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Saturday, January 16, 2010

DC Super Friends #23 - March 2010

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Comics Weekend "Mystery in Space" by Sholly Fisch and Stewart McKenny.

The Super Friends take on one of their most fearsome foes this time around--the would-be world conqueror Despero!:
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The Super Friends catch Despero trying to steal the magical jar of Felix Faust. The jar only has powers when its combined with a the Bell of Uthool and Wheel of Nyorlath, which are in other, remote parts of the galaxy.

But that doesn't deter Despero:
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Before Chapter 2 of out story begins, Aquaman takes time out to "host" one of the book's regular puzzle pages, this time a Race Through Space:
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...I love Despero's Tony Manero look.

Anyway, the Super Friends split off into teams to stop the other villains who are searching for the magical totems. Superman, Batman, and Flash run into Mongul, who is searching for the bell. A quick dose of super-breath knocks Mogul off his feet, long enough for Flash to hog-tie him, leaving Batman to secure the bell.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Aquaman search for the wheel, and they encounter the Queen Bee, who turns our heroes into bees!

Luckily, Aquaman figures a way out of this predicament:
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Now free, Wonder Woman lassos Queen Bee, while Aquaman grabs the wheel, using her magical scepter to turn all the other beings on the planet zapped by Queen Bee back to normal. They even take a moment to remind "Queen" Bee the proper way to treat people, not turn them into slaves.

Back at the satellite, the heroes have collected all the items, but Despero has planned a double-cross--he uses his third eye to zap everyone with a hypnotic blast!

The Super Friends paralysis only works for a few moments, and while Despero might be able to get away in time, they promise to keep following him. He, in turn, promises to keep zapping them. Its up to Aquaman to try and find a way to solve this:
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At first, this seems crazy, and even Flash is shocked at Aquaman's proposal But Wonder Woman counsels patience and trust in their aquatic pal:
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...a-ha, Despero fell right into Aquaman's trap! Nicely done, Arthur!

Later, the Super Friends collect the three items, and Green Lantern uses his ring to reduce them all in size, until they're smaller than an atom. Then they place them inside some nearby asteroids, which Superman hurls into the sun!

And if anyone still finds a way to find them again, they'll have to deal with the Super Friends! The end!


A marvelously fun issue, well-drawn by
Stewart McKenny: his work straddles the line between the Mattel-approved look and his own distinctive drawing style. And, of course, it was great that Aquaman is the one who ultimately figures out a way to defeat Despero!

2 comments:

Sean Tiffany said...

I love the art style but, DAMN, is the Flash hulking out in the one panel??? He's HUGE!

Wings1295 said...

Looks like great fun. Glad that this is out there, hopefully a new generation of comic book fans is growing!