Cancelled Comic Cavalcade review #7: Kamandi #60-61
Michael R. Grabois
The canned recap:
Cancelled Comic Cavalcade (CCC) was published in 1978, to secure DC's
copyright on material that was ready to go at the time of the "DC
Implosion", which was a mass cancellation of a number of books. Only
35 photocopies were made of the original artwork. I was fortunate
enough to get a 3rd generation reprint of CCC, and since chances are
miniscule that anyone out there has seen it yet, I thought I'd review
the issues (even if they are 18 years old).
Usenet history:
Sept. 8, 1995: A general overview of the entire package.
Sept. 14, 1995: Review #1 -- Black Lightning #12 (with Ray backup),
and #13 (cover only).
Sept. 18, 1995: Review #2 -- Claw the Unconquered #13 and #14
Nov. 5, 1995: Review #3 -- The Deserter #1
Nov. 19, 1995: Review #4 -- Doorway to Nightmare #6
Dec. 18, 1995: Review #5 -- Firestorm #6
June 18, 1996: Review #6 -- Green Team #2 and #3
Note: these reviews are all available on my web page at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mgrabois/ccc.htm
Coming soon: Prez #5.
======================================
KAMANDI #60
Dec. 1978/Jan. 1979
Originally posted to rec.arts.comics.dc.universe on 8/20/96
======================================
* * * WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE * * *
Kamandi was another Kirby Kreation, one of the first new things he did at
DC when he came over in 1972. This had a similar premise to the movie
"Planet of the Apes": what if the animals had somehow mutated and become
intelligent, taking over from the humans?
Kamandi was the "Last Boy on Earth", or so read the cover copy. Last
"normal" boy, really, since all the other humans were screwed up somehow.
Kamandi lived in the world after the Great Disaster; it's unclear exactly
what it was -- a natural disaster or a war, for example -- but it was
linked to a mysterious energy source called the Vortex. The Great Disaster
involved worldwide devastation from earthquakes and fires, and human
civilization had collapsed. Kamandi lived in a bunker in New York ("Command
D"), and he left it when his grandfather died. (Kamandi's grandfather was
OMAC when he was younger.)
Among his friends he met in the outside world were Ben Boxer, a mutant
human who could turn to steel by pressing a disk on his chest; the alien
Pyra and her sentient spaceship; a young girl named Spirit; Dr. Canus, a
humanoid dog; and Mylock Bloodstalker and his partner Doile, detectives.
Recently, while searching for Ben, Kamandi found him with his partners
Steve and Renzi undergoing the rite of Evermore, which rejuvenates them but
produces a great amount of radiation. But Kamandi was captured by giant
surfing hippie crabs and taken to a drive-in movie theater on "The Island
of the God Watchers" where he's projected into a movie and worshipped along
with the other "gods" of the silver screen (no, really, this happened).
Meanwhile, Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes is thrown into the
world post-Great Disaster while trying to get back to the 30th century, and
the two heroes team up to escape. Pyra tells them that by going west to the
Vortex (which seems to be in Australia), they can get enough power to
return from the alternate future of Kamandi (thrown there by Major Disaster
and the Lord of Time) to the Legion's 30th century. Karate Kid makes it
back safely, and Pyra is excited that perhaps she can tap into the Vortex
to provide energy for her dying world. But before they get to the Vortex
itself, they have to pass the Western Wall.
But the Wall is too high to fly over, and after landing the group is
captured by the Kangarat Murder Society of Australia, who guard the Wall.
They escape, and realize they have to get Ben, Steve, and Renzi to unlock
the door with their radiation. The door opens and Kamandi is drawn inside.
A voice "like a thousand tornados" screams his name. "EEEEEEEEEnter, my son
-- since before time began, and from the time the eons ended, I have waited
your arrival!"
