Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - DC Comics Presents #92

Next up for the month is another issue from the DC Comics Presents series. It was basically a Superman team-up book akin to Batman’s The Brave and the Bold book from the Bronze age. It started in 1977 and ended in 1986, sometime after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Even though the post-Crisis had started, there were some vestiges of the pre-Crisis Superman out there. I’ve read a couple here and there. As for this one, I found it in the 50 cent bin and finished it off on the DC app.

DC Comics Presents #92 was written by Paul Kupperburg. He had actually took over for Marv Wolfman for the book’s guest star, the Vigilante. I don’t remember much about this character other than the fact that he first appeared in New Teen Titans and that he had a cool costume. Reading this, I now realize that it’s someone else under that mask other than Adrian Chase, the original Vigilante. Curt Swan handled the pencils, Dave Hunt did the inks, Gene D’Angelo did the colors, and Helen Vesik did the letters. So, what gets Superman to team up with a potential murdering Vigilante? 

DC Comics Presents #92

Writer: Paul Kupperburg

Pencils:  Curt Swan

Inks: Dave Hunt

Colors: Gene D’Angelo

Letters: Helen Vesik

Editor: Julius Schwartz

“A Question of Justice!”

We start out with Clark Kent and Lana Lang reporting on a New Year’s Party on Times Square. The two end up sharing a kiss on camera since they were dating at the time. Clark ends up spoting someone in the crowd who’s preparing to shoot the New Year’s ball. Even though he’s in civilian mode, he runs over and tackles the guy down. A cop shows up and takes the man in for questioning. The cop lets Clark know that they’ll need a statement later.

Clark Kent: Man of Action!

The next morning, Clark and Lana go to the courthouse to see the man, Mark Griffen, get arraigned. His lawyer is able to get him off of his charges even though Clark gives his statement on what happened. Meanwhile, a police guard thinks to himself that he’s seen Griffen before. He even notices that Griffen has a scar where he may have gotten some plastic surgery done. Later, Clark is still uneasy about what happened. He suspects about why Griffen was trying to shoot the New Year’s Ball, so he changes into costume and inspects the ball. He ends up finding poisonous nerve gas in it and lifts the ball out of there safely. He tries to search for Griffen, but he’s gone and disappeared.

Meanwhile, the police guard, who’s revealed to be David Winston (the new Vigilante), recognizes that Griffen is a former scientist named Arthur Bryan. While he’s doing research at the courthouse, Superman finds Vigilante and tries to figure him out. Since the two are trying to find the same guy, they form an alliance, and Vigilante promises to do his namesake right. After Vigilante hassles a snitch he knows, he heads off to find more men who are trying to release the nerve gas. Meanwhile, Superman does his own sleuthing and takes out other terrorists. In the end, they’re able to stop the nerve gas from being released in New York.

 OPINION

I think that this was a fine team-up issue. One thing that makes this cool is that it’s set in New York instead of Metropolis. It gives Superman another place to play hero. I also liked how we got to see him step up as Clark Kent instead of Superman in that early part of the issue. As for our guest star, he was cool. I’ve been interested in this version of Vigilante (there have been several) ever since he showed up in New Teen Titans, but I haven’t gotten around to reading his series.

Superman’s and Vigilante’s relationship actually reminded me of what Superman’s and Batman’s relationship would be in the post-Crisis era. Vigilante (or an earlier version of the character that isn’t David Winston) had killed in his career, but the different ideologies were at play here. The artwork was nice for the most part. You can’t go too wrong with Curt Swan since he was the artist for Superman in this era. I will admit that he’s not one of my favorites, though. The look for Vigilante was also cool as usual. He reminds me of Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe for some reason.

Other than the villains really having no motive (where was that), I thought that this was a nice read. It’s making me want to check out the Vigilante series from the 80’s on the DCU app. I’ve seen issues of the run in the cheap bin, but I’m trying to cut back on physical stuff, so the app it is. Next time, I’ll be looking at a lost story from Marv Wolfman himself: Man and Superman. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.