As promised, a lightly-edited compilation of my decade-old recap of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2...
Cancelled
Comics Cavalcade #2, in the same blank-blue-paper-cover format as #1, opens
with a “cover” by Alex Saviuk showing a business-suited guy (sometimes
suggested to be either Joe Orlando or E. Nelson Bridwell, but actually just a
generic numbers-cruncher) kicking Omac, Steel, Shade, Prez and other characters
out of 75 Rockefeller Plaza.
That building, which is still Time-Warner
corporate headquarters, bears the sign “Unemployment, Inc.” and was DC’s home
before the moves to 666 Fifth Avenue, 1325 Avenue of the Americas and 1700
Broadway. It was been pointed out that DC had been slowly but surely moving west
on 53rd Street across Manhattan and could eventually end up with
offices on a barge in the middle of the Hudson River. (These days, however, it seems more likely the next jump will be across the country to California.)
Unlike the first issue, which sported a 10c
price (and an annual subscription cost of $10,000), #2 jumped to a dollar (but
subscriptions were reduced to $7.65… in West German marks only).
The intro page also thanks “Neil of the
Magic Finger deep down at Warner Duplicating who kept the spirit of PLOP! Alive
when Paul Kupperberg came down with about a ream of original art and asked for
35 collated copies. Neil’s hat actually flew off his head and, when he fell
straight backward, an audible ‘Plop!’ sound was to be heard.”Back in the vortex, Kamandi watches his life pass before him. He decides that, of all the possible worlds he could journey to, he wants to return to his own. The Voice tells him to return via the Dream Stream. Moments later, a pair of odd-looking characters named Brute and Glob grab Kamandi, call him “Jed,” and announce they are taking him to The Sandman. There’s a space for a “Next Issue” blurb, but none is in place.
The balance of the issue is “The New Origin of OMAC” by Jim Starlin. In this 8-pager, a videotape prepared by Quair Tox, chief science officer of the planet Vision in the star system Mira, retells and revamps the origin of the One-Man Army Corps. Other than that, it adds what amounts to a “coming attractions” for where the series will lead and introduces a new villain named Dr. Skuba. Further chapters were never completed, so we never learn about this epic battle to come.
Like Claw in CCC #1, Kamandi was one of books which was on or ahead of schedule, so the complete #61 is next up in the volume. Of course, the deck was stacked in their favor.
Editor Al Milgrom had unearthed the unpublished issue of Jack Kirby’s 1970s Sandman and he and Jack C. Harris cooked up a way to incorporate it into the adventures of the Last Boy on Earth. “I’ll See You in My Nightmares” by Harris, Ayers, and Bulanadi (his name spelled correctly this time) is little more than a “wrapper” for “The Seal Men’s War on Santa Claus” by Michael Fleisher, Kirby and Mike Royer.
By the way, following up on the “cliffhanger” in #60, Kamandi does indeed bear a resemblance to Sandman’s pal Jed. After all, both are blond-haired boys originally drawn by Kirby. Not surprising that Brute and Glob got confused.
In his headquarters, Sandman utilizes his view-screen to “show” Kamandi the 18-page story of the Seal Men. [In the 80s, we used to joke in the office about using this gimmick to get series that were running late (usually New Teen Titans) caught up with the help of series that were ahead of schedule (like Star Trek and Firestorm). We figured we could have George Perez draw an opening page of a couple of the Titans sitting around their HQ with nothing to do. Then one of them could say, “Hey, let’s watch Star Trek” and the rest of the issue would be a story from that book’s inventory.]
Jed is sent to the mansion of stingy millionaire Titus Gotrox to ask for a donation to the Christmas Fund. Cutting to the chase, Gotrox tells Jed he’ll contribute $1 million to the cause in exchange for proof that Santa Claus exists. Flabbergasted by the proposal, Gotrox’s nephew Rodney follows Jed and witnesses the arrival of Sandman when the boy blows his special whistle.
