"Guess Creeper ears are better than Bat ears!"

Like most discriminating seekers after entertaining comics blogging, I frequently check out Mag & H's Comics Treadmill. One of the many ongoing features has been an issue-by-issue look at classic issues of The Brave and the Bold, DC's team-up title that ran one month shy of twenty-eight years. Unfortunately, they don't have access to every issue, and they were recently unable to index one of them, #80, which I do have since it's a longtime fave of mine (listed in my 100 things I love about comics list, to be exact). So, I thought perhaps I could be an unofficial Junior Treadmiller and provide an overview of my own, to help out Mag & H.

I myself bought many, many issues of Brave and the Bold, from this one, from when the local Ben Franklin five and dime started carrying DC's instead of Gold Key comics, until this one, many years later and purchased from that new breed of comic book supplier, the direct market comics shop. I had obtained, via parental money, a few issues earlier than that, but it was with #101 that my B&B collecting began in earnest. And it's here that a fella named Johnny Craighead enters the picture. Johnny was a kid one year older than I, son of a teacher, my 7th grade teacher to be exact...and he had a set of shelves in his basement that held stacks upon stacks of 50's, 60's and early '70's vintage DC Comics (there may have been some Marvels and Charltons in there too, I forget- the DC's are the ones I remember the most) which his rather stern mother nicely, but firmly, refused to let him sell or trade. But fortunately, I could borrow and read them, and one day I took home a run of Adams-illo'ed B&B's- Adams being a favorite of mine thanks to his X-Men and Avengers efforts for Marvel. One of these books was the one in the upper right hand corner, Brave and the Bold number 80, October-November 1968: "And Hellgrammite is His Name"- a team up between Batman, who had pretty much become the book's anchor character by that point especially since Adams was drawing it, and the newish Creeper, the Steve Ditko creation who was into the third issue of his short-lived series at the time of this issue's publication. Guess the crossover didn't help sales much, because Beware the Creeper was axed with issue #6 in 1969. As always, Bob Haney provided the script and Dick Giordano inks.

B&B 80 opens with Batman confronting an arsonist at gunpoint on the roof of a burning building. Here's some vintage Haney dialogue: Arsonist- "Please, Batman-- give me a break! I don't wanna zap you-- but...but the flames-- they'll get us both!" Batman: "you haven't the guts to shoot-- and add a murder rap to arson! No, that's not your bag-- you just barbecue people caught in the burnouts you set!" Yeah, baby- that sort of thing is his bag. Anyway, the tense standoff is interrupted by the sudden flyover of a helicopter announcing, via loudspeaker, "...PRESENTING JACK RYDER ON WHAM-TV...", which gives the arsonist the opportunity to charge Batman and try to jump to the next roof. He succeeds in knocking them both off the edge- Bats grabs on to a fire truck's ladder, and the arsonist is caught by the firemen with a safety net. Satisfied with this, a pissed-off Batman swings out in pursuit of the helicopter, to give the pilot a piece of his mind...and it turns out that none other than Ryder himself is the pilot of the vehicle.

Can you imagine Batman thinking "close, but no cee-gar" to himself these days? Even in a Frank Miller comic? Anyway, Ryder informs Batman that his broadcast that night is important enough to warrant the hype, and suggests that he should watch. Of course, the stuffy Bats harrumphs "My... uh... line of work'll keep me busy tonight! Besides, I don't appreciate your methods!" But two panels later, he's in front of the TV, watching with Commissioner Gordon as Ryder reveals the menace of the Hellgrammite, a fantastic half-man, half insect creature who's in Gotham for unknown reasons. Ryder says that he followed him here to find out what he's up to. Batman and Gordon dismiss this as more Ryder sensationalism, and discuss another mystery case that's been puzzling the GCPD, the disappearance of gangster Ace Brannigan. We also get a little entomology lesson when Gordon asks Bats in passing, "By the way, what is a hellgrammite?" To which he replies as he leaps out the window, "The larva of a dobson fly! A dark, deadly bug with a bite like a timber wolf that lives under rocks!" Batman heads straight to the TV station, where he confronts Ryder once more to gauge how serious he is about this unknown menace stuff. Ryder gets a bit too fervent in his attempt to convince the Caped Crusader, and once more Bats dismisses him.

Irritated by being dissed by Bats twice in one night, Jack Ryder thinks he might pay more attention to the Creeper! So, he makes the change (Adams nicely incorporating Ditko's style) and goes after him. Of course, Batman recognizes him as a wanted criminal, and in that time-honored superhero teamup tradition, they brawl a bit. But unlike most superhero scrums, this one at least has the advantage of being depicted by Neal Adams at his best, and below are (click to see bigger) two full page examples of his hyperkinetic style being brought to bear.

