Kevin's Watch

or conversely my single most favorite comic book arc of all time.

#195 October 1981, #196 November 1981 and #197 December 1982.

credits are thus...

#195 : Gerry Conway -Writer & Storyteller. George Perez - Artist & Storyteller. John Beatty - Inker.

#196 : Gerry Conway - Writer. Artists - George Perez & Romeo Tanghal.

#197 : Gerry Conway - Writer & Storyteller. George Perez - Penciller & Storyteller. Keith Pollard - Penciller & Storyteller. Romeo Tanghal - inker.

each issue also had : Ben Oda - Letterer. Carl Gafford - Colorist. Len Wein - Editor.

I was a fan of both Conway and Perez already at that age. I enjoyed Conway's stories; also reading his Firestorm, Detective Comics, Batman Comics, DC Comics Presents, Secret Society of Super-Villains and many more.

Perez I knew from his gorgeous pencils on Avengers.

and I remember Gafford's colors popping off the page. hard to tell with the aging that has happened. but even with fading we have with aging, the book still looks great. like comics should. not every comic has to be a muddy, brooding muddle.

and in the letters page (remember those?) of #195 we find the announcement of a ten cent increase for all DC Comics that were priced at fifty cents apiece. this may not seem like much, but I hated it! I went from being able to get two comics apiece whenever asking my parents for an extra buck to scrounging for loose change.


in the letters page for issue #197 we learn that Ted P. Skimmer is no longer replying to the letters, instead we have Tamsyn O'Flynn.

that cover is amazing. remember this is pre-internet. this issue introduced me to all of the Earth-Two villains on the cover. and this is my first exposure to Johnny Thunder as well.

I always liked the team books more. I felt I was getting more bang for my buck the more characters featured. and the JLA / JSA crossovers were always a highlight.

a brief history... to explain the heroes existing in WWII, DC Comics created Earth Two, which was the Golden Age of Comics. any comic that happened after the reintroduction of the DC heroes in the Sixties happened on Earth One. they ended up with a host of dimensions, homes for their various comic holdings. they bought Quality, Charlton and Fawcett.

when the two Flashes met it opened the door for yearly meeting of the League and Society. at times DC would introduce their acquisitions during these stories.

so just the cover held my attention. I loved meeting new characters. and in the middle of the issue we get a huge treat. a two page poster of the Justice League and the Justice Society!

I have to get 195 so I can read it. Some 3-issue arcs that stand out in my memory are: Amazing Spider-man 298-300, Avengers 164-166, and Uncanny X-Men 256-258.

I will finish this review, I have had this cold for three weeks now. sorry.

George Perez is amazing. he takes obscure characters like Ragdoll and gives them life. Ragdoll's battle with the GA Flash is gorgeous. I will see if I can find pages of this stuff.

and this is where I first found Signalman.

I read then this weekend; and here's my thoughts: . John Beatty wasn't a good inker for Perez, and putting Pollard in for half of 197 further messed up what would have been wonderful art.

The storyline did not quite grab me; I expected something different, like the Monocle or Woodrue turning on Ultra-Humanite.

I think the heroes were defeated too easily.Batman's defeat especially galled me.

It all seemed rushed, especially in issue 197; maybe the original idea was to make it a 6 issue series ending in issue 200.

I did like the characters used, except for Psycho Pirate. Sorry, that's just too stupid.

I don't know why, but I've always liked Hour Man, and the SA Flash, so yay, I got some more of my favorite heroes!

Hourman and Jay Garrick Flash have great costumes. the first Dr. Mid-Nite did as well.

I would love for someone to expand on the story. for it's time three issues was quite a long stretch. remember lots of comics at that time were single issue. that makes the Marvel-Two-Ones even more remarkable. the Serpent Crown and Project Pegasus arcs were allowed to play out. and they had to come up with a new guest-star every issue.

I read 192-194, and Beatty inked those issues and it looks fine, so now I'm thinking it doesn't look like Perez because it's Pollard.

I still am pondering how U-H could calculate and engineer such an unlikely series of events, and yet failed to predict the reaction of villains he scammed.

rules were different in those days? when you break down the Humanite's it doesn't really make much sense. but it was glorious in conception.

maybe something happened in crossing from one Earth to another? lots of bad guys acted strangely back then. try the SSoSV series.

Hey! I was reading this article about Jay Garrick being in the next season of CW's Flash ... and I knew what the hell they were talking about because of this thread!

thanks WF - I am now looking forward to that.

does the newest Flash employ the speed force?

I really need to get the dvds.

Legends of Tomorrow is the show I have been waiting my whole life for. what I have seen in the previews has blown me away.

Just looking at the pages of threads. I never saw this thread. Yeah, I have those issues. Always loved the JLA/JSA crossovers. Looked forward to it every year.

The JLA / JSA / New Gods was also a favorite.

The LSH one should have been a crossover with their title.

The All Star Squadron vs Degaton was great. Loved the
Inclusion of Earth 3 and the Crime Syndicate.