VOLUME 1 1970 - 1982
COMICS INDEX
VOLUME 1 1970 - 1982
COMICS INDEX LEONIDAS FRAGIAS
The Arts & Charts Index to DC Comics Presents The format and design of this book is based on George Olshevsky's Marvel Index series and Murray Ward's DC Index series. Their books have a beautiful layout which was an inspiration for me. The Official Marvel Index is a series of comic books released by Marvel Comics which featured synopses of several Marvel series. The books were largely compiled by George Olshevsky and featured detailed information on each issue in a particular series, including writer and artist credits, characters who appeared in the issue, and a story synopsis. The Official Marvel Index was preceded by the Marvel Comics Index (also compiled by Olshevsky) and distributed by Pacific Comics Distributors sporadically from 1976-1982. These books were magazinesized as opposed to comic-sized. The first Official Marvel Index titles were published in 1985, and produced regularly through August 1988. A similar series of indices was published for DC Comics. The Official DC Index was released by Independent Comics Group (an imprint of Eclipse Comics) from 1985–1988. The books were edited by Murray Ward. The data for this book is taken from various sources. I fill the gap of the missing data, since I have the complete collection of DC and Marvel comics from the 1930s to the present. Also I made some corrections, when the data is wrong. The book series cover the bronze age (from 1970 to 1986) of DC Comics. This is my favorite era, when it comes to comics. Many thanks to DarkMark, George Olshevsky, Murray Ward, Mark Waid and Mike Tiefenbacher among others. Leonidas Fragias
DC COMICS PRESENTS INDEX Volume 1, 2018. Published by Arts & Charts. Editor: Leonidas Fragias, Writers: Various. "DC Comics Presents" is trademark of DC Comics Inc. All art and cover reproductions Š2018 DC Comics Inc.
World’s Finest Comics #198 November 1970 Cover Artist: Carmine Infantino / Murphy Anderson Story: “Race To Save the Universe” (22 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Jimmy Olsen and a Roman charioteer become exchanged in time as a result of the activities of Anachronids, faster-than-light robots who have appeared in the Earth-One universe. To counteract the time-warping effect, the Guardians of the Universe enable Flash and Superman to race in the opposite direction, and the two heroes make it a compeition against each other. Both save each other from perils along the way, but Jimmy Olsen finds himself condemned to death by a Roman general as a sorceror, and facing a firing squad of bowmen.
World’s Finest Comics #199 December 1970 Cover Artist: Neal Adams Story: “Race To Save Time” (22 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Superman and Flash eventually find themselves prisoner of JaxUr, General Zod, Kru-El, and Prof. Vakox, who have escaped the Phantom Zone via the Anachronids. They tell the heroes that the Anachronids will eventually rupture the barrier between the Zone and Earth-One, destroying Earth’s solar system. Though all of them are under a red sun for the moment, Superman and Flash break free, defeat the villains, set things to rights, and inadvertently free Jimmy Olsen. But the Flash wins the race.
World’s Finest Comics #200
World’s Finest Comics #201
February 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams Story: “Prisoners of the Immortal World” (22 pages) Writer: Mike Friedrich Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: During an antiwar demonstration and riot on Hudson University’s campus, Superman, Robin, and two brothers who are students are abducted by aliens who wish to drain Superman’s power and use it to grant them immortality.
March 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams Story: “A Prize of Peril” (22 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman and Green Lantern get into a rivalry over their respective powers, and Felix Faust takes the opportunity to masquerade as Dr. Fate, create an illusion of a Guardian of the Universe, and lure both of them into a power-test which is actually a trap.
World’s Finest Comics #203 June 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “Who’s Minding the Earth?” (22 pages) Writer: Steve Skeates Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman and Aquaman must battle Dolphin-Men, amoebic mutants with telekinetic power and a wish to destroy the human race.
World’s Finest Comics #204 August 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “Journey To the End of Hope” (22 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: A computer dating service pairs up Clark Kent and Diana Prince, just before the two of them--and three hoods--are yanked into a desolate possible future of Earth by another computer, in hopes of averting Earth’s future fate.
World’s Finest Comics #205
World’s Finest Comics #208
September 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “The Computer That Captured a Town” (22 pages) Writer: Steve Skeates Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman has to save the Teen Titans and the people of Fairfield from an alien computer which programs them all according to the wishes of a man whose memories it took and then killed.