In the OMAC story, which picks up directly after the last issue of Kirby's
OMAC series (sometime in the future, but 60 years before Kamandi), OMAC has
survived an attack by Skuba, but Brother Eye has been encased in rock and
is 93% inoperable, so all OMAC has left is vast strength and intelligence
data. OMAC has to make it to the HQ of the Global Peace Agency... but
Houston is under attack by troops from the International Communication and
Commerce company. He gets past the IC&C troops, to find a lone dying GPA
agent who tells him that the seven major corporate powers have banded
together and attacked the GPA, destroying it. Prof. Z has predicted that
the powers will turn on each other, plunging earth into a technological
dark age with just enough knowledge to unleash a final nuclear holocaust.
Prof. Z gave the GPA agent a tape that will explain everything.
That was issues 57-59. Issue 59 was the first of the series during the DC
Explosion; the extra pages were taken up by the return of OMAC. Issue 60
was to be part 2 of Kamandi's Vortex Adventure. But the Explosion turned
into an Implosion, and the rest of Kamandi's adventure (as planned) hasn't
been seen...
Until now.
* * * THIS ISSUE * * *
* "Into the Vortex", 17 pages
* cover by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel
* story by Jack C. Harris
* art by Dick Ayers and Danny Bulanadi
* letters by Milt Snappinn
* colors by [uncredited]
* edited by Al Milgrom
The cover copy is great. "SEE: a thousand Kamandis on a thousand worlds...
SEE: Dr. Canus and Pyra at the mercy of the Kangarat Murderers... SEE: The
shocking battle between Living Space Ship and Mutant Energy Monster!...
AND: Don't miss the mind-blasting new origin of OMAC by Jim Starlin!" Man,
they don't write cover copy like that anymore.
Chapter 2 of Kamandi's Vortex Adventure begins with the group trying to
save Kamandi... but Pyra stops them. She says the Vortex is a break in the
reality curve of time and space, but there's an intelligence there that
needs Kamandi in a different time and space. Inside the Vortex, it tells
Kamandi that it's been waiting "twice times eternity" for his arrival...
"You have been summoned to meet your destiny-- and the destiny of all those
who dwell in your reality!" Then it begins to tell him about the multiple
earths and alternate realities.
Meanwhile, Pyra and her ship are weakening due to energy loss, and the ship
reverts to its "beastie thing" configuration. Will they have to sacrifice
Kamandi by using the Vortex energy to save Pyra's planet?
"Beyond the wall... and far beyond any realities ever seen by man or
beast..." The Vortex explains that his world is an alternate reality; the
future of what we know as the DC Universe "exists in a reality wherein the
Great Disaster never happened." There's even a gratuitous shot of the HQ of
the Legion of Super-Heroes, since Kamandi just met Karate Kid [1], and a
shot of three Flashes (Jay Garrick of Earth-2, Barry Allen of Earth-1, and
the villainous Johnny Quick of Earth-3) to emphasize the multiple Earths.
But there are other Kamandis, too, in other times and places. The Vortex
can provide a path for Kamandi to enter an earth where the Great Disaster
never happened, and it is this decision which the Vortex has awaited. See,
Kamandi is the "pivotal point of infinities uncountable", and wherever he
goes will decide what future will come about.
Outside the Vortex, the group is captured by the Kangarats, who were
entrusted to guard the wall and get to kill all who tresspass. It looks
hopeless, since Ben, Steve, and Renzi are still undergoing Evermore;
especially since Canus hasn't gotten to tell Pyra how he really feels about
her. But does Ben hear their cries for help?
Back inside the Vortex, Kamandi weighs his options: enter a world where he
doesn't have to run and fight at every turn, a world that's sane. But what
then of Pyra and Canus and the others? For Kamandi, they will no longer
exist. Once Kamandi steps into a new reality, it will be as if it was
always his, and his friends will be but memories as if a dream. But as he
takes his first step, he sees flashes of the Great Disaster: people
running, the animals anthromorphizing, Ben, his life in Command D with his
granddad... "The world has become a jungle," the former OMAC said, "and it
will be up to you to rebuild the world of men!" Kamandi changes his mind
and wants to go back to his world.
Back in Kamandi's original reality, it doesn't look good for the crew. But
Ben, Steve, and Renzi have heard their cries, and they create an energy
creature to drive off the kanagrats... and then lose control of it. Spirit,
who has the ability to spin super-hard fibers from her fingertips, creates
a dome around the group, while Pyra's ship attempts to defend them. If it
defeats the energy creature, Ben might die, and if the ship is killed, Pyra
can't return to her people and save them...
