Action Comics Weekly

[Bill Angus]

Over on the "Comic Have You Read Lately?" thread, Michi made the following post about Action Comics Weekly.


I just finished reading the run of ACTION COMICS WEEKLY, #601-642, when it was a 48-page anthology format, 1988-89. I bought the entire run for 20 cents each, in perfect condition, unread and apparently unopened, at Half-Price Books.

What a mixed bag. I was completely out of comics during this period, and have never really caught up with most of the DC characters, so a lot of what's going on with Green Lantern, Blackhawk, Black Canary, and Deadman seems downright perverse when it's not completely incomprehensible. Oh well. It all gets retconned anyway. I can tell you, however, that Jim Owsley doesn't do Green Lantern any favors. Phew.

Believe it or not, the continuing feature I liked the most out of this anthology run was WILD DOG, an urban vigilante story. It is completely engaging in its face-value simplicity. Imagine if Frank Castle were a well-adjusted, nice fella. That's Wild Dog, Jack Wheeler. Kudos to Max Collins, Terry Beatty and Barry Crain.

There are some art highlights, e.g., Kelley Jones inked by Tony DeZuniga on Deadman, but there are an equal number of total duds and fiascos, which I will mercifully bypass mentioning. Feel free to chime in, though.

The best thing about this weekly experiment overseen by MIKE GOLD is the number and variety of outstanding covers. It's practically mind-boggling to have what would normally be FOUR YEARS of covers produced in less than a year's time. Here's the complete rundown:

601: Dave Gibbons with a top-notch portrait of the cast of ACTION WEEKLY.
602: George Perez with a detailed, dramatic GREEN LANTERN.
603: A wonderful, moody, evocative BLACKHAWK cover by Kyle Baker.
604: Klaus Janson with a dynamic WILD DOG cover.
605: Andy and Adam Kubert do DEADMAN under glass.
606: Kerry Gammill with an excellent SUPERMAN cover.
607: Steve Lightle with a suitably mysterious SECRET SIX cover.
608: Paul Smith with a dramatic GREEN LANTERN portrait.
609: Brian Bolland's BLACK CANARY. (Shown torching her "new" costume).
610: David Lloyd's DEADMAN cover.
611: Alex Nino in a rare SUPERMAN cover. Great composition.
612: Paul Gulacy's SECRET SIX family portrait.
613: Michael Kaluta's NIGHTWING hanging from a clock tower.
614: Mike Mignola and Ty Templeton's GREEN LANTERN doing his Silver Surfer.
615: Barry Crain's excellent WILD DOG.
616: Alex Toth with an incomparable BLACKHAWK cover.
617: Dean Motter's very art deco SUPERMAN racing a train cover.
618: Jon Bogdanove and Murphy Anderson re-do a classic cover, this one featuring Nightwing and Speedy (original by Infantino & Anderson)
619: Esteban Maroto doing DEADMAN.
620: Mary Wilshire with a dynamic SECRET SIX illo.
621: Joe Orlando with an iconic BLACKHAWK cover.
622: Ron Frenz and Larry Mahlstedt with a GREEN LANTERN action cover.
623: Brent Anderson with a wonderful, stormy SUPERMAN cover.
624: Alan Davis's sexy but tough BLACK CANARY.
625: Eduardo Barreto's DEADMAN.
626: Paul Chadwick's upshot of a GREEN LANTERN overhead flyby.
627: Gil Kane with a magnificent NIGHTWING character study.
628: George Pratt's Chaykinesque BLACKHAWK.
629: Dick Rockwell's Mockingbird and SECRET SIX.
630: John Severin's SUPERMAN straining to lift a circus elephant. My fave!
631: Jim Starlin draws PHANTOM STRANGER staring at a skull. Oh.
632: Tom Grindberg doing his best Neal Adams on Speedy and Nightwing.
633: Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson see BLACKHAWK in the clouds.
634: George Freeman's GREEN LANTERN.
635: Eduardo Barreto illustrates a crossover storyline.
636: Dick Giordano mocks up a stock cover.
637: J.K. Moore in a shadowy urban street shot of SPEEDY saving the day.
638: Jack Kirby's DEMON inked by Terry Austin. Scary!
639: Kevin Nowlan PHANTOM LADY cheescake shot (is there any other kind?)
640: Rick Burchett's WILD DOG.
641: Murphy Anderson's SUPERMAN stops a train from going over a cliff.
642: The cast bids farewell to the weekly format by Ross Andru inked by Eric Shanower, a tip of the hat to the first ACTION WEEKLY cover.

