmill that Schwartz has and soon enough has used it and has disappeared. He turns up on Earth-2 and he is changed, having villainous thoughts and superpowers as well. He uses his new powers to help some robbers escape Johnny Thunder and Robin. Back on Earth Prime Schwartz and Maggin decide to send Maggin to get Bates, but Maggin ends up in the ocean on Earth-1 where he is saved by Aquaman. Quickly Aquaman gets him to the League satellite headquarters where Maggin convinces the League members Batman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Black Canary of the truth of his story by revealing their secret identities. His story is confirmed by the Flash who turns up. On Earth-2 the Justice Society (Hourman, Wonder Woman, Dr.Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder, and Robin) are battling some out of control plants and defeated by same controlled by the evil Bates. The League meanwhile decides to go to Earth-2 after it is determined Bates has gone there and they immediately encounter six villains (Icicle, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Gambler, Shade, and Wizard) stealing some aircraft from a Navy carrier. They quickly subdue the villains only to discover that the baddies are the Justice Society members in disguise and further that the defeated heroes are dead. Cary Bates takes credit for the scheme in the final panel.

 

"Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!" is again by the Bates, Maggin, Dillin, and McLauglin team. Ernie Chua/Chan supplies one of his best ever covers for the series. The story picks up with the League members memorializing the fallen JSofA members. Cary Bates is still in the middle of his crime spree and we discover that he works for the six villains seen in part one. A mysterious misty presence though makes itself known and plans vengeance for the fallen Society. The League is filling in for the dead Society members until they can figure something else out. Elliot S! Maggin is captured by Bates and imprisoned in a gigantic bubble gum bubble. The League is attracted to a black portal which takes them to the villains while the Spectre makes his presence known. A battle rages between the heroes and the villains with the heroes losing because they are haunted by the guilt of the fallen Society members who they killed while in the guise of the very villains they now fight. The Spectre implores the highest powers to allow him to revive the fallen JSofA members while Maggin tries to undermine the powers of Bates by insulting his writing skills. The combined efforts weaken the effects of the guilt on the Leaguers and the Society members suddenly appear hale and hearty. Quickly the villains are beaten and even more quickly Bates and Maggin are sent back to Earth Prime where Julius Schwartz is waiting anxious to get the next story out.

This is not the greatest story ever told by any means. The writers seem a bit too intrigued with showing off their wit and not clearly hammering out the plot details such as they are. Perhaps they considered the story just so absurd that there was no need to sweat the small stuff, but it hurts. The motivations of the characters are poorly examined. It is the Wizard who is controlling Bates, but that is not at all really clear and is supposed more than stated. Further the League and the Society don't come off in these stories looking all that competent. The Spectre's role is very offbeat, with him essentially performing a deus ex machina ending which solve the whole mess. Maybe the writers were playing with the cliches of the storytelling and making these elements explicit, but the whole story is a jumble.

But that doesn't undermine for me, the sheer fun of Earth-Prime, the comic book universe that exists right out my window. 

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Skull The Slayer!

I bought Skull the Slayer off the stands for its entire run. I know I did because I still have them in my collection somewhere. But I don't know that I ever really appreciated the series until this most recent reading a few weeks ago. Marv Wolfman writes how Skull the Slayer was a concept he'd had rolling around in his noggin for several years before it was first published by Marvel. He'd tried to sell a version of this Bermuda Triangle and dinosaur saga to DC but they didn't bite. He was then hired at Marvel and got the green light. Skull almost wasn't "Skull" since Marvel at the time had Kull the Conqueror on the stands but by happenchance the named stuck and it's a good thing too. 

Skull the Slayer number one features a damn fine comic book story. Wolfman's script is lean and witty and the story moves briskly but without a feeling of haste. Steve Gan's artwork is stellar, ideal for this yarn about a disgruntled Vietnam vet and three other folks of varied backgrounds who wind up stranded fighting dinosaurs after getting sucked into a strange phenomena in the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Jim "Skull" Scully ain't your typical hero, in fact he's hardly a hero at all. A Viet Cong prisoner he harbors great hate for his time in Vietnam and that fury ended up in a fracas with his junky brother who wound up dead. Scully is charged with his murder and is being transported on a plane which just happens to also carry Dr. Raymond Corey a disgruntled and disagreeable physicist, Ann Reynolds a secretary fed up with the male attitudes she encountered in her work and elsewhere, and Jeff Turner the son of an overbearing Senator who is seeking to get out from under his father's thumb. These are our four protagonists and in the first issue they are lucky to live. For his part Scully actually kills a T-Rex with his hands and wits and few primitive tools. The cover is by Gil Kane and Al Milgrom. 

