Wonder Woman in Cheetah on the Prowl

COMING SOON!

Review by Darryl

Company: Fisher-Price / DC Comics
Release Date: 1982
Author: Andrew Helfer
Illustrator(s): Ross Andru, Dick Giordano, Carl Gafford
Recording Company: Media Sound Studios, NY
Select Voices: Michael Kingsbury Frith (Narrator), Barbara Barrie (Queen Hippolyta), Elizabeth Ashley (Princess Diana / Wonder Woman), Sonia Manzano (The Cheetah), Frederick R. Newman (Steve Trevor)
Format: Hardcover with Cassette Tape
Pages: 61
Dimensions: 9 1/4" H x 6 3/4" W

Description:
Part of the Fisher-Price library of storytapes and books, this full-color hardcover book tells the origin story of Wonder Woman and her encounters with arch-enemy The Cheetah. Includes audio cassette tape featuring full orchestration with voice actors playing out the story.

An Unlikely Team-up... Batman & the Incredible Hulk (DC Special Series,Vol. 5, No. 27)

Reviewed by Dan

 

If memory serves, I think this is the last tabloid/treasury edition that DC released.  It is also the last DC/Marvel team-up of that era.  I remember going to my first comic convention in Toronto in the early 1980s.  The guest of honour was George Perez who was supposed to be drawing the next cross-over featuring the JLA and the Avengers. Apparently he had done a lot of the artwork, but the project was scuttled for various reasons. One fan asked him about it and he said those pages would never see the light of day.  I think that after I got out of buying new comics that a JLA/Avengers book did eventually come out, but I have no idea if it was the Perez book or not. I'm sure others of you out there who are more knowledgeable about the post-bronze age era will know. 

 

This copy of Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk is from my personal collection and was the copy I bought off the newsstand when it was released. You can see it was well-read! It was cover-dated Sept 1981, so this would have been available at the beginning of the summer I turned eleven.  It was a much anticipated item.  DC/Marvel cross-overs were a big deal in those days!  But what a strange pairing!  Wouldn't Batman and Captain America or Batman and Daredevil have been a bit more natural?  I suppose that those were the days when the Hulk was a fairly hot TV property, and the Batman TV series was still seen fairly regularly in re-runs in those days. Maybe DC and Marvel thought that they would be the biggest draw after Superman and Spiderman due to their television exposure.  Even more bizarre though, is the choice of Hulk villain. Okay, using the Joker goes without saying; but teaming up the Joker with the Shaper of Worlds ?!?!  Having said that, the story is pretty darned good.  It is written by Len Wein, who was the regular Batman writer during this period, and Darryl and I both feel that Wein's run on Batman was one of the best of the era. It is one of the unsung Batman runs, as far as we are concerned.  He turns in a really good story here, in spite of the strange pairing of both the heroes and villains.
 

 

I won't run through the entire story... you should definitely track this one down.  It is a lot of fun.  Instead, I want to run through a few of the key features of the book that makes it one of the best DC tabloids featuring original non-reprinted work.

A nice touch on the inside cover is the origins of both our main characters.  Is there actually anyone out there who doesn't know these origins?  Still, it's always fun to read these sorts of synopses.

 

 

The artwork is by Jose-Luis Garcia Lopez.  To my mind, he is one of DC's best late-bronze age artists.  The great Dick Giordano was the inker for the issue and his work is up to his usual excellent standard.

 

 

Garcia Lopez sure did a great Joker.  Here he illustrates a classic bronze-age Joker moment in which one of Joker's henchmen, "Kenny", questions the Joker on his plan.  Poor Kenny.  Readers of this era knew what he had coming.  In this era the Joker routinely knocked of a henchman or two just to show how nasty he was.  This was pretty gripping stuff in those days.  I suppose it seems mild in comparison to what the Joker does today.  I just don't get comics these days. This is the classic Joker portrayal for us here at DC Digests and Tabloids...

 

The next few images demonstrate just how suited Garcia Lopez's art was for the tabloid genre.  The book is filled with layouts such as these, in which small panels are broken up by large partial splashes. Garcia Lopez is one of the true masters of the heroic physical form. He work is truly stunning.  It works so nicely for a DC/Marvel crossover, too, drawing on the house styles of both companies.  To my mind, the tabloid/treasury from has reached its height in his illustrative prowess in this issue.  Too bad this was the last one they published!

 

Enjoy these sample pages that illustrate my point!