Outside of the covers, I don't see that this series produced anything of note. If I missed something, please set me straight. It seemed like a huge waste of time, talent and energy, frankly. I'd give this run a C-.

Michi

It seemed like responding there would be a bit like being lost in the labrynth, so I thought I'd just start a new thread.

Overall, I'd agree with you - there wasn't much of note in ACW. I've been picking up issues of the series over the last couple of years (fairly randomly, though with specific storylines in mind). I don't remember for sure but I think I was somewhat out of comics at the time... I definately wasn't picking this particular series up.

Like you, I was really won over by Wild Dog (in fact, I think it was after reading it in ACW that I picked up the original mini & ... was there a special or 2? I know there was more than just the mini & ACW, and I think I've got it all...) - though to be fair I was already a fan of Collins & Beaty from Ms. Tree - another series I only stumbled into in the last 5 years or so.

I also had high hopes for the new Secret Six, which I was interested in primarily for Dan Spiegle's art, especially since I'd never read the original. Dan didn't dissapoint (though he didn't stay with feature), though I did find the story a little underwhelming.

I do have a real soft spot for Mike Grell & Rick Burchett's initial run on Blackhawk - a sort-of Blackhawk as Steve Canyon or Johny Hazard (minus the rest of the regular cast, IIRC). I thought it was an interesting approach, and a nice segue from Chaykin's Blackhawk mini. The later storyline, by Marty Pasko I believe, was also pretty good, delving more into the Steve Canyon mould. This one did lead to an ongoing which lasted around a year or so I think.

Other than that, I don't really remember any standouts in the series, though you're right, they did have a tremendous run of covers.

Sorry for being so long winded... don't know what's caused it, really.

[Aaron Kashtan]

Sorry for being so long winded... don't know what's caused it, really.

It seems I accidentally put long wind in the coffee, instead of cream. Sorry.

I agree with you on Action Comics Weekly. I buy back issues of this series if I see them in quarter boxes, but it always takes me a long time to actually get around to reading them. The interior stories rarely lived up to the standard of the covers. Dan Spiegle's Secret Six is my favorite story in the series, and it introduced me to Spiegle's brilliant artwork. But like Bill says, that series wasn't particularly well written. (My apologies if Mr. Pasko is reading this-- the writing wasn't bad or anything, it just wasn't especially interesting.)

I would also note that the Grell/Burchett Blackhawk series had an unusual amount of implicit kinky sex.

[MWGallaher]

I loved the Secret Six serial, especially the first one by Spiegle. Just think what might have happened if they'd waited longer for someone to wrap up the mystery: it could have ended up entwined with the Manhunters, New Gods, alternate earths...best that it stayed in its own little universe, even if one wasn't entirely satisfied with the Mockingbird reveal. I'm really glad they've stayed untouched since Pasko's wrap-up.

[Aaron Kashtan]

I loved the Secret Six serial, especially the first one by Spiegle. Just think what might have happened if they'd waited longer for someone to wrap up the mystery: it could have ended up entwined with the Manhunters, New Gods, alternate earths...best that it stayed in its own little universe, even if one wasn't entirely satisfied with the Mockingbird reveal. I'm really glad they've stayed untouched since Pasko's wrap-up.

There was a recent Secret Six revival, but it appears that it shared little with the original Secret Six except the name.

[Captain Jim]

I seem to remember liking the Catwoman serial quite a bit. As I recall, it was a follow-up to the Catwoman year one mini-series.

[Bill Angus]

I would also note that the Grell/Burchett Blackhawk series had an unusual amount of implicit kinky sex.

Well... I don't know that I'd consider it all that implicit ;) (certainly less than the Chaykin mini - though I suppose the fact that ACW was for the mass market makes a difference).