The second issue has the quartet captured by cavemen who plan to sacrifice them to their god who turns out to be a long-dead alien. Skull finds a belt the alien is wearing and appropriates it. As it turns out the belt gives Skull super-strength which he needs to put down the cave dwellers as well as defeat an aquatic dinosaur. All of this done with a maximum of whining and bitching on the parts of most all of our heroes. This is a comic which seems intent on having its main characters loathe each other. Steven Gan does another bang-up job on the artwork under a Gil Kane and Tom Palmer cover. 

Marv Wolfman wraps up his run on Skull the Slayer with third issue which is penciled by Steve Gan and inked by Pablo Marcos. The team get some new groovy threads and discover to their dismay that the dinosaurs they've been fighting are actually robots. In fact the entire world they are in seems to be just one era in a whole panoply of different time frames, all of which they can see when they enter a bizarre tower. The story ends with the quartet finding themselves in what seems to be ancient Egypt. 

Steve Englehart replaces Wolfman for one issue and it's a whopper. Sal Buscema assisted by inker Mike Esposito takes over the art chores. In this issue we are introduced to the villain Slitherogue who claims to be the mastermind of the tower of time and the story switches to a Medieval setting with both Merlin and the Black Knight making appearances. The biggest change though is that Englehart kills off the entire supporting cast -- Corey, Reynold, and Turner are all seemingly killed in an effort to change the direction of the series into one of pure science fiction and fantasy with a single protagonist. 

But the next issue brings in Bill Mantlo. Buscema stays with addition of inker Sonny Trinidad and this pair do a great job of evoking the excitement of the Steve Gan issues which already seem so far away. Mantlo came onto the job with the assurance he could once again change up the status quo and thankfully his desire was to put the book back onto its original heading more or less. Corey, Reynolds, and Turner are all zapped back into life and with Skull and the Black Knight take the battle to Slitherogue. By the end we know that the Black Knight is a robot as well as we bids farewell to his new allies who trudge off to new adventures in thus lost land. 

Under a dynamic John Buscema cover Mantlo's return to the original concept continues to an extent when the quartet are drawn into the schemes of Incan warriors. The time tower is demolished and Sliterogue is seemingly killed by the robotic Black Knight. We get several vignettes which show us folks in the modern world plotting and planning to see out the lost folks, but these subplots will come to naught when the book is summarily cancelled a few issues later. Sal and Sonny remain remain on the art chores to great effect. 

Skull and his trio of helpers are caught up in political intrigue in the transplanted Incan city. The High Priest has some serious secrets to reveal to the team, but his underlings are plotting to take over the whole shebang. Skull keeps fighting dinosaurs and the trio of Ann, Jeff and Dr. Corey even show that they too can fight for their own survival . The creative team remains unchanged save for a cover by Ron Wilson. 

In the final issue Skull and his allies find out the secret of the High Priest but it does them But it does them limited good when the Jaguar Priest schemes come to fruition. The team is captured in this swansong story by Mantlo, Buscema, and Trinidad and sporting a Jack Kirby cover. It ends on a mighty cliffhanger but we won't have long to wait. 

Marvel Two-in-One was arguably the best team-up book of all time. Despite my affection for the totally awesome The Brave and the Bold, the truth is Batman was not really a candidate for a team up. The Thing is. He's a public hero who while grumpy enough does engage with others effectively. The stories in MTIO were more organic than those of any of the other team-up books. It was also a place used quite often to tie up loose ends and issue thirty-five and thirty-six were used to put a bow on the Skull the Slayer saga. TheThing flies a plane into the Bermuda Triangle and finds Skull and his allies battling the Incan High Priest and his minions. The Thing and Sully and the rest team up and before you know it the gang has returned to the present day (two years after they left) with the assistance of Mr. Fantastic. The story by Marv Wolfman is brisk, almost too fast as many of the dangling threads of the original saga are just ignored. But better an imperfect ending than none at all I suppose. Scully is arrested but his friends do say they will speak up for him. 

We don't see Jim Scully for many years, not until he shows up in the pages of Quasar as the member of a supernatural fighting team called the "Shock Troop". It seems that alien belt had an effect on Scully and gave him an eerie skeletal appearance. Along with Dr. Druid, the Living Mummy, and others he fights alongside Quasar under the name of the Blazing Skull. Later he fights Captain America. (Neither of these later appearances is included in the Skull the Slayer collection.)Scully will show up a few more times in the Marvel Universe, cured of his strange condition and working as a mercenary. To my knowledge though his dinosaur fighting days are done. 

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