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Superman in Crisis

SiC 53 — The Birds (04:03:1986)

Reviewing DC Comics Presents 95 and responding to your feedback!

3 replies on “SiC 53 — The Birds (04:03:1986)”

I remember, when I read this issue at the time of publication, I was quite happy to see a story that felt like a “normal” story, since it seemed to me that some of the recently previous DC Comics Presents issues felt like “fill-ins”, marking time until the end of the series (which would come soon). I actually thought, at the time, that Kasta was a good villain, and I wished he’d show up again, but when he did (Hawkman Volume 2, #1, cover-dated August, 1986), I missed it.
Wishing you and Mindi much happiness in your new house.

Hi, Jon. Good episode, and it’s always nice to see Hawkman. How appropriate that this issue should be inked by Murphy Anderson, who I believe was closely associated with both Hawkman and Superman back in the Silver Age. Anderson is another of those long-time DC stalwarts whose time was unfortunately starting to come to an end as the Crisis ushered in a new generation of creators. I can’t recall if we’ve seen his work in previous podcast episodes, but I wanted to mention him here. His art had a good, clean line that I’ve always enjoyed.

I thought giving Shayera the sniffles was kind of a cheesy way to keep her out of the main action, but I suppose they wanted some excuse to limit the team-up to just Superman and Hawkman. The Gentleman Ghost was always kind of a goofy character, but it was fun to see him here, playing the role of The Watcher. “There’s a huge danger coming. I can’t do anything about it, but maybe you should look into it.”

Apart from being severely under-motivated (“I want to kill Superman, just because!”), Kasta wasn’t too bad as a villain. Like you say, it’s nice to see villains who can give Superman a real challenge without having to resort to either Kryptonite or magic.

I hope getting into the new house proved to be a pleasant experience, and that you’re enjoying the new place. Talk to you next time!

Hi Jon! I’ve posted it before on the twits, but congrats to you and Mindi. Let yourselves enjoy the happy time of the engagement a little before the wedding plans take over. It’s kind of like Superman in the issues you’re covering. You had your lives pre-engagement, then you’ll have the post-wedding, and this is that in-between time when it’s hard to describe how it fits into your continuity and pteradactyl-wearing weirdos show up. See? It’s a perfect analogy! Right? You’re welcome.

Speaking of weirdos, here I am writing feedback for the recent episodes in one message, because I’m very far behind, and not posting on each one either from laziness or insane busyness AUGH! It’s ok, I’m fine, really, whew.

Mxy’s Fools Day was such a fun treat, thanks for doing that. And yes, Michael Bailey was great too. You both together were a delight and made the episode extra special. And thanks for letting me contribute my patented goofy feedback message for the show. I had fun doing it.

So the Crisis reunion in DCCP #94. I can’t recall if you talked about whether this story would fit in post-Crisis continuity or not, which has become my favorite exercise with DCCP. The team-ups with other heroes outside the Superman cast makes this an interesting challenge, since those heroes have their own continuity situations to consider, so that’s more my focus. The main problem here is Pariah and Lady Quark original came from parallel Earths. They still seem to remember that point, but is their actual history now changed to the “cop out” explanation of “other dimensions”? That’s how the Captain Carrot universe and Amethyst’s world were categorized to explain their continued existence. But when will P & LQ realize that for themselves, if ever? It makes me think of the Champions of Angor, analogs of the Avengers who met the JLA and will return after Legends in another year in the new Justice League series. Was Angor another planet in the same dimension as Earth-1, or an alternate Earth just named differently? Well, now my head hurts, but I’m sure it’ll go away.

And there’s DCCP #95 with Hawkman. I did read this issue plus all of Shadow War a couple of years back on the DCU app because I’d always wanted to, and it’s a really great mini-series, special, and ongoing which directly followed this issue, and thankfully footnotes pointed me to it. This issue has that same creative team of course, so it flows pretty well as part of Hawkman’s direction at the time. I do recommend giving it a try if you have the DCU app. If you enjoy the initial mini-series, then the rest of the issues are worth it.

But projecting into post-Crisis, this issue does *not* work for Superman. The Fortress of Solitude will be gone, he won’t be meeting Mongul for years, and forget flying himself all the way to a black hole. The story would need huge tweaks to work at all, and then there’s the craziness that post-Crisis Superman will team up with Hawkman to finish the Shadow War in both Hawkman’s title and Action Comics. And THEN, there’s Hawkworld. And now my headache is worse!

Maybe I misheard, but it sounded like you were saying the Thanagarian on the last page was *not* Kasta? I read it as definitely still Kasta, having taken over the ship that tried to return him to Thanagar. No worries either way, just wondering.

Well, I better get outta here. I can’t believe you’ve reached the 6th and final trimester of this podcast! Oh what a journey, and thanks for reading.

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