[nweathington]

I absolutely love the two Phantom Stranger stories García-López illustrated (ACW #623 and 641).

[spoon_jenkins]

Yeah, ACW had some really nice covers that roped me in to picking it up.

I thought it had some solid stuff. It may be a bit hard for creators to adapt to the shorter story format. Back when I was a kid (when ACW was published) I visited my LCS on an irregular basis rather than every week, so I didn't keep up with stories week after week.

The Wild Dog story was pretty good - maybe the sleeper hit of ACW's run. I was a big Green Lantern fan, so I followed that serial. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as good as the Englehart/Staton run on Green Lantern Corps that preceded it. I liked the Nightwing/Speedy feature, especially since the Cheshire/Speedy subplot made an impression on me in New Teen Titans. Blackhawk was interesting; my mom was none too pleased back then when she noticed the aforementioned implicit business going on there.

[damienwhiter]

ACW was one of my favourite titles when I started getting into DC comics (I was introduced to DC with the Millennium crossover). It was a great book for a British reader who was used to reading anthologies. There was some great work in there.

My favourites would be...

1. Blackhawk
I preferred the Marty Pasko stories, all though that's partly because Rick Burchett (buy She Hulk) did better work when he wasn't being told to emulate Chaykin.

2. Nightwing & Speedy
But only the first serial drawn by Chuck Patton (whatever happened to him?)

3. Hero Hotline
Hilarious.

4. Wild Dog
Particularly the Wild Pup story; although it's all good.

5. Black Canary
I loved this at the time, I was particularly impressed by Randy DuBurke's art (this was before I discovered Paul Gulacy so it seemed really unique).

6. The crossover stories
The Elliot S! Maggin / Ed Barreto / John Nyberg story was great and the jam issue was better. The idea of pairing veteran pencillers with new inkers was genius. I particularly liked Infantino / Nowlan and Ditko / Thibert.

7. The letter columns
It may seem an odd thing to single out, but they were amazing.

8. Those amazing covers
The Alan Davis Black Canary should be a poster.

9. Green Lantern by Peter David
Such an obvious assignment and it only lasted for a few weeks.

[MDG]

What, nobody liked the Superman story?

MDG

[damienwhiter]

I would grade it as a noble failure. It came off badly in comparison to Roger Stern's work on Superman. Having said that, Curt Swan's art was beautiful (although I preferred the John Beatty inks to Murphy Anderson).

[Captain Jim]

What, nobody liked the Superman story?

MDG

Not sure if that's tongue in cheek or not. For anyone not in the know, this was probably the biggest mistake in the entire project. Superman was demoted to a single two-page spread that was supposed to evoke memories of a Sunday newspaper strip. It simply was not enough to motivate Superman fans to pick up the book. It did, however, have some very nice Curt Swan artwork at a time when the other Superman books were concentrating on Byrne and Ordway.

[Jake Lockley]

I liked the Deadman feature best from this era of Action. but I've always had a soft spot for the character. As others have said, the covers were great, but the overall content was hit and miss.

[CaptChucky]

I would grade it as a noble failure. It came off badly in comparison to Roger Stern's work on Superman. Having said that, Curt Swan's art was beautiful (although I preferred the John Beatty inks to Murphy Anderson).
I loved Curt Swan's art on the series. It was a nice looking Superman sort-of Sunday strip every week.

[damienwhiter]

I loved Curt Swan's art on the series. It was a nice looking Superman sort-of Sunday strip every week.

I'm with you there. I have been rereading those issues since I read this thread, and it seems to have got better since I last read the book. And I'd forgotten how great Gil Kane's GL art was.

[CaptChucky]

I'm with you there. I have been rereading those issues since I read this thread, and it seems to have got better since I last read the book. And I'd forgotten how great Gil Kane's GL art was. Yes, I love Gil Kane's art from that period, too. It was very dynamic. His later material was some of his best. All the best stuff from that era should be brought back into print. I'd love to see his later Superman comics get the deluxe treatment.

[bolt98]

Agree with alot that has been said.

What about the Phantom Lady chapter? I was a wee teenager reading this story. The memories of some of that art....lol