Jed tells Sandman of his quest and the hero replies that “Santa Claus is a friend on mine from way back.” Off they go, unaware that Jed has dropped his whistle in the process.
After a brief stop at the Dream Dome, Sandman and Jed jump into the Dream Stream and head for the Fantasy Forest, home of the Nightmare Wizard. “We’ll need his help if we’re going to make the long journey to Santa’s workshop in time.” (One wonders why the Dream Stream couldn’t take them directly to Santa.) Said “help” consists of loaning Jed a parka -- leaving us to also wonder why there weren’t any available in a more accessible location -- and providing a sky sled for the trip. Obviously, the Nightmare Wizard runs the “Sky Sleds R Us” franchise.
Meanwhile, Rodney has found and blown the whistle, bringing Sandman’s sidekick Brute to the scene. Rodney is brought back to the Dream Dome, then tossed into an ejector tube. In the Fantasy Forest, he is quickly grabbed up by a man-eating plant, but rescued by the Nightmare Wizard. Rodney tells the Wizard he’s a friend of Sandman’s, gets his own parka and sky sled, and heads off after the hero.
Sandman and Jed arrive at the North Pole where they are immediately attacked by hammer-wielding elves who mistake them for Seal Men. Thankfully, Mrs. Claus sets things straight before anybody gets pounded. She advises Sandman that the Seal Men have kidnapped Santa and Christmas will have to be called off if Jolly Old Saint Nick isn’t rescued.
Sandman and Jed head off in search of the missing Mr. Claus. When Jed asks how many Seal Men there are, Sandman says, “Roughly ten thousand! But don’t you worry – good will always triumph over evil!”
In short order, they get lured into a trap and captured by the Seal Men. They are locked in a dungeon with Santa, but easily escape when Sandman melts its wall with his hypnosonic whistle. Unfortunately, they are immediately recaptured.
As they are taken before the king of the Seal Men, we learn the reason for their war against Santa. Seems they haven’t been happy with the gifts Santa’s been bringing for Christmas: wool gloves that don’t fit their flippers, scuba equipment, and fishing rods! If they can’t have a merry Christmas, neither will anyone else.
Sandman and Jed explain that even Santa can make a mistake. “You just got the wrong gift boxes by mistake,” says Jed. “Somewhere out in the Sahara Desert or someplace, there are probably kids wondering what they’re supposed to do with cases of frozen fish they got.” [Okay, and what were kids in the Sahara Desert going to do with gloves, scuba gear, and fishing rods?]
Once Santa promises to have his elves exchange the gifts, the trio is set free. Christmas is saved, or so it seems until they get back to the workshop and find Mrs. Claus bound and gagged by Rodney. He’s not about to let the existence of Santa interfere with his inheritance.
It’s Sandman’s sand capsules to the rescue and, once Rodney is overcome, we switch to Gotrox’s mansion. Santa drops the bound up Rodney down the chimney, then arrives himself, convincing the millionaire to make the contribution he promised.
The story finished, we’re back in the Dream Dome where Sandman explains to Kamandi that “in another reality…your name would have been Jeb instead of Kamandi.” [In still another, where the proofreading is better, it would have been Jed!]
Sandman takes Kamandi back to his own Earth, defeats the energy creature threatening Kam’s pals, and warns that Kamandi’s reality is “the nightmare of one called Omac.” It is up to Kamandi to turn this nightmare into a pleasant dream.
“I’ll remember,” promises Kamandi as Sandman -- and this series-- fade to black.
We next come to Shade the Changing Man #9… and I have a confession to make. Back in 1978, one of my duties as Assistant Production Manager was proofreading all the books, which, frankly, is not a bad deal for a comics fan. However, of all the titles DC published, the one I always dreaded was Shade. Thirty-four years later, I couldn’t tell you what exactly about the book I didn’t like, but every time an issue showed up, I’d put off reading it for as long as I could.
