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Saturday, February 13, 2010

DC Super Friends #24 - April 2010

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Comics Weekend "Weird Science" by Sholly Fisch and Dario Brizuela.

This issue of DC Super Friends opens not with our heroes, but with Professor Hugo Strange checking into a hotel. He heads for the hotel's conference room, where a sign says inside is a meeting for a group called W.O.R.M.S.

Once he enters, we see why its called that:
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Turns out this unassuming hotel is playing host to a veritable convention of supervillains, including Lex Luthor, the Sivana Family, Ultra-Humanite, Dr. Light, Dr. Cyber, I.Q., even The Terrible Trio!

All these super-baddies are here to show off their newest inventions, competing for a grand prize. There are robots, monsters, evil plants, ray guns, and "other devilish devices."

After Luthor's remarks, there's a banquet, where the supervillains make chit-chat and talk shop. Later, Luthor is about to award the prize, when the convention have some unexpected(?) visitors...the Super Friends!:
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...I love that bit, with Aquaman being able to control the paramecia.

Anyway, turns out Luthor told the Super Friends about the meeting, so sure is he that one of the villains will have a way to stop them. What better way to determine who is the greatest "mad scientist" of all?

With the combined efforts of Gorilla Grodd, Brainstorm, The Thinker, and Hector Hammond, the villains put the Super Friends to sleep via their powerful mental abilities.

When the Super Friends wake up, they're in yet another death-trap. Except this one is result of several different villains' death-traps combined into one diabolical machine:
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Just as the Super Friends' defeat seems imminent, the hotel manager comes in and sees the wreck the villains have made of his place--burn marks, holes in the walls, and part of the roof is gone!

While the villains' backs are turned, the Super Friends escape from the death-trap, having even subdued the various robot and monster henchmen. The villains collectively panic, and try to escape.

As he watches them run like rats, chased by the Super Friends, Luthor crowns himself the greatest criminal genius of all time, and helps himself to all the other supervillains' inventions.

But before he can get his hands on anything, Superman, using his super-speed, rounds everything up in the blink of an eye. Luthor, knowing when he's beaten, gives up and agrees to go to jail--again:
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...the ever-lovin' end!

Aquaman doesn't get much to do in this issue, but neither do any of the Super Friends: this issue is more about the villains. But that doesn't really matter: the story is so charming and funny (and perfectly drawn by
Dario Brizuela) and its one of my favorite issues of the entire DC Super Friends series.


On the letters page, it also features a drawing of Aquaman by future F.O.A.M. member Laura Comeau, age 9:
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...I can't quite make out who or what Aquaman is using his powers on, but its always nice to see a young Aqua-Fan's artwork!

5 comments:

Randy said...

I love the way the Superfriends are all smiling at each other while they are trapped in Villain Death Trap.

Kachi said...

I don't want to be a total nerd, but at first glance it almost looks like the Pokemon 'Wooper.' (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Wooper_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)

David J. Cutler said...

I must confess I don't buy these, so I have to ask--are the letters pages full of kid's artwork every month or do the kids just really seem to love drawing Aquaman?

rob! said...

David-

They publish kids' drawings every issue. I'd say every third or fourth issue there's an Aquaman one.

Diabolu Frank said...

So Batman and Martian Manhunter foe Professor Arnold Hugo returns to print after over forty years to battle... Aquaman and Superman?

I can live with that, though I wish he'd had a few more panels.