"Nearby, and yet realms away..." Kamandi makes his decision to return to
his own world. There were an infinite number of decisions he could have
made, and it's not for the Vortex to say which would have been correct. He
is sent back to his realm via the Dream Stream. Just then, Kamandi is
picked up by two unlikely guest stars: Brute and Glob, sidekicks of the
Sandman (Garrett Sanford). They think he's Sandman's pal Jed, and so they
take him to the Sandman....
To be continued...
Letters page: 4 letters dealing with issue 57, which was the Surfing
Lobsters and the drive in movie, which ended with Kamandi stuck in the
projector. First is from Mark Steel of Mattawan, MI, who gushes about how
good issue 57 was. Second is from Don McCord of Nashville, who's not sure
if he likes Kamandi as a movie star. Third is from Paul Rectenwald of
Louisville, who asks for the return of Kirby's Sandman, leading to the
reply below (see comments section). Fourth is from Mike Christiansen of
Rockford, IL, who is a newcomer to the series and likes what he sees.
Harris also noted that Starlin's OMAC would return in issue 62 (skipping
61), along with the "astounding fate of Pretty Pyra".
Backup story: OMAC
* "For This Is the New Origin of OMAC", 8 pages
* story by Jim Starlin
* art by Jim Starlin and Joe Rubinstein
* letters by Gaspar Saladino
* colors by [uncredited]
* edited by Al Milgrom
OMAC plays the tape from Prof. Z.
It seems that the planet Vision is a highly advanced world dedicated to
preserving civilization through indirect scientific means. A brilliant
psycho-historical regulator named Prof. Z, who was responsible for watching
Earth, found some concepts that would allow him to predict the future of a
single human to within 98% accuracy. He predicted that Earth's future was
endangered by the rise of industrial barons which would lead to civil war
and intellectual decline, ending in a nuclear pyre, and in man's place
would arise animals. The Council agreed, and mapped out a plan which would
steer Earth clear of that path. But Z disagreed with their methods. The
Council set up the Global Peace Agency, ostensibly composed of men from all
countries who wished to remain anonymous protectors. The GPA becan jailing
criminals and crooked politicians, but Z still claimed they'd fail to
prevent the holocaust. So then the GPA commissioned an Earth scientist to
create a super soldier to help: and they took an inconsequential youth
named Buddy Blank and turned him into a One Man Army Corps, aided by the
satellite Brother Eye who gave him power and knowledge when needed.
But now Z has escaped, leaving behind some predictions: that OMAC would
fight Skuba and Brother Eye would be damaged (as seen in OMAC #8), and that
the GPA would be destroyed by the corporate powers (as seen in KAMANDI
#59). Within the week, though, those powers would turn on each other
because of their wartime economy. That decision will ruin mankind. Within a
generation, man will be a breed of sub-intellectuals, since morality and
intellectual expansion will be outlawed in favor of destruction. But there
may be a way out-- Z predicts a .002% chance of success, but if a single
strong leader can be found who can immediately end hostilities, that
destruction may be averted. OMAC has to find that leader or become him.
Plus, he gets a new costume. Then the IC&C troops come in, and OMAC
surrenders.
To be continued in issue 62...
======================================
KAMANDI #61
Feb./March 1979
Originally posted to rec.arts.comics.dc.universe on 8/20/96
======================================
* * * WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE * * *
See above.
* * * THIS ISSUE * * *
* "I'll See You In My Nightmares", 7 pages
* cover by [not included]
* story by Jack C. Harris
* art by Dick Ayers and Danny Bulanadi
* letters by Todd Klein
* colors by [uncredited]
* edited by Allen Milgrom
* "The Seal-Men's War on Santa Claus", 18 pages
* cover by [not included]
* story by Michael Fleisher
* art by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer
* letters by [uncredited]
* colors by [uncredited]
* edited by Joe Orlando
As mentioned above, this was a Sandman story with a Kamandi intro and
ending sequence. The letterer and editor don't remember that the kid's name
is "Jed", since they keep spelling it "Jeb".