 

 

 

 

 

I want to add a funny little personal anecdote about this next page.  The Shaper of the Worlds created this strange creature, which the Hulk called "Blob-thing" to capture the Hulk.  When my younger brother and I were staying at my grandmother's house the following winter, we would always horse around and talk and wrestle when we should have been sleeping.  We had two sleeping bags zipped together and we acted out this scene, with my brother Tim pretending he was the Hulk, I was Batman, and the big sleeping bag was the "blob-thing" that trapped the Hulk. I still remember the fun we had with that, and my father calling upstairs, "You boys settle down and get to sleep!"  Ah the fun memories of childhood!

 

 

What follows is a fun little scene in which Batman and the Joker have to team up to win over the Hulk.  Batman uses his mastery of disguise and has apparently just re-watched the Universal film "The Bride of Frankenstein" as this scene seems to be a direct lift from the part of the movie in which the old blind man calms the monster!  Again, another example of Batman knowing his classics!

 

 

For several pages Batman and Hulk get caught in a dream world created by the Joker (with powers bestowed on him by the Shaper). This allows Garcia Lopez to pull out all the stops again and evoke Dali.

 

 

And finally, the inside back cover is also a treat.  It shows how Garcia Lopez evolved the cover with input from Al Milgrom and Dick Giordano.

 

 

This remains one of my favourite tabloids and it was great to revisit it after all these years.  Do others of you remember this one?  Write a comment and offer your own recollections!

The Difficult Reality of Digest Hunting.

By Dan

There are a lot of moments when hunting for DC Digests that you think you may just have hit pay dirt.  It is not hard to find a stack, or stacks(!) of digests in a thrift or used bookstore, but most of the time you quickly realize that you have stumbled onto a stack of Archies.  No disrespect to Archie lovers out there, but here at DC Digests and Tabloids, we are interested in Superheroes (and DC heroes, at that!).  I recently went into a very good used bookstore in Parry Sound, ON.  It has a large, well-stocked main floor, but the real treat is the dark, dingy, cavernous basement that goes on forever!  It is piled high with boxes of used books!  

Toward the back of the basement I found this:

 

 

Surely there had to be one DC digest in here... even if only Sugar and Spike, or Binky and His Buddies. Nope.  Not a single DC digest. All Archies.  They had some pretty old ones, too.  So if you love Archie and the gang, there are a lot of digests out there for you.  You may consider even starting your own blog.  As for us, we are sticking with DC, even though the road be long and hard, and filled with much disappointment.

Sugar & Spike.......Really!?!

Review by Darryl. 

Amongst a huge stack of digests (all Archie, sadly),  my trained eye spotted two (!) "The Best of DC"!  My heart skipped a beat in excitement. I had been to probably 30 thrift stores since my last find and I was starting to get a little discouraged.  Earlier in the day I had spoken to Dan and expressed the dry spell I was in.  He offered encouragement like, "The next BIG find is just around the corner, etc" and we reminisced about the huge number of digests DC had in fact published.  In almost a 'throwaway' comment Dan mentioned Sugar and Spike.  It was one of those throwaway comments like, "If we find any Sugar and Spike digests, we should throw them away, because that would be like the least appealing of all the DC Digests to find etc".  Well, if it ain't Sugar and Spike at the next store I visit, this time a used book shoppe.  My heart sunk just as it would've back in the early eighties had I saved my money, went to the corner store in hopes to find a Superman or Batman comic only to find the shelf bare, except for Sugar and Spike.

 I'm not even going to attempt to review the first "Bernie The Brain" story or the Halloween Special with that dastardly character "The Octopus", it's low rent humor, you either enjoy it or you don't.  I don't think telling our fine readers about the synopsis of these adventures will properly bridge the intellectual mastery that is the basis for many of these stories.  Sugar & Spike is to be read and enjoyed at the beach or in the car on the way to the beach.

The letters to the editor however proved too entertaining not to share.  Here's one that speaks volumes as to the state of the comic book industry in the early '80's.

Dear Editor,
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN,
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN,
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN.
     Well, you asked for it so here goes,
First, about the sixth annual YEAR'S BEST COMICS STORIES, this is the sixth
time in a row that Wonder Woman has not made it. Last year I was sure she'd get
in with the story from WW #310, but she didn't.  I wrote a very angry letter pointing out the injustice,
but I didn't send it because I knew "they'd" pay no mind.  Well now you've asked for input about the digests.  Thank you.  I will forgive the past injustices against Wonder Woman if you will please do a digest of Wonder Woman stories.
Since the digests were started, WW hs never gotten one to herself.  Superman, LSH, JSA and JLA have several.  Jonah Hex, Green Lantern, Flash and Batman have all had digests, but never Super-Heroine Number One.

