Guy Gardner is back and Firestorm takes a stand

Checkmate! 8, Detective Comics 591, Firestorm 77, Flash 18, Hawk & Dove 2, Justice League International 19

Nov 01, 2024

Our July 1988 coverage continues with some weighty subjects this week, even if the star of this selection is clearly Guy Gardner and his return to original form in this month’s Justice League International. Let’s dive right in.

Checkmate! #8 by Paul Kupperberg, Steve Erwin, and Al Vey

This month, Kupperberg finally dives back into a plot threat dangling since the very first issue when Harry Stein and Harvey Bullock tried to recruit Black Thorn only for her to escape the facility. Now Amanda Waller sees her as a possible threat to both Checkmate and Task Force X. She orders Stein and Checkmate to eliminate Black Thorn, a distinct conflict of interest for Stein who wants to work with Thorn, not kill her. It’s all a good way to heighten drama, even if it’s weakened by a Gil Kane cover that fails to present either Waller or Thorn in their best light.

Art by Gil Kane. All art in this article is owned by DC Comics and used for review purposes.

Harvey Bullock immediately wants nothing to do with any of this as he isn’t okay with wholesale murder. Stein sets out with a plan to fake Thorn’s death before hiring her a few months later under a new alias. He sends Knight John Reed (the one promoted in the backup stories of previous issues) to make her the offer to a meeting.

At the same time, Harvey Bullock reaches out to Black Thorn, meeting at a movie theater. He has an idea of his own to help Thorn. We switch to the next day, where Black Thorn breaks into Checkmate’s base. We don’t get any idea for what purpose though until Stein gets Black Thorn into a meeting. Unfortunately for Stein, Waller has had him followed. She brings several heavies along in order to finish off Black Thorn once and for all.

Black Thorn fights back, taking the battle to a back alley. Reed is guarding things outside and joins her when he realizes they want to just murder her. They take down all of Waller’s men, but Waller appears and levels a handgun at Thorn. Thorn answers by presenting her with a document about the Suicide Squad’s mission to Nicaragua in order to assassinate Hawk (as detailed in the Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad Special.) She informs Waller that if anything happens to her the document will be leaked to the press and her secret super-spy network would be exposed. Waller agrees to let Black Thorn have her way, continuing on as a vigilante on the streets of New York.

In the aftermath, Harry Stein pays a visit to Harvey Bullock and welcomes him back into the fold. He also warns Harvey to never again go behind his back as he did with Black Thorn.

This is a solid issue even if Waller seems a bit out of step with her characterization in Suicide Squad. She’s awfully close to being a straight-up villain here, a role she never really played fully in her early years. But it works as a solid way to bring back Black Thorn, a character that Kupperberg still clearly has plans for in future issues. I strongly suspect he was already hoping to give her a series at this point in her history, although he only talks about formally proposing a series for her after the end of Checkmate! (A warning: that link features a lot of details about Black Thorn’s past as well as her time in this book over the next two years, so if you’re reading along it could be spoiler-heavy.)

I did want to take a second to sing the praises of Steve Erwin here. Erwin was never known for his flash, but like Kupperberg’s long-time Vigilante artist Tod Smith, he’s an incredible draftsman and storyteller. It’s truly sad that the push into “extreme” over the next few years would effectively push him out of comics by the middle of the next decade. Fortunately for us, we still have a few years of his creative work, both on this title and on Deathstroke the Terminator. But it feels strange to me that DC would rather go with an incredibly sub-par cover by Gil Kane than let him draw the covers for this book. Amazingly Erwin won’t draw his first comic book cover for another full year, finally becoming this book’s cover artist with issue twenty. The same issue would follow him onto Deathstroke for over two years, although for that title he was stepping aside for the incomparable Mike Zeck.

Erwin passed away around this time last year and I think still doesn’t get nearly enough recognition for his amazing work. If nothing else, I hope I can bring even a bit more attention to his always-strong work.

Detective Comics #591 by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Norm Breyfogle

This issue of Detective Comics didn’t age well at all. I don’t think any malice was meant by the three white creators who put it together, but ultimately it plays into racist stereotypes even as it tries to discuss issues of appropriation of cultural artifacts.

Much of the story follows Umbaluru, an Australian Aboriginal person. He’s come to Gotham City on a mission to recover a sacred bone that was once hidden and protected on Uluru / Ayers Rock (because every story involving Aboriginal people in the 1980s had to involve Uluru.)