Brute and Glob, thinking Kamandi is really Sandman's friend Jed, bring
Kamandi to the Dream Dome, home of the Sandman. But Sandman tells them it's
"not the Jeb WE know", and when Sandman tells Kamandi who he is, Kamandi is
skeptical, saying that the Sandman is a fairy tale, just like Santa Claus.
In the Vortex, explains Sandman, all things are real and possible, and
directs Kamandi's view to the Dream Screen to observe the true meaning of
faith, belief, and devotion. He shows Kamandi what an alternate Kamandi --
Jed -- once learned...
It's hard to take a story seriously -- even a Kirby story -- when the hero
is on the first page saying, "I know it looks hopeless, Jed -- but we've
got to keep fighting! Unless we can rescue Santa Claus from the Seal Men,
Christmas throughout the world is as good as dead!"
On the day before Christmas, Jed is sent to collect money from Titus Gotrox
for the Christmas Fund Collection. His aunt sends Jed, not her son. He goes
to the Gotrox mansion and asks for a donation "to help spread some holiday
cheer in the world just like Santa Claus does", but Gotrox's nephew Rodney
doesn't like it. Gotrox tells Jed that if he can prove by midnight that
Santa really exists, then he'll donate a million dollars. After Jed leaves,
Gotrox tells Rodney that he'll make a small contribution anyway. Rodney
leaves to make sure Jed doesn't find Santa, since he's due to inherit all
the money.
Jed calls Sandman with his special whistle (which he drops in surprise when
Sandman shows up). It seems Sandman and Santa go way back, and after a stop
in the Dream Dome, they'll pop on over to Santa's Workshop. Brute and Glob
are left in charge in their absence, and Sandman and Jed head towards the
Fantasy Forest, home of the Nightmare Wizard, whose help they'll need if
they're going to make it in time.
Meanwhile, Rodney picks up Jed's whistle and summons Brute, telling him
that Jed left for Santa's place without him. Back in the Dream Stream, the
Wizard lends Sandman and Jed a parka and sky sled. Rodney shows up just as
they leave, and the Wizard gives him a sled and points him towards the
north polar region of the Dream Stream. Upon reaching the North Pole,
Sandman and Jed are attacked... by the elves!
It's OK, though, as Mrs. Claus comes out and chides the elves for not
realizing the visitors were not the Seal-Men. She apologizes, telling them
that the Seal-Men had snuck in and kidnapped Santa. Santa had always been
nice, so they don't know why the Seal-Men would attack. If they can't find
Santa by tomorrow, they'll have to call off Christmas... Going off in
search of Santa, Sandman and Jed see Santa... but it's a decoy! The
Seal-Men capture them, and throw them in a cell with Santa.
Sandman uses his hypno-sonic whistle to melt the bars on the cell, and the
trio escapes. But they're pursued... "We're not just fighting to save
ourselves," Sandman yells, "we're fighting to save Christmas!" Despite a
valiant fight, they're recaptured. The Seal-King tells them the reason they
kidnapped Santa was because they had been denied a Merry Christmas -- Santa
had sent them woolen gloves, scuba equipment, galoshes, and fishing poles
instead of something they could use. (Hey, I'd kidnap Santa if he sent me
woolen gloves and galoshes for Christmas, too.) But Jed convinces the
Seal-King that it's all a mistake, there must have been a mixup or
something, since Santa would never do that on purpose. So the Seal-King
says OK, you can go, just don't let it happen again.
So now the trio has to hurry back to get Santa's sleigh, since it's getting
late... only to find Mrs. Claus bound and gagged! It was Rodney, who tells
them he doesn't want any of "his" money going to charity. Sandman saves the
day, by throwing sand cartridges at Rodney. A short while later, at
midnight, Rodney falls down the chimney, followed by Santa. Santa visits
with Gotrox, who admitted he lost faith. Santa asks for the million dollar
check, and Gotrox has it ready: he had decided to give it to charity
anyway. For his Christmas wish, Gotrox gets to help drive Santa's sleigh.