Why has she been slighted so many times?  In fact, she has never had a special or annual.  Please, oh, please, will you do a Wonder Woman digest?  And could the stories be old ones?  However, don't print any of the stories that were use in the WW book by Tempo Books in 1978.  And please don't print any stories from the time WW had lost her memory and was with I Ching.  I haven't read any of those stories, they were a little before my time.  Stories from issues 209 to 222 would be nice and also stories from before WW lost her memory.  The stories should be ones that built up her legend, show her intelligence, wisdom, caring and sense of humor.
An absolute must is to use her original logo.  It looks bold, yet feminine.  It is a much better logo than the current one or the one before the current logo.  Editor, this Wonder Woman fan would greatly appreciate your efforts in making a WW digest that all may enjoy and that does her justice. Please will you grant me one wish?

Sincerely,
Elaine
Dade City, FL

P.S.
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN,
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN,
WONDER WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN.

Here is the response from the Editor,

Gee, Elaine, I'd love to grant your wish,...but before you start calling me names, let me point to a survey conducted by one of our rival companies.  They asked the usual questions about stories, favorite characters, etc, but a vital question was: Are you male or female?  Astonishingly, 95% of those asked checked off: Male.  Boys do not pick heroines as role models.  We're hoping more girls would begin reading comics in the future.  In the meanwhile, I have some good news.  WW Editor Al Gold informs me that he has chosen "Night of Many Wonders" (WW #323) as a candidate for the next YBCS.

LMAO!!!

A "Sensational" Find! Famous First Edition C-30: Sensation Comics #1(Reprint)

Reviewed by Dan

In reading the letters page of in his Sugar and Spike digests, Darryl shared with me an obnoxious letter from a fan that was printed in that digest imploring DC to offer more Wonder Woman reprints.  Well, if that fan is still around, we here at DC Digests and Tabloids aim to please!  Our first tabloid find was a copy of Famous First Edition C-30 (Sensation Comics #1).  While driving north to the lake, my daughter Ana and I decided to stop at the Hwy 400 flea market and look what we found - a low-grade copy of FFE C-30 for a mere four bucks!

 Now, before I proceed to review the Wonder Woman story, I want to make short digression about low-grade condition comics.  As you can see, this copy has a rolled spine, lots of soiling on the cover, and dog-eared corners.  But we here at DC Digests and Tabloids LOVE low-grade copies of our favourite comics! Now, you might ask "why?".  We believe the craze for mint condition books is over-rated.  We won't even address the absurdity of locking up a comic book in a hard plastic case with a professionally designated grade.  Comics are for reading.  Low-grade copies have been read, re-read, and loved by kids and adults alike.  We love a comic that has a reading history.  Someone sure has enjoyed this old tabloid. That makes us happy.  And let me tell you, we are enjoying it, too. So bring on the low-grade comics! They are also affordable.  Here at DC Digests and Tabloids, we have an informal policy not to pay much over ten bucks for anything we review here.  Let's just enjoy reading comics and not get all caught up in the politics and business of industry!  Here endeth the digression.
 

 One of the really great things about these Famous First Editions is that they are an exact reprint (except oversized) of the original comic.  There are all kinds of stories of unscrupulous dealers removing the outer covers and duping unsuspecting collectors or investors into thinking they were purchasing the originals.  Have any of these stories ever been verified, or are they only urban legends? 

The inside of the original cover presents this special message to young readers from managing editor of the All-American line, M.C. Gaines.  It features the usual publishing bravado about how hard they worked to get this new comic just right.  Yah, right.  When we get to the Mr. Terrific story (below) they could have offered the artist a few more months of anatomy lessons.

And just in case you are thinking of putting this comic down, don't think about it because the doubly-inspiring Gene Tunney gives it two thumbs up...

This little advertisement for All-Star #8 serves as a disclaimer that we are getting a story that starts "in medias res."  If you want Wonder Woman's origin, too bad, you're not going to read it here if you missed All-Star #8.  Suckers.

