Thursday, May 10, 2012

80-Page Thursdays: Even More Secret Origins, Replica Edition!

Hey, kids! Ready for the thrilling secret origin of the Blackhawks?
Blackhawk's on the cover, but this is all they get.
Oh, goddamnit...from 2003's replica edition of Even More Secret Origins, featuring stories from Edmond Hamilton, John Broome, Bob Haney, and Gardner Fox; with art by Carmine Infantino, Curt Swan, Lee Elias, Joe Kubert, and Gil Kane.

Among other reprints, this issue features the first appearance of Eclipso; which was a relatively straight-forward Jekyll-and-Hyde setup, without any of the later agent of Chaos/Wrath of God business that came in later. Eclipso had a OK run, for a villain that could be defeated by a tanning booth...

There's also the Silver Age classic "Creature of a Thousand Shapes!" that introduced the Hawkman and Hawkgirl from Thanagar; then the secret origins of the Jimmy Olsen/Robin team and of Green Lantern's oath. I don't know how many of these Secret Origin specials they did, but if they were down to or were successful enough to get to those last two; they were either doing something really wrong or really right.

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Yeah I know, because countless numbers of children all across the country were clamering(now that's an old word) for the secret origins of the Blackhawks. Hey, don't get me wrong; they were an awesome concept for the time, and could still be relevant today if used properly and all.

Also remember when they tried to be hip to times during the silver age, and tried to become costumed super-heroes? Ha! Mark Waid's JLA:Year One briefly mentioned that time period and explained why they did that. Funny as hell.