Showing posts with label 1970s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1970s. Show all posts

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween Heroines WONDER WOMAN "Morgana the Witch" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Wonder Woman, currently powerless, and living in Man's World as Diana Prince, fashionable Greenwich Village fashion boutique owner, attempts to aid her neighbors with a unique problem!
The boyfriend of one of the neighbors has been turned into a frog...specifically, a talking frog!
Considering her history of dealing with mystical menaces, Diana, even without her enhanced Amazon abilities, has no intention of allowing this to continue...
Yeah, it's the old "kiss the frog and he turns into a (nerdy) prince" trope!
We learn in this Mike Sekowsky-scripted/penciled and Dick Giordano-inked tale from DC's Wonder Woman #186 (1970) that not only is I-Ching a martial arts master, he's also a mystic arts master!
Morgana would reappear, but not in the pages of Wonder Woman!
Several months later, Supergirl (also written and penciled by Sekowsky) would run into a magician named Zond who, to put it politely, whups her real good!
(In pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths days, Kryptonians like Supergirl and Superman were vulnerable to only two things...Kryptonite and magic!)
The Girl of Steel goes to Diana Prince for two reasons:
1) to see if the former Amazon Princess can help her stop Zond.
2) to get a new outfit, since her costume was shredded during the battle!
Diana provides Supergirl with a "mod" costume (which becomes her primary garb for several years) and summons Morgana to help them against Zond, who, as it turns out, Morgana has a grudge against!
You can read that story, which we presented several Halloweens ago HERE and HERE!

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Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Halloween Heroines WONDER WOMAN "Morgana the Witch" Part 1

Our Final CountDown to Halloween 2024 Entry...

...is about a powerless Wonder Woman battling a witch!
Quick synopsis: Princess Diana chose to remain on Earth (without her powers) while the rest of the Amazons (and Paradise Island itself) were teleported to another dimension where they could rejuvenate the magicks that kept them immortal.
She met the secretive I-Ching, who trained her in armed and unarmed combat, and settled down in NYC's Greenwich Village, opening a fashion boutique.
She also began accumulating a supporting cast...


Remember, this was Greenwich Village in the early 1970s.
This sort of thing really wasn't all that unusual.
I was there, I saw stuff similar to this happening.
Now, as to the most obvious question...
Is Morgana a witch or a clever fraudster?
And, if so, how does a powerless Diana Prince defeat her?
you'll find out...on Halloween!
Written and penciled by Mike Sekowsky, inked by Dick Giordano.
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Thursday, October 3, 2024

Halloween Heroines BLACK ORCHID Conclusion

Cover art by Bob Oksner
(Note: Despite the "Origin Issue" blurb on the cover, there's no actual origin story!)
When a disguised District Attorney infiltrates a criminal conclave (which includes the town's mayor and police chief) and is uncovered, a purple-costumed woman with superhuman abilities (including flight, hyper-strrength, and invunerability) saves his life.
She also displays extensive knowledge about the DA's personal life and family, recommending his recently-widowed sister, an MD, come to patch him up to avoid publicity by showing up at a hospital.
Meanwhile, the criminals are keeping an eye on the DA via a concealed TV camera in his house...
While DA Ken Ransom won't see her again (nor will he ever reappear in the DC Multiverse), this blog's readers will get to view her adventures, since, to paraphrase the end credit on 007's cinematic adventures...
Black Orchid Will Return!

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Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Halloween Heroines BLACK ORCHID Part 1

Welcome to Our Contribution to Countdown to Halloween 2024...

...as we introduce the never-reprinted adventures of the most mysterious heroine of all!
To Be Concluded...Thursday!
Written by Sheldon Mayer, illustrated by Tony DeZuniga, this premiere tale from DC's Adventure Comics #428 (1973) will offer no actual clues as to who (or what) The Black Orchid is...despite the fact it's promoted as an "Origin Issue"!
Superhuman Being?
Scientific Adventuress?
Spectral Avenger of Evil?
Or All of the Above?
Her strip ran for three issues in Adventure Comics before becoming a back-up strip in The Phantom Stranger for eight issues...which should tell you something about the direction of the series!
The unresolved concept was so intriguing that the creators of DC/Vertigo's Sandman, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, took a crack at resolving it in a Vertigo series a couple of decades later!
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Black Orchid
by Neil Gaiman & David McKean

Friday, August 30, 2024

STARFAWN "To the Nearest Quasar!" Part 5

When Last We Left Our Space Heroine and Her Fellow Space Force Crewmates...

...stranded on an alien world, the crew of the starship Destiny is running out of time before a collapse of the alien civilization's energy distribution system produces a major disaster!
Working with the aliens, they come up with a plan utilizing Shalla (aka StarFawn's) recently-acquired energy-manipulation abilities!
But, the plan involves her doing something she's never done before...
Did It Work?
Did Shalla and Daystar Survive?
Hell, Did Anybody or Anything Survive?
You'll Have to Go There Tomorrow to Find Out!

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