The pipe into which Creeper deposits Batman contains a huge cocoon, and the proof that he needs to convince his new acquaintance. As he helps Bats out, suddenly they're attacked by Hellgrammite himself, who's not happy that they discovered his property. As Batman turns to deal with the unexpected menace, Adams gives us this great haymaker shot:




Hellgie slings Batman away, but he catches a wrecking ball cable and swings back to the site and finds Creeper alone- he bailed while no one was looking. The police show up and Creeper hides as Commissioner Gordon informs Batman that the Creeper is in town. When they leave, Bats decides to strike a deal with his colorful new friend, saying that he'll help find Hellgrammite, but as soon as they've apprehended him then he'll be back after Creeper's ass. Nice.

Anyway, long story short, it seems that Hellgie is behind the disappearances of crime bosses in Gotham- apparently he intends to transform them into bug-men as well, and recruit them as allies. Bats and Creeper tussle with gangsters as they search (the crooks hoist Creeper up in that glass panel on the cover, but Batman rescues him), eventually discover the missing bosses ensconced in their cocoons in an abandoned subway tunnel, and take them to a hospital, where they get irradiated with x-rays and emerge as normal men again. They return to the tunnel and brawl with Hellgrammite once more:




And thanks to a combination of fire extinguisher foam and electrical cables, subdue their freakish foe. But by now, the Creeper has Batman's respect, and that other B&B tradition, the farewell scene, goes like this:

A bit different than the usual "wave as they fly away" scene, huh!

Why did I like this comic so much? Let me count the ways. The dynamic art of Adams. The non-stop action, in support of a story which was surprisingly down-to-Earth for a 1968 DC Comic, despite its sci-fi trappings. The freakishly compelling Hellgrammite, who wasn't really given a proper origin- he was just explained as an "entomologist who experimented on himself", and he definitely was given menacing life by Adams's skilled pencil. The coloring, while run-of-the-mill 60's comic coloring, still played up the difference between the blue-and-gray Batman and the wild, yellow/red/lime green Creeper. The Creeper himself- he's always been an intriguing, entertaining character in the right hands, but unfortunately the creators that have done him justice have been few and far between. I've always held that Creeper was a character that everybody likes, but nobody has a clue about what to do with. And honestly, I'm not sure if he's ever had a better showcase, not even in the original Ditko series.

So Mag, H, and everyone, here's your look at Brave and the Bold number 80. Hope you liked it as much as I've liked this comic for a shade over 30 years.

Spawn of Frankenstein, part 4

At long last: Part 4 of my 4-part look at future Seventh Soldier



When we left Spawny, at the end of Phantom Stranger 25, he had decided to try and resurrect the man who had revived him, Victor Adams. His plan hit a temporary snag when he ran afoul of devil worshipper Mordecai and his brutish manservant Mammon, who had kidnapped Adams' widow Rachael in order to use her as a sacrifice to open a gate to Hell, so Mordecai could go be with his master, Satan. But thanks to Spawny's interference, their plans were scuttled and they ended up as a devil worshipper barbecue as the perished in the supernatural flames they had conjured. But.

And before I go any further, an apology: last time, I said that the SoF back-feature never returned to the "Resurrection of Victor Adams" after the big crossover story with the main character, the Phantom Stranger. Problem is, #26 is a direct continuation of the "RoVA" story, and I just plain ol' forgot, not having read the comic for quite some time. I was right in one thing, though: the plot was never resolved with any finality, to the best of my recollection. So, onward to the contents of Phantom Stranger #26- script co-credited to SoF writer Marv Wolfman and then-PS-scripter Len Wein, with art by the up-to-then regular PS artist, Jim Aparo. Regular SoF artist Mike Kaluta did get to do the striking cover, with its unusual-for-1973 color scheme, and the only time Spawny ever got on the cover. And we begin right where we left off in #25.

The monster doesn't know this, but the gateway that Mordecai and Mammon tried to open stayed open long enough to let two demons emerge, and they head straight for Spawny and possess him as he makes his way to the university hospital to get the equipment he needs.



Meanwhile, Dr. Thirteen continues his hospital vigil over his comatose wife, Marie, and receives an unexpected visitor: The Phantom Stranger. Now, these two go way back, and Dr. T does his usual "What the heck do YOU want, you fraud" schtick, and the Stranger says "Yo, foo, why you frontin' wit' me?" or something like that. Anyway, they bicker like old women until the Stranger hears a racket somewhere else in the building, and he interrupts Spawny, apparently undeterred by the pair of demons now squatting inside him, in the act of boosting the equipment he needs. Now, the Stranger has a lot of amazing qualities, but he's never been much in the fisticuffs department, and the Monster quickly overpowers him- and decides to zap him with the scale model laser he has stolen. At this time, Dr. T bursts in, and recognizing the creature he holds responsible for Adams' death and his wife's coma, typically tries to reason with the creature...nah, he does what he always does, charges irrationally, shouting "I'll kill you!", and Spawny throws him out the window for his trouble. The Stranger, having recovered somewhat, immediately dives out after the hotheaded Doctor.