Back in the Dream Dome, Kamandi and Sandman finish looking at the scene.
Sandman tells the boy that "in another reality -- in another time, on
another earth, this adventure happened to you! If a certain event in the
past was changed, you would have been born centuries before you actually
were, and your name would have been Jeb [sic] instead of Kamandi!" Kamandi
asks if Sandman is the voice of the Vortex, but Sandman tells him he's not
ready to know to whom the voice belongs.
But now they have to get back to "reality": remember, Pyra, Canus, Spirit,
and the others are still in trouble. They jump into the Dream Stream and
head for Earth... and come out through the open door to the Western Wall.
While Kamandi distracts the energy creature, Sandman goes to break up the
Rite of Evermore. (Somewhere in here, Spirit left the dome that held Pyra,
Canus, Doyle, and Bloodstalker, since she greets Kamandi at the Wall.)
Sandman says he knows the Rite of Evermore, and the energy creature is
being prolonged by the dream state of the mutants. He struggles to pull
them apart and wake them up (despite the radiation)... and succeeds! The
energy creature evaporates, and soon Kamandi's party is freed. Sandman bids
them farewell, reminding Kamandi that his world is the nightmare of OMAC,
Kamandi's grandfather. It's up to Kamandi to try and remake the world into
a pleasant dream. Kamandi "remembers that he alone is the hope of
humankind"...
Next issue: Space Mission!
* * * COMMENTS * * *
[1] This makes "Cancelled Comic Cavalcade" an addition to the Anal
Retentive Legion Checklist.
The OMAC story showed up in "Warlord" 37 (9/80) with only minor caption
changes to tie it in better with the Great Disaster. The Sandman story
appeared for the first time in "Best of DC Digest" 22 (3/82) in a Christmas
issue.
The timeline of this future is kinda fuzzy. The Atomic War that was part of
the Great Disaster took place in October 1986 (see "Hercules Unbound" or the
Atomic Knights series in "Strange Adventures"). The Atomic Knights appeared
with Hercules ("Hercules Unbound" 10), who was freed during the early days of
the war. In that issue, Hercules and the Knights find the water stolen by
Skuba in "OMAC" 7-8. But OMAC's world was in the technological near-future
ruled by corporations, and Hercules and the Knights are post-war; the
Hercules issue takes place right after the OMAC issues. Finally, the Atomic
Knights and Hercules were retconned out of existence in 1983 in "DC Comics
Presents" 57, where it's revealed that the whole future of the Knights was
just a dream of Gardner Grayle. So that would imply that OMAC and Kamandi
would be gone too, but both appeared with Superman later (OMAC in DCCP 61 and
Kamandi in 64). Who knows. It was all erased in the Crisis, anyway... which
took place in 1985-86. Hmmmm...
Editor (and writer) Jack C. Harris answered a question about Sandman in
the letters page of issue 60:
"While there are no plans for the revival of Sandman's own book,
next issue might just usher in a new demand for the Master of
Dreams. When the book was cancelled many months ago, Editor Joe
Orlando (now Managing Editor) had a completed Mike Fleisher/Jack
Kirby/Mike Royer story on hand. It went into our inventory drawer
and was never to be seen by the public.
When artist Al Milgrom became one of DC's newest editors, he
rummaged through that drawer and pulled out the story. Being a
true Jack Kirby fan, Al wanted desperately for the last,
never-published issue of SANDMAN to see the light of day. With
the introduction of the 25-page books, Al had his chance and
handed our writer the assignment of connecting Kamandi and the
Sandman. The result is on sale in just 60 days."
These two issues are not part of official continuity. Kamandi made two more
pre-Crisis appearances in team-up series, meeting Batman and Superman.
In Kamandi's next appearance, in the pages of "Brave and Bold" #157 (12/79,
written by Bob Haney and drawn by Jim Aparo), it is revealed that Kamandi
had dropped out of the Vortex into Gotham City in 1979. He's drugged and
forced to be The Enforcer for Extortion, Inc. due to his incredible
strength and loss of memory. But his strength is fading, and they decide to
kill him. Batman, who was following the case, stops them. Kamandi's memory
returns as he recognizes "Captain Bat" from an earlier adventure when
Batman went to Kamandi's time. Taken back to the Batcave, Batman finds out
what happened in the last issue of Kamandi's series. Instead of meeting
Sandman, Kamandi wanted to go back to Batman's time, which seemed better.
