Beware the Fury of the Doll Man! Oh, Stop Laughing

On December 10, 2023December 10, 2023 By Mark PerigardIn ComicsLeave a comment

Can we all agree that in the pantheon of super-powers, super-shrinkage is the absolute worst?

More useless than the ability to control a skateboard with your mind. (R.I.P., X-Statix’s El Guapo.)

Lousier than the ability to spew slugs. (Hello, X-Men’s Maggott.)

Super-powers, intrinsic to their nature, are supposed to give you an edge in the unending battle of good vs. evil.

Super-shrinkage makes you susceptible to perils the average person takes for granted: the family cat, an open grate, a stray spider.

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Sanctuary Lost

On January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 By Mark PerigardIn ComicsLeave a comment

New England Comics shuttered its Cambridge store on Sunday.

A mainstay of Harvard Square for more than 30 years, the store closed because of a precipitous decline in foot traffic in this post-pandemic era.

Despite its proximity to Harvard University, the store was no longer profitable.

I had been a customer almost as long as the store was open.

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That Time Batgirl was Almost Killed by a Wig

On August 21, 2022November 9, 2024 By Mark PerigardIn ComicsLeave a comment

In the late ’60s, the mighty maestros of DC Comics had a brainstorm: Spin Robin and Batgirl into solo adventures in the back pages of “Detective Comics.”

If you were a fan of the Bat-sidekicks hoping to see them take on some of Batman’s notorious rogues by themselves or perhaps even develop their own gallery of colorful enemies, you had to be disappointed.

Robin fought campus crime, and the stories were even more boring than this sentence suggests.

Batgirl battled run-of-the-mill thieves and killers.

But there is one Batgirl story that stands out, even after all these years.

It’s a Gotham City-sized crater of stupidity.

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The new Justice Society, on CW's "Stargirl" (Photo: CW)

We Have a Justice Society TV Show. This Is Not a Drill.

On July 31, 2020 By Mark PerigardIn Comics, TVLeave a comment

Any casual visitor to this site might guess that I have a deep affection for DC’s Justice Society of America, the first and greatest superteam.

Maybe it is because I talked about how the 1970 Justice League/Justice Society team-up pretty much got me addicted to comic books.

Or how I finally tracked down the elusive issue long missing from my collection.

Or how the Justice Society just lent themselves to the best holiday stories.

But I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d live to see the Justice Society star in a TV show.

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Brace Yourself for the Billion Dollar Debut of Bat-Girl!

On June 29, 2020June 30, 2020 By Mark PerigardIn Comics2 Comments

The dazzling debut of Bat-Girl!, from "Batman" No. 139. — The dazzling debut of Bat-Girl!, from “Batman” No. 139.

It just had to happen.

Batman gained a female counterpart in 1956 in Batwoman, just in time to head off these freaky academics who were convinced Batman and Robin were P-Town buddies.

Readers had to wait five years for the next obvious addition to the Bat-Family.

In “Bat-Girl!” in “Batman” No. 139, cover date April 1961, written by Bill Finger and drawn by Sheldon Moldoff, the Bat-Family has been cornered by those dastardly fiends, the Cobra Gang.

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