While Bruce Wayne hosts a charity art event with collector Kerry Rollo, Umbaluru attacks three men at a bar laughing and joking about their time in Australia. It’s made quite clear that these three men attacked and killed the the guards. They stole the “power bone” and brought it back to America, all under the orders of Rollo. Umbaluru beats two of the men into unconsciousness and kills their leader. He leaves markings in the blood that Batman recognizes as Aboriginal in nature.

Batman deduces the killer might be connected with Rollo’s new prize, so he heads back to Rollo’s collection. The guests have all left by this point, leaving Umbaluru to confront Rollo. He tries to kill Rollo, but Batman arrives in time to intervene. Despite his stature, Umbaluru is apparently stronger and faster than he appears, as he’s waxed on about being fueled by some sort of mystic power. Ultimately, Rollo tries to attack Umbaluru when Batman is off his footing. Umbaluru pushes them both out of a broken window to plummet dozens of stories to the ground.

Only Rollo hits the ground as Umbaluru vanishes with the bone. Batman is still furious as though he knew Umbaluru’s quest was righteous, but his acts were not. (The writers did at least know enough to make Batman’s push for Rollo to stand trial would only illicit disbelief from an Aboriginal person.)

I have no doubt in my mind that Wagner, Grant, and Breyfogle wanted to tell a compelling story about the issues of the illegal arts trade and the appropriation of cultural artifacts. But they did it in a heavy-handed way that still played up Aboriginal Australians as some mystical force for the world. It comes off as a bit gross to modern readers, but it seems clear at the time that no one wanted a sequel to this tale. Umbaluru will never make another appearance, disappearing into the publisher's history and never being spoken of again.

Firestorm #77 by John Ostrander, Joe Brozowski, and Sam DeLaRosa

The cover for this issue could literally be a panel of the book as the last issue ended with Firestorm kissing Firehawk and this issue kicks off in that same moment.

Firehawk pulls away and immediately slaps Firestorm. She tells him that a gentleman should ask and not just grab a woman like that. Firehawk flies away. Mikhail and Ronnie tell Firestorm he messed up, but Firestorm rages that he couldn’t know any better as he doesn’t have any real life experiences. He wants a purpose in life and his two component personalities agree to find something they can give Firestorm as a project.

Ronnie’s father gives him the answer with a trip to a small (fictional) African country of Ogaden to cover the famine there. He can bring Ronnie as an assistant and Firestorm can use his abilities to help bring prosperity and enough food to the land.

Ronnie and Ed Raymond travel to Africa where they travel to a village with Sister Agnes Martinon. She’s been traveling around Africa bringing relief and supplies for years. In the small village, they meet a man named Jama and his unnamed child, the only survivor of his family, but one he has not yet named because he doesn’t think the child will survive. All of this is very traumatic to Ronnie. He rushes off and forms Firestorm.

Firestorm sets out to work on the energy levels of the ground, finally breaking past the rule that his powers couldn’t work on organic material. In this way, he adds minerals to the soil to encourage crops and plant life. In a single night, he creates a field of flourishing vegetation. He declares his new project Eden to the gathered as the issue ends.

John Ostrander didn’t shy away from grappling with big issues in this book. Few subjects were bigger in the eighties than starving children in Africa, but it’s clear that Ostrander did his research before writing this story. Brozowski did the same, drawing the starving people of the region in an all too photorealistic manner. This three-part arc will see Brozowski’s time on the book come to an end (with his attention turned to the Catwoman mini-series) but this offered a strong start to the tale.

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Flash #18 by William Messner-Loebs, Greg LaRocque, and Tim Dzon

The first thing I will note about this issue is the strange change to the cover design as George Perez hands cover duties to a young Andy Kubert. He’s clearly channeling his father a bit more than he would down the line. The logo is the oddest choice as it appears here and nowhere else ever again. I’m not sure if it was a test logo they just wanted to use or what, but it certainly pales next to the regular logo for the series.

The tale sees Flash having to solve more of the death traps set up by Vandal Savage, starting with the Blue Trinity member attached to explosives that we ended the previous issue with. Despite just having regained his powers, Flash knows the only hope for any of them is to run the bomb away from the other speedster as fast as he can. Flash does exactly this, dropping the bomb and having it explode near him, but the protective field that surrounds him as he runs protects him from everything but some light burns. This intrigues Jerry McGee as Messner-Loebs starts to develop Flash’s powers in new ways.