But he realized his fate in the 20th century was to become more an animal
than in his own time, that all times have their troubles and terrors. He
wants to go back, and Batman takes him to Australia, to the place where the
Western Wall would be in Kamandi's time; but all that's there is a huge
rock in the middle of the desert. The aborigines say the rock has power,
and after dusting him with the magic powders of the desert, Kamandi climbs
to the top. The next morning, he's gone.
In the letters page to B&B 162, commenting on issue 157, editor Paul Levitz
says:
"...We cheerfully admit that KAMANDI was one of about five books
that were cancelled in our cutback in 1978 simply because we
wanted to have only monthly 40 cent comics, which meant that a
handful of decent sellers had to go, and that a record-breaking
sale on B&B #157 would make us consider a revival."
Kamandi's final pre-Crisis appearance was again in the 20th century, where
he was drawn by an experiment gone awry. In "DC Comics Presents" #64
(12/83, an Evanier/Saviuk/McLaughlin production), Victor Epoch creates a
gyroscope with which to see into the future, but it only succeeds in
merging the future with the present. But this is an untold tale of
Kamandi's past, before he has learned much about the world of the past.
(Mark, any comments about writing this issue?)
A Kamandi series was scheduled to appear in the backup slot of "The
Warlord", as revealed in the letters page of "Warlord" 56. OMAC had been
appearing as a backup in these pages, taking over from where the series
ended abruptly in KAMANDI. Editor Jack C. Harris, who you may recall wrote
the last few issues of the Kamandi series, wrote:
"Ross Andru will be taking over the editing of this title next
month. He has plans for the ending of the current OMAC saga and a
return to... Kamandi, the lgendary creation of Jack Kirby.
Originally scheduled to begin next issue, Kamandi will now appear
as soon as possible, but not next month. The writers of OMAC and
the new editor agreed that it would only be fair to those readers
who have been following OMAC's adventures to end the plotlines
and leave nothing hanging!"
Unfortunately, the series never appeared.
We never found out what eventually happened to Pyra, Canus, and the rest of
the group, since we never saw Kamandi's world again until the Crisis.
Finally, Kamandi was one of the first people chosen by the Monitor during
the early days of the Crisis. By the end of the big event, Kamandi's future
history was erased, and the boy who would have been Kamandi was instead
found by Capt. Horatio Tomorrow of the Planeteers. Kamandi would grow up to
be Tommy Tomorrow. Ironically, the Vortex had earlier given him a chance to
"enter a world where he doesn't have to run and fight at every turn, a
world that's sane." He made his choice to go back to his own world instead,
but Fate had other plans after all.
-----
Michael R. Grabois | http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mgrabois
Houston, TX | or...@ix.netcom.com CI$: 74737,2600
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you can read this, you're an alien trying to steal my brain
just like you did to Elvis."
Byron Crump
hey, its been so long since i read a kamandi, i was just wondering...was
captain comet ever in the book or someone with a similar outfit?
Michael R. Grabois
On 22 Aug 1996 02:52:01 GMT, WMG...@prodigy.com (Byron Crump) wrote:
>hey, its been so long since i read a kamandi, i was just wondering...was
>captain comet ever in the book or someone with a similar outfit?
No, you're probably thinking of Ben Boxer, who had a red suit. The only DCU
crossovers were OMAC (his grandfather), Superman and his suit, Batman
(twice), and Karate Kid of the Legion.
Lawrence King
Byron Crump < WMG...@prodigy.com > writes:
|> >hey, its been so long since i read a kamandi, i was just wondering...was
|> >captain comet ever in the book or someone with a similar outfit?
Michael Grabois < or...@ix.netcom.com > writes:
|> No, you're probably thinking of Ben Boxer, who had a red suit. The only DCU
|> crossovers were OMAC (his grandfather), Superman and his suit, Batman
|> (twice), and Karate Kid of the Legion.