By now, we, the readers, have glommed on to the fact that Spawny is not just in a bad mood but is being influenced by his demonic bodysquatters. Of course, Dr. T and the Stranger don't know this yet. Well, the Stranger would say that he knew all along, of course- he's kinda like that sometimes- but he doesn't really know.



In fact, for reasons unknown, the demons force Spawny to kidnap Marie Thirteen before he leaves the hospital, while Doc T and PS are occupied. When he returns to Mordecai's lab, where he's stashed Victor's body along with his widow Rachel, who was awake and screaming at being in the room with the corpse of her late husband in the last panel of #25 but has apparently passed back out, no doubt tuckered out by all the screaming. The demons try to get him to kill Rachael by zapping her with the laser. When he refuses, the pissed-off demons decide to leave him and possess Victor and Marie's bodies.



The demonic duo, which go by the names Pornipus and Flagermot (they probably bailed outta Hell because all the other demons made fun of their names), try to kill the SoF (so that another demon, presumably with a less stupid name, can possess it) by animating some suits of armor, and when this doesn't work, they cause him to be encircled by flames, which burn through the floor, causing him to be trapped in the basement or cellar of the house.



Spawny manages to escape his pit prison, and leaps out, slamming Victor's body with a devastating feet-first blow, which stuns the demon, but doesn't harm Victor's body (the funeral home guys must be proud at the enbalming job they did), which prompts Spawny to think that if he can smack up enough on the bodies, the demons will bail. As he proceeds to throw Marie/Flagermot out the window (he likes this method of fighting, apparently), the Stranger and Doc Thirteen arrive at the house.



Dr.T manages to catch Marie/Flagermot, and brings her inside as the Stranger confronts the Monster. M/F revives, and much to Dr.T's dismay, zaps a chandelier over his head. The Stranger, by now (I'm sure) getting annoyed at having to save Doc T's bacon yet again, uses his cape to magically deflect the heavy fixture. Dr. T whips out a pistol, and begins to fire at Spawny- and it's obvious that Thirteen never watched horror movies when he was a kid because OF COURSE they have no effect. The SoF throttles Dr. T, but by now the Stranger's beginning to catch on, and reasons with him.

Flag and Porny decide that they don't want to tussle with the Stranger and the Monster anymore, and fly up in the air, calling upon the Moon to blast the house with a magically enhanced moonbeam.

Fortunately, they took their sweet time about it, and the Stranger and company are able to get out of the house before the moonbeam zaps it to dust. Porny and Flagy swoop back down, and try to moon-blast them again, but this time the Stranger is ready for them,



And uses his medallion to zap them with their own moonbeam...which causes their demonic adversaries to cease to exist. Which brings us to the end, and the status quo is preserved.



The equipment that Spawny stole was, I assume, vaporized with the house, so I suppose that was the end of the "Resurrection of Victor Adams" notion.

Of course, as I've written before, after this Wein, Wolfman, Kaluta and Aparo moved on to Swamp Thing and The Shadow and Marvel Comics and Phantom Stranger #27 brought an all-new art team to both the lead and the backup as Arnold Drake and Gerry Talaoc took over the Stranger's adventures, in which he became more of a passive participant in his own stories- often to the point of being merely a narrator- and the Spawn got Steve Skeates as a scripter, and the Golden Age Spectre artist Bernard Baily as illustrator. The story, as it was and to the best of my memory (I don't own Phantom Stranger #'s 27-30 anymore), wasn't all that bad- Spawny ran afoul of a Charlie Manson-style cult and its leader, but that's about all I recall. But Baily had nothing left in the tank, and his art was awful, to put it mildly. The story wound up in #30, after which the Black Orchid took his spot in Phantom Stranger, and the Spawn of Frankenstein was seen no more. Or if he was, it was just a cameo or appearance in some kind of reference book...I don't remember seeing the character again, but it's entirely possible he was in something I didn't buy in the last 30-something years.

Anyway, that's it for my look at the Spawn of Frankenstein. Hope you've found it enlightening and useful. If I should ever acquire those Skeates-Baily issues again, perhaps I can post a breakdown of them like I have these. So bring on Seven Soldiers: Spawn of Frankenstein!- later this year!

All of these concepts, characters, and art are ©2005 DC Comics, Inc.