Here is a portion of the splash page. As a kid, I really disliked Harry Peters' Wonder Woman art, but as an adult I find it quite charming. His line had a swirl and a flair to it that really distinguished him from most other Golden Age DC artists.  His Wonder Woman is quite sexy and alluring and his thugs are stylish caricatures.  He was really quite skilled at contorting the human figure..

Our story begins with Princess Diana bringing the rescued Steve Trevor back to America from Paradise Island in her "transparent" (not yet to be called "invisible") plane.

Here we also see the origin of Steve calling Wonder Woman "Angel", a motif that lasted many years

Of course no man has ever called her beautiful before; she has spent her whole life amongst Amazons!  Sheesh.  She may be beautiful like an angel, but in these early stories, WW is none-to-bright!  This assertion is further proved by the fact that she has an inexplicable need to hide her invisible plane.  Go figure. 

She is smart enough, though, to figure out that she might not blend into the crowds in Washington, D.C., even draped in the American flag!  However, the problem that she will need to overcome is that American women apparently just have too much material in their dresses. 

Thankfully, though, the Church ladies league of decency and propriety is patrolling the streets to protect us against scantily clad women like our favourite Amazon princess!

But before the guardians of human decency can do anything, a robbery unfolds and Wonder Woman shows her stuff!

The thing that is always analyzed in these early Wonder Woman stories is the question of whether Wonder Woman is a sort of model empowered woman, or whether this is all just about male fantasies of submitting to a dominant woman.  The above panels reveal a bit of both, I think.  Consider especially the final panel in which WW stands triumphantly on the chest of her fallen foe, her shoulders thrust back and her chest thrust forward.

When the police try to detain WW for questioning, she runs away at super-speed.  A strange little fellow tries to follow her...

Hmm... a business proposition?  She may be strong, but here is more evidence of her being just a bit naïve... "boy-oh-boy-oh-boy"  (I have a strict policy of never trusting anyone that looks remotely like Dr. Sivana)

WW quickly smartens up when she sees this shyster absconding with her hard-earned cash...

He should have known better!

So much for that business partnership!

Wonder Woman returns to the hospital to check up on Steve and see how he is recovering.  It appears Wonder Woman has since learned some business-sense from that Kale fellow as she buys the identity of a nurse named Diana Prince in order to gain access to her hapless lover.  (Has there ever been a WW story where the real Diana returns to re-claim her identity?)

Good Ole Steve might be a bit useless, but he sure has the spunk of Lois Lane.  He realizes that the evil bombers that he was originally tracking (back in All Star #8) are still on the loose, so he makes an escape from the hospital.

In her new secret identity of Diana Prince, Wonder Woman finds that Steve has sneaked away.  She returns to her makeshift hanger, and with her usual brilliance hopes no one has found her invisible plane.

A suggestive dressing shot...

Steve attempts some daring-do to disable the bomber...

But poor Steve, nothing ever really goes just right for him.

Good thing WW is close at hand to save his sorry ass...

Who wouldn't fall in love with a woman who could pull off this move?

Well, that's the second time this issue that she has saved Steve. But remember that Bomber that Steve has been chasing since All-Star #8?

One punch! What a woman!

They have to go and find the rest of the bad guys, but thankfully Wonder Woman can rely on a cheap plot device to find the hideout.

And she promptly teaches those baddies a lesson...

They do have some poison explosive gas, though, which serves to injure Steve again...  You might call it "an eternal moment of shattering ruin."

Giving Wonder Woman an opportunity to save him for a THIRD time this issue! I take it back... this guy is WORSE than Lois Lane!

It's back to the hospital for you, Steve!

It's a good thing Diana Prince is around to wait on his every need.... Oh right, she's too submissive for you, Steve ... You want Wonder Woman.  Too bad Diana is nothing like WW. This plot device was tired even back then!

Now what about the rest of Sensation #1?  Here's an ad for that elusive All-Star #8.

The Black Pirate was one of the better-drawn features.

As I mentioned above, the guy drawing Mr. Terrific desperately needed some remedial anatomy lessons... this is just plain awful.

I wonder why DC has never resurrected this guy?

Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys... I think this boring feature ran for an awfully long time in Sensation.

Wildcat by Bill Finger and Irwin Hasen was a long-time Sensation feature and this character still remains a DC favourite!

I wouldn't have minded finding these two comics on the stand!  Especially the first!

And another nice ad!  This time advertising the Superman movie serial and some of the regular DC titles.  Love those classic covers!

Well, that's all til next time. Hope you enjoyed this presentation of our first "sensational" tabloid find!