There were really three Superman tie-ins: the Suit in KAMANDI 29, the
tale of Superman / LSH / Green Lantern Corps in SUPERMAN 295 which
established Kamandi as living in an "alternate future", and the horrible
Supes-Kamandi team-up in DC COMICS PRESENTS.
Plus Kamandi got a small role in CRISIS. A very nice send-off, actually:
he got to meet Solivar, the talking ape from the FLASH's book. They got
along splendidly.....
larry king
univ of washington
Johanna Draper
In article <4vkoat$p...@nntp4.u.washington.edu>,
Lawrence King <lk...@math.washington.edu> wrote:
>tale of Superman / LSH / Green Lantern Corps in SUPERMAN 295 which
>established Kamandi as living in an "alternate future",
Is this title/issue correct? If so, could you describe it further?
Johanna
--
"When the toast is burned, and all the milk is turned, and Captain Crunch
is waving farewell; when the big one finds you, may this song remind you
that they don't serve breakfast in Hell."
-- "Breakfast", Steve Taylor, from "Take Me to Your Leader", Newsboys
Michael R. Grabois
On 23 Aug 1996 19:25:38 GMT, dan...@aurora.cis.upenn.edu (Johanna Draper)
wrote:
>In article <4vkoat$p...@nntp4.u.washington.edu>,
>Lawrence King <lk...@math.washington.edu> wrote:
>>tale of Superman / LSH / Green Lantern Corps in SUPERMAN 295 which
>>established Kamandi as living in an "alternate future",
>Is this title/issue correct? If so, could you describe it further?
Here's a review of the story I wrote last November:
"Superman" 295 (Jan. 1976). Story entitled "Costume, Costume, Who's Got the
Costume?" by Maggin/Swan/Oksner.
Basically, a guy dressed as Father Time steals Superman's costume and
vanished. Supes goes to the Fortress (in a non-indestructable costume) and
uses the Time-Screen to find it (by focusing on the JLA signal)... 1000 years
in the future, in the ruins of Metropolis.
So he breaks the time barrier and "through the worst of all possible worlds
he tumbles... an age undreamed of in the wake of worldwide calamity [picture
of humanoid animals]... a time a century hence when humankind is nearly left
extinct and mutated intelligent animals fight each other for domination of
the ruined planet.. till a race of super-developed men and women arises nine
centuries later to overthrow their animal overlords... It is here, in the
ruins of "ancient" Metropolis, that Superman touches ground..."
So he gets to 2975, but it's not the Legion's time. Jaxon is wearing
Superman's costume, on the steps of the Galaxy Building. They fight, and
Superman remarks that "You're no ordinary Earthman! Your ancestors must have
come from another planet like I did!" Jaxon replies "The Words of Knowledge
fall from your mouth as if you were a priest.. but only a mad priest would
fight the wearer of the Mighty One's clothes!"
Jaxon claimed to have liberated the costume from the man-gorillas, last seen
holding it in "Kamandi" #29. During the fight, 20th Century Metropolis keeps
materializing, and when Superman says "Moons of Krypton!", Jaxon drops to his
knees, since only the Mighty One knows that name (apart from the priests).
Suddenly the costume appears on Superman, the future people disappear, and
Father Time shows up.
Only it's really Xenofobe, the Green Lantern of sector 2814 in the 30th
century. "The idea was to set right the course of Earth's future.. which was
upset during a battle the Green Lantern Corps of the future had -- er -- will
have -- with a nasty character known as the Time Trapper! The Trapper
arranged things so that the energy from our power rings entered the
time-dimension, wiping out all earth's possible futures but one -- a future
in which a natural disaster ended mankind's reign on earth.. so that the
Trapper's foes -- the Legion of Super-Heroes -- never existed! To set things
right, I arranged a battle between you and the mightiest of future beings,
Jaxon, causing you both to generate power that countered the ring energy,
thereby restoring all possible futures! Thus the Legion exists in one
possible future, Jaxon in another..."
Or something like that.