Anyway, #9 features Shade in “The Deadly Ally” by Steve Ditko and Michael Fleisher and it opens with the hero heading off to battle Doctor Z.Z. and save Earth and the Meta-Zone. The hero battles Klugs, then gets sucked into a corner of the Zero-Zone where he is subdued by Zekie and forced to join the slave-troops.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Doctor Z.Z.’s agents have disguised as regular folks and are infiltrating something or other. One of Z.Z.’s trusted allies is Wizor, who is actually plotting to overthrow the madman. Wizor is awaiting the arrival of an N-Agent who is two weeks late and who, we find out in a flashback, has been killed by Lt. Emp, who is actually Kempo. Who is Kempo? I don’t know, but a footnote tells us to see Shade #1.
Shade escapes with a former enemy named Xexlo and eventually defeats Zekie, amidst lots of Ditko’s phantasmagorical art. And when the hero finally arrives on Earth? He floats past the Occult Research Center and notes that the lights are on. “But what’s going on inside? What’s happening with Wizor and Dr. Z.Z.?” he muses. We won’t find out, however; as Shade floats off into the night, he thinks, “Odds are, I’ll find out tomorrow, because that’s when I intend to begin my reconnaissance for my mission.” (Whatever mission all this infiltration has to do with can’t be that critical if it can wait till tomorrow!)
The backup tale in the issue is The Odd Man in “The Pharaoh and the Mummies” written and drawn by Ditko. The Odd Man is on the trail of a killer who dresses as a Pharaoh and mummifies his victims in plastic. The Pharaoh is gathering “Nile Gems” for his queen, the reincarnation of “the first Nile Queen” (Cleopatra, one presumes), but the Odd Man intervenes. After the Pharaoh accidentally mummifies the Queen, he does himself in the same way…in the last (very narrow) panel while the Odd Man shouts, “No! NO! Too late!” Sure looks like Ditko ran out of room at the bottom of page 8 and needed to end the story quickly.
Next up is Showcase #105, starring Deadman in “Requiem for a Deadman” by Len Wein and Gerry Conway, with art by Jim Aparo. This story eventually appeared in Adventure Comics #464, though a two page sequence in which Deadman saves a boy chasing his cat on a building ledge has been excised.
Paul Levitz’s text page in the issue includes some comments about upcoming issues. The Creeper was scheduled for #106, followed by three issues of The Deserter (one of which was in CCC#1), and then a triple-dip of World of Krypton. WoK instead holds the distinction of being the first comic book miniseries when it came out in 1979.
The Creeper's Showcase appearance is next with “Enter Dr. Storme” by Steve Ditko. In Gotham’s Cosmic TV studio, Jack Ryder finds himself turning halfway into the Creeper without having activated the change. Before he can deal with the problem, he’s in the middle of an energy blast created by Dr. Storme. Seems Storme is really Al Whetly, the former weatherman at Cosmic, who was replaced by his former assistant, Sunny Daze, and now he seeks revenge. (Today, he’d be seeking an attorney and filing an age discrimination suit.)
Another half-change to the Creeper takes place just as Storme attacks again. (The Odd Man makes a cameo appearance, getting caught in the attack, but doing nothing to stop the villain.) Throughout the tale, every time someone makes a comment with the words “all wet” in it, Ryder and others try to figure out what it means. This particular bit gets beaten to death by the end of the tale, though long before we’ve decided that every one of the characters is a dolt.
The Creeper does stop the villain, who dies when he completely dehydrates himself whipping up a storm. Ryder also solves his half-change problems. And they all live happily ever after.
Up next is Steel #6, featuring “Super Soldier” by Gerry Conway, Don Heck and Joe Giella. We’re in London in 1940 and Steel finds Nazi spies attacking the British Ministry of War. Their leader, “Die Schwartzer Meuchelmorder” (or “The Black Assassin” for those of us who don’t speak German), escapes while Steel makes short shrift of his henchmen. The target of the assassins is Winston Churchill, who invites Steel to join his team.
In a flashback, we learn that Dr. Gilbert Giles, Hank Heywood’s mentor and the father of his fiancee, has learned of Hank’s dual identity. He demands that Hank give up being Steel or break his engagement. (And since the book is called Steel, not Hank Heywood Comics & Stories, you can guess what he does.)
Back in London, Churchill recruits Steel to join a commando team he’s sending to Germany to kidnap Adolf Hitler. Action follows as their plane is shot down and the commandos are captured by a colonel known as “The Butcher.” Steel, minus his costume, awakens in a concentration camp. (Conway plays a bit fast and loose with historical continuity here, particularly when one inhabitant of the camp describes the “bath-houses” and the experiments being tried on the captives.) A battle in the camp hospital leaves “the Butcher” splattered by a bottle of acid Steel has thrown, setting the stage for some future super-villainous revenge. And the cliffhanger has the melee abruptly halted by the arrival of Hitler himself. Alas, we are not privy to the next issue’s confrontation and the debut of Baron Blitzkrieg.
We’re going to jump now to the final story in CCC #2. (I covered the Secret Society of Super-Villains / Freedom Fighters / JSA stories some time back and you can read about them here.) The last full-length book included in is The Vixen#1. Is she the same character who finally debuted in Action Comics #521, three years after the DC Implosion? The same one who became a member (with Vibe and Gypsy) of what’s been referred to as the Justice League of Detroit? Well, yes…and no.
Super-model Marilyn McCabe is on top of the fashion world and a modern businesswoman, but after seeing President Manitoba of the African nation of D’Mulla on TV, she faints. This brings back awful memories of her childhood, memories buried in her subconscious of her father being murdered by Manitoba.
After consulting with her attorney and realizing she can not pursue Manitoba from a legal standpoint, Marilyn discovers that a necklace left with her by her father has mystical powers. It awakens powers within Marlyn and she dons the costume of The Vixen.
The Vixen learns that Manitoba, while now preaching peace, intends to unite all of Africa under his rule…by force. His true mission in coming to the United States is not to preach peace, but to murder the sole remaining witness to his crimes in his own country. Luckily, The Vixen is there to save the day. In the battle that ensues, Manitoba is killed by his own manic attack, bringing down a massive cross which crushes him.
The story ends with Marilyn feeling that a new energy has taken control of her, that she has been reborn. And the bottom caption promises us that this is “The End…and The Beginning.” (Well, so, it took three years before she actually appeared. Maybe she was just a slow starter…)
Beginning with issue #2, there was to be a back-up feature in The Vixen, one that I was going to be writing starring Duela Dent a.k.a. The Harlequin. It never got past script stage… a series SO canceled that it never even made it into CCC!
Wrapping up the volume is a collection of covers, beginning withArmy At War #2 and Battle Classics #3, both by Joe Kubert. Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin did a reworking of the “Flash of Two Worlds” cover (replacing the man about to be hit by the girder with the super-villains tallying their loot) for Demand Classics #1. Ross Andru and Dick Giordano collaborated on Demand Classic #2’s cover… featuring Superboy and the Legion and the ghost of Ferro Lad. The (unsigned but it looks like Jim Aparo to me) cover for Dynamic Classics #3 is a split between the Goodwin/ Simonson Manhunter and the Phantom Stranger. Michael Golden and Russ Heath teamed up for a really nifty Mister Miracle cover. Joe Kubert provided the cover to Ragman #6, while Joe Orlando did the one for Weird Mystery Tales #25. (The latter, showing an alluring woman with a serpent’s body saying to a hunky guy, “Come in, my darling – I can’t wait to embrace you!” was eventually used on one of the other titles.) A Michael Kaluta cover was scheduled for Weird Mystery #26. (This one was also used elsewhere.) Finally, the covers to Western Classics #’s 1 and 2, featuring Bat Lash wrap things up. (The first is by “Sherman and Whitman” and the second is unsigned.)
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