While he’s doing this, Mary West is worried about money. She goes to visit Chunk knowing that he might be the only one that can help. We see the same line from the annual although things have gotten much more unruly. A mobbed-up waste manager is mad that Chunk forgot his appointment and tries to hold Mary hostage to get Chunk to do the job. This leads to his aides’ teleportation into another dimension by Chunk. Mary sets a new appointment with the man. She hasn’t worked as a secretary for decades, but Chunk doesn’t care about this and hires her on the spot to help handle the day-to-day of his new business.

Flash figures out from Vandal Savage’s final clue that Rosie Gilchrist must be buried in the empty grave of Barry Allen. He rushes to the cemetery in the middle of the light and digs up the lot at superspeed. He finds a container inside and opens it. A helicopter immediately appears with heavy guns, much like can be seen on the cover.

Flash whisks the child to safety before coming back to help Mason Trollbridge and Jerry McGee. Ultimately, Mason shoots down the chopper with his gun, but none of our heroes actually think they took Vandal Savage down with it. Gilchrist and Tina McGee arrive, Flash brings Rosie to her father, and the book ends with Flash finally feeling like he has accomplished something as a hero.

This arc didn’t come quite to the end I expected, as Vandal Savage never appeared on a single panel. He won’t surface for over a year after this and in a series about as far away from The Flash as you can imagine: Time Masters. But that being said, Messner-Loebs isn’t shying away from older Flash villains after this as the next issue features the majority of Barry’s Rogues Gallery. We will have to see if the improved quality of the series can continue in this new era.

Hawk & Dove #2 by Karl Kesel, Barbara Kesel, and Rob Liefeld

Hawk isn’t happy to see the new Dove. He throws a tantrum as they fight the criminals. They work well at taking care of them together, even as Dove explains how she was given her powers by the same mysterious voice that Hawk once heard. He seems ready to fight her too, but a flash of light blinds him and allows her to escape.

Hank Hall is at least a good enough detective to figure out that Dove must have been one of the other women at the diner where they discussed the attack. He goes about asking questions of them in some of the dumbest ways, asking leading questions that make him seem like either a creep or a man who lost his mind.

Hank finds Dove stopping a mugging near campus and tries to pursue her, but gets nowhere. He ends up returning to the scene of their first meeting. He runs headlong into Kestrel, a dark version of Hawk who we learn works for the Lords of Chaos. He ties up and gags Hank, suspecting he’s Hawk and can transform with just a word.

The mystery is basic enough, but the biggest problem with the book is the death toll from Kestrel on his way to Washington. Between two different incidents (including him bringing down an entire airliner) he kills hundreds of people off camera. That such actions wouldn’t draw greater attention from other superheroes or at least major law enforcement is a strange take from the young writing duo. It’s a rare misfire for an otherwise solid series.

Justice League International #19 by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Joe Rubinstein

This issue marks the end of Kevin Maguire’s pencils… for now. While he returns to the book with issue 22 for a final three issues, the new regular penciler Ty Templeton draws his first issue next month.

Art by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubinstein.

Lobo and Guy Gardner spend much of the first several pages with Guy happily beating down Lobo. Guy revels in being his old self again, even as the rest of the team mostly cracks jokes about what’s going on.

Ultimately, Max Lord stops the issues. Unaware of how Lobo arrived on the doorstep, he offers Lobo a temporary position with the JLI to help bolster the roster. Lobo agrees, planning to off Barda when she arrives back on Earth.

After a phone call from Black Canary ends her tenure officially, the rest of the team is sent out to recruit more heroes to the roster. Batman tries to get Superman onboard only for him to turn them down because he’s too busy. Booster and Beetle try to recruit the Flash, but only manage to have the door slammed in their face by Mary West. Batman does find two more members in his second attempt, recruiting Hawkman and Hawkwoman into the team, continuing to cause a continuity issue as Katar and Shayera will be rebooted with Hawkworld in about a year.

The team decides to stick with that new unit. This includes the name change for Green Flame and Icemaiden to simply Fire and Ice.

In space, Rocket Red laments the loss of his armor, thinking it means the end of his superhero career. Barda deduces that Manga Khan could only be taking Mister Miracle to one place: Apokolips.

It’s interesting to see this issue serve as Maguire’s last for a few months as this issue seems like the better place for the fill-in than the big two-part finale of the space arc. But Templeton will immediately get a chance to shine with those same two issues.

Despite the poor choices made on this month’s Detective Comics, it was otherwise a strong week of comics here on DC: A New Dawn. Next time around, we will dive into our first new #1 for the month as Deadshot spins out of Suicide Squad for a new character-defining mini-series.

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