December 1971 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “Peril of the Planet-Smashers” (24 pages) Writer: Len Wein Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: While seeking a cure for his weakness to magic, Superman helps Dr. Fate save Earth-Two from mystic aliens who wish to smash the continents of that world together.
World’s Finest Comics #209 February 1972 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “Meet the Tempter and Die” (24 pages) Writer: Mike Friedrich Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: By playing on their secret emotional weaknesses, a being called the Tempter almost induces Superman and Hawkman to commit disastrous acts.
World’s Finest Comics #210 March 1972 Cover Artist: Neal Adams / Dick Giordano Story: “World of Faceless Slaves” (24 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: At a time in which Oliver Queen is considering running for mayor of Star City, he and Clark Kent are kidnapped by a sorceror from 15,000 years ago. The magician, Effron, wishes to use Green Arrow as his champion in a duel for kingship of a world of people without faces.
World’s Finest Comics #212
World’s Finest Comics #213
June 1972 Cover Artist: Nick Cardy Story: “And So My World Begins” (22 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman locates the phasing building again and enters it, phasing back with it to its location on Vonn, which is under a red sun that strips him of his powers. There he meets J’onn J’onzz again, and learns that the Martians have been kidnapped by the warlike Thythen race and used to recharge war-robots with their own life-force. J’onzz has fallen in love with Bel Juz, a female Martian, but Superman learns that she has sold out to the Thythen.
August-September 1972 Cover Artist: Nick Cardy Story: “Peril In a Very Small Place” (24 pages) Writer: Elliot S! Maggin Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: The Atom tries to contact Superman by his phone-travelling trick, only to become entrapped in a sub-atomic universe in which he and the Man of Steel must save an inhabited world from a “genesis molecule”.
World’s Finest Comics #214 November 1972 Cover Artist: Nick Cardy Story: “A Beast Stalks the Badlands” (24 pages) Writers: Steve Skeates, Denny O’Neil Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman and the Vigilante join forces to track down a werewolf at a rodeo.
DC Comics Presents #1 July-August 1978 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez / Dan Adkins Story: “Chase To the End of Time” (18 pages) Writer: Marty Pasko Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Superman and the Flash, investigating an alien landing in a small town, are drawn into contact with two warring alien races who have been at each others’ throats for billions of years. The heroes must stop one alien’s voyage through time, or see the human race become nonexistent.
DC Comics Presents #2
DC Comics Presents #3
September-October 1978 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez / Dan Adkins Story: “Race To the End of Time” (25 pages) Writer: Marty Pasko Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Superman and the Flash must race against each other to reach a time-travelling alien who could doom the Earth.
November 1978 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “The Riddle of Little Earth Lost” (1 page) Part 1: “Superman, Champion of Rann” (8 pages) Part 2: “Adam Strange, Superman For a Day” (8 pages) Part 3: “Kaskor’s Double Doom” (8 pages) Writer: David Michelinie Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Kaskor, an old enemy of Adam Strange’s, engineers an event that causes Rann and Earth to switch places when Adam uses a Zeta-Beam to teleport himself. Thus, Adam ends up on Earth, Superman returns from a space mission to find Rann in Earth’s place, and both planets are in danger of destruction when the effect wears off.
DC Comics Presents #4 December 1978 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “Sun-Stroke” (1 page) Part 1: “A Titan Stalks the Streets” (5 pages) Part 2: “Water, Water, Everywhere” (3 pages) Part 3: “The Man Who Murdered the Sun” (7 pages) Part 4: “Is This the Way the World Ends?” (7 pages) Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: At a time in which solar prominences are affecting both Superman’s and the Metal Men’s performances, Hawkman’s old foe I.Q. tries to use the rampaging Chemo to save the Earth, not knowing he may actually doom it.
DC Comics Presents #5 January 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The War of the Undersea Cities” (1 page) Part 1: “And Peace Shall Not Reign Under Waves” (7 pages) Part 2: “A Clash of Champions” (5 pages) Part 3: “A Crown For the Sister City” (4 pages) Part 4: “Secret of the Sinister Sea Lord” (6 pages) Plotter: Len Wein Scripter: Paul Levitz Artist: Murphy Anderson Synopsis: War breaks out inexplicably between the twin Atlantean cities of Poseidonis and Tritonis, and Superman and Aquaman find out that it is a plot of the Ocean Master’s.
DC Comics Presents #6 February 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern” (17 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: After Green Lantern is defeated in battle by Star Sapphire, he passes his ring to Clark Kent so that Superman may continue the fight.
DC Comics Presents #7 March 1979 Cover Artist: Dick Dillin / Dick Giordano Story: “The Paralyzed Planet Peril” (17 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: The Weaponers of Qward capture Superman and use his body to power a device that immobilizes every human on Earth, but the Red Tornado, unaffected because he is an android, battles them.
DC Comics Presents #8 April 1979 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy” (17 pages) Writer: Steve Englehart Artist: Murphy Anderson Synopsis: Swamp Thing helps Solomon Grundy II battle Superman in hopes of studying the marshland monster and finding a way to restore his own humanity.
DC Comics Presents #9 May 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Invasion of the Ice People” (17 pages) Writer: Martin Pasko Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: An alien invader inhabits the body of an ice sculpture, and Superman and Wonder Woman must defeat it.
DC Comics Presents #10 June 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Miracle Man of Easy Company” (17 pages) Writer: Cary Bates Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Superman is thrown back in time to World War II by the explosion of a powerful bomb that also robs him of his memory, and encounters Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.
DC Comics Presents #11 July 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Murder By Starlight” (17 pages) Writer: Cary Bates Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Superman returns to the present, to discover that Hawkman was the maker of the bomb which displaced him in time, that the Winged Wonder has power on a Kryptonian level, that he is mind-controlled by a villain, and that he is out to destroy the Man of Steel.
DC Comics Presents #12 August 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Winner Take Metropolis” (17 pages) Writer: Steve Englehart Artist: Rich Buckler Synopsis: Since an Inter-Gang gimmick has made it impossible for him to warn Superman directly of a deathtrap, Mr. Miracle contrives a way to get Superman in a competition with him to reveal the danger obliquely.
DC Comics Presents #13 September 1979 Cover Artist: Dick Dillin / Dick Giordano Story: “To Live In Peace--Nevermore” (17 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman tries to stop the Nrvynian race from making war in space, but the Legion of Super-Heroes come back in time to stop him, telling him that Nrvyn will someday be an ally of Earth’s in a future war. Moreover, the Nrvynians have kidnapped Pete Ross’s son Jon...and the Legionnaires insist they must be allowed to keep him.
DC Comics Presents #14 October 1979 Cover Artist: Dick Dillin / Dick Giordano Story: “Judge, Jury, and No Justice” (17 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Pete Ross brings Superboy to the present, displaces his mind into the Boy of Steel’s body to prevent time displacement (and puts Superboy’s mind in his own body), and attacks Superman for not having recovered his son Jon.
DC Comics Presents #15 November 1979 Cover Artist: Joe Staton / Frank McLaughlin Story: “Plight of the Giant Atom” (17 pages) Writer: Cary Bates Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Superman’s Fortress of Solitude is about to be destroyed by vengeful aliens, and the only opposing forces are a powerless Superman and an Atom who is stuck at six-foot height.
DC Comics Presents #16 December 1979 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The De-Volver” (17 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Superman and Black Lightning must deal with an energycreature who menaces Metropolis with the powers of devolution.
DC Comics Presents #17 January 1980 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “The Ice Slaves of Killer Frost” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Superman thaws Killer Frost out of an icy prison, and soon becomes her slave in a battle against Firestorm.
DC Comics Presents #18
DC Comics Presents #19
February 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Night It Rained Magic” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman tries to immunize himself to magic at the same time that Zatanna and Zatara open a portal to the “magic dimension” which is the source of their power. As a result, magic power pours chaotically into Earth and endangers it.
March 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Who Haunts This House?” (17 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Superman and Batgirl are invited (in their civilian identities) to a strange old house in the desert and find themselves fighting the mystic power of Dr. Horus.
DC Comics Presents #20 February 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Inferno From the Sky” (17 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Superman and Green Arrow are both drawn by a murder investigation to a geyser owned by fat-cat Bo Force, whose waters have strange energy powers.
DC Comics Presents #21 May 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Alien Epidemic” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: The Elongated Man is affected by a virus that mutates humans into the image of alien invaders, and he goes to Superman for help.
DC Comics Presents #22 June 1980 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “Plight of the Human Comet” (17 pages) Writer: Mike W. Barr Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Captain Comet is being turned into a human comet as his powers wane, so Superman agrees to help him find the comet that originally gave him his powers and re-expose him to it, both of them not knowing that a super-villain named Starstriker intends to gain similar powers from the comet.
DC Comics Presents #23 July 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Curse Out of Time” (17 pages) Writer: Denny O’Neil Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: To free his wife from a monstrous curse, Dr. Fate must battle an imp and a time-lost pirate who has enslaved Superman.
DC Comics Presents #24 August 1980 Cover Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Story: “The Man Who Was the World” (17 pages) Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: A scientist’s pacemaker is setting off quakes in Metropolis, a gangster wants the pacemaker, Deadman is about to give up his mission for Rama Kushna, and Superman tries to set things aright.
DC Comics Presents #25 September 1980 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “Judgment Night” (17 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Dick Dillin Synopsis: Superman sets out to retrieve Jon Ross from Nrvyn, while the Phantom Stranger fights Tala, who has placed a spell on the Man of Steel.
DC Comics Presents #26 October 1980 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: “Between Friend and Foe” (17 pages) Plotter, Artist: Jim Starlin Scripter: Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Green Lantern is captured and imitated by an alien who steals his ring and uses it to deceive and attack Superman.
DC Comics Presents #27 November 1980 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: “The Key That Unlocked Chaos” (17 pages) Writer: Len Wein Penciller, Plotter: Jim Starlin Synopsis: Mongul, an interplanetary conqueror, forces Superman to battle J’onn J’onzz for a crystal key that will give him control of Warworld, an artificial weapons-planet.
DC Comics Presents #28
DC Comics Presents #29
December 1980 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: "Warworld" (17 pages) Writer: Len Wein Plotter, Artist: Jim Starlin Synopsis: Mongul has already laid claim to Warworld, and controls its sensors and war-making machinery (including incredibly-powerful missles) from a headset in its command chair. Superman and Supergirl find Warworld and are beset by its missles, sent by Mongul, any of which has the power to kill them. The two heroes defeat Mongul by forcing him to use all the weapons on Warworld against them, which causes him to pass out from the mental strain imposed by the headset. But the planet is still sending out weaponry against them, now that it has been activated. Supergirl flies out a great distance in space, then pours on full speed, achieves a velocity greater than she ever has before, and punches straight through Warworld, destroying its computer core and deactivating it. She comes out on the other side and hurtles headlong into space, unable to stop herself. Superman enters, discovers Mongul has somehow escaped Warworld, and programs the planet to destroy itself, which it does. But he still has to track down Supergirl, wherever she has gone.
January 1981 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: "Where No Superman Has Gone Before" (17 pages) Writers: Len Wein Plotter, Artist: Jim Starlin Synopsis: The Spectre intervenes when Superman bursts the very bonds of infinity in his search for Supergirl.
DC Comics Presents #30 February 1981 Cover Artist: Rich Buckler / Steve Mitchell Story: “A Dream of Demons” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: Dr. Destiny lures the Black Canary and Superman into a dream dimension with visions of the late Larry Lance, intending to destroy them both.
DC Comics Presents #31 March 1981 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Deadliest Show on Earth” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Robin comes upon a circus of mind-controlled performers whose number includes Superman.
DC Comics Presents #32
DC Comics Presents #33
April 1981 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Super-Prisoners of Love” (17 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Kurt Schaffenberger Synopsis: Eros falls in love with Wonder Woman but is rejected by him. In revenge, he fires love-arrows into her and Superman and cause them to fall in love with each other.
May 1981 Cover Artist: Rich Buckler / Dick Giordano Story: “Man and Supermarvel” (17 pages) Plotter: Gerry Conway Scripter: Roy Thomas Artist: Rich Buckler Synopsis: Superman and Captain Marvel discover that their powers and costumes have been magically exchanged by Mr. Mxyzptlk, who has struck an alliance with Mr. Mind.
DC Comics Presents #34
DC Comics Presents #35
June 1981 Cover Artist: Rich Buckler / Dick Giordano Story: “The Beast-Man That Shouted ‘Hate’ At the Heart of the U.N.” (25 pages) Plotter: Gerry Conway Scripter: Roy Thomas Artist: Rich Buckler Synopsis: Superman and the Marvel Family are faced by the alliance of Mr. Mxyzptlk, Mr. