Where I pretty much mount a defense of him.

4) The looseleaf Who’s Who managed to come out during the gap period between my losing interest in Byrne-Superman, Perez-Batman, JLI, Titans, etc. and my full return to DC in the Doomsday/Knightfall period, and I therefore didn’t start collecting them until the mid-to-late ’90s. However, the early ’90s period it covered was my (not joy but) jam. From that point up through the first half of JLA’s run was MY period as a devout DC fan, although with hindsight I recognize this was also the peak of DC’s Marvelization, meaning they were rife with the flavor, burdensome continuity, and many of the estranged creators from Marvel’s Bronze/Iron Age. I turned on DC for the same reason I did Marvel– they fully embraced the eccentricities, banalities, superficiality, and shameless LCD pandering of the Chromium Age 10-15 years later, and still do to this day. As much as I’ll enjoy the show catching up to the looseleaf volume, it will be bittersweet, because I think Marvel and DC have both been so compromised by their final, full absorption into corporate entities and mentalities that even the ’90s will feel like a bygone era of innocence and integrity by comparison.

5) I was wrong about Alan Davis working on the second Aquaman mini-series because I let head canon confuse my facts. See, years ago, Rob Kelly promoted an appearance in an article for Comic Book Artist where fans considered a Post-Crisis DC Universe by different creative teams. I was very intrigued by the premise, but then the magazine actually came out, and with the exception of Rob was just variations on unattainable big name comic artists on the most obvious iconic characters. I was doing mindless drudge work at the time, so I spent the next several months fixated on a massive expansion of that idea where I’d assign new realistic creative teams to books from 1986-1989, mapping out event series and creative turnover in a continuity that continued from the Bronze Age uninterrupted but still from a single Earth (meaning the multiverse was destroyed, but everyone from the relevant worlds knew their history.) I’d stay up way too late at night looking for art reference to match my “assignments” and fabricating behind the scenes editorial details. It was basically temporary insanity, and ultimately collapsed under the weight of my unfettered ambition until nothing at all came of that brain juice. Long story slightly longer, Alan Davis drew the second arc of the Aquaman ongoing series after Craig Hamilton faltered in my construct rather than work on Batman & the Outsiders, and that notion polluted my memory of his role on the first mini-series.

6) More on Captain Thunder:
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/04/19/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-99/2/

1. Lots of Booster Gold love this issue. Goldstar, The Director, and even Chiller are beloved characters to me that I would love to see used more often. Trixie, in particular, is one of my favorites.

2. Chroma is a character that I should love. Visually, I think he is great. Despite that, I’ve read all of Infinity Inc. and I don’t remember him at all. Total Mort.

3. Dr. Spectro, on the other hand, is a great villain even from his Charlton days. He has a brilliant design, no pun intended.

4. The Church of Blood doesn’t deserve an entry here, but I do love this concept and am glad to see the Titans’ foe getting some love.

5. Darwin Jones seems like a fun concept that could be revisited today. Maybe we could get a Geoffcon that his son is Genius Jones. I’d buy that series.

6. I think each of us have our collections within our collections. All of us collect comics, but maybe we focus on Superman comics or the like. My collection within a collection are the 80’s DC Baxter Books. Titans, Outsiders, Omega Men, Vigilante, I want them all. All of that to say that, although they are part of that beloved process, I have never picked up an issue of Electric Warrior and likely never will. Nothing in me is interested in this series.

7. I love the New Gods and am happy to get two more entries in the form of Esak and Fastback, and I’m not just saying that to live up to my reputation on this show.

8. I loathe the Lords of Order / Chaos nonsense and everything associated with it, but with that being said, I have to admit that the art on the Flaw and Child entry is my favorite in this issue. Some nice work from Ernie Colon there.

9. I wanted to mention that this podcast has inspired my summer reading. After last episode, I dug up my issues of Young All Stars, which were as average as I had remembered them being, ostensibly because Roy Thomas was trying to make the best of a bad situation instead of indulging in his Golden Age passion as he did with All Star Squadron. I’m now halfway through Blue Beetle and have already encountered Firefist, Carapax, and seen a glimpse of Catalyst. Some good stuff there. I suppose after this episode, I will have to track down some GLC issues to catch up on the Ch’p saga.

And I’m just going to ask – Vince Colletta … any relation? Oh hang on, different spelling. Dang?

The Flash title starring Barry didn’t pop up until after Barry had appeared in more issues of Showcase and proved popular enough to get his own ongoing. In addition to Barry’s first appearance in Showcase #4 in 1956, Barry was also featured in Showcase #8, 13, and 14. Barry made the jump to his own series in late 1958 (cover date 1959). Flash was bi-monthly, so issue #110 with Wally’s first appearance didn’t end up going on sale until October 1959.

However, like the Flash series, Showcase was also Bi-Monthly, so Flash #110 dropped the month in between issues #23 and #24 of Showcase (both of which were Hal Jordan issues).

So as far as where that puts Kid Flash with other DC Silver Age mainstays, Wally West appeared:

-Just 7 Months after Rip Hunter Time Master debuted in Showcase #21 (3-17-1959)

-Just 3 months after Hal Jordan Green Lantern debuted in Showcase #22 (7-28-1959)

-2 Months before the Justice League was formed and appeared in Brave & the Bold #28 (12-29-59)

-7 Months before Shag’s favorite team the Sea-Devils debuted in Showcase #27 (5-26-1960)

-14 Months before Katar Hol Hawkman’s debute in Brave and the Bold #34 (12-29-1960)

-21 Months before Ray Palmer the Atom in Showcase #34 (7-27-61) So yes Shag was correct

Other DC Silver Age characters and teams that Wally West beat to the punch include the Metal Men, Enemy Ace, Doom Patrol, and many many more.

So yeah Shag was right, and holy crap has Wally been around for a long time!

All publication dates courtesy of Mike’s Amazing World of course

Did you listen to any full episodes? What did you think?

Faye Gunn was such a rubbish name, I thought it was a pun on raygun. And like Xum, I thought Max Allan Collins’ Batman work was awful. I would say, well, this is the man who gave us the execrable Wild Dog – but I did like Ms Tree. And didn’t he like terrible puns?

As for the Dark Knight Returns vs Batman Year One, I never liked the latter. It’s Batman for people who don’t like Batman, whereas Year One was simply a harder-edged take on the stories. Though, as Frank says, the changes to Selina were crap and say more about Miller than the character. Oh, and he wrecked Gordon a bit. Give me Barr and Davis any day. And I remember O’Neill pushing the ‘revillainisation’ non-word at the time. Bah.

Is Bd’g meant to evoke badger? It needs an ‘r’ so as not to read as badge. Unless it’s a cartoon animal version of Thaddeus Bodog Sivana. And yes, I’m now commenting on Frank’s comments rather than the show.

The best Decay was the earlier version from The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl.

I liked Flaw and Child. I think I’m in an Amethyst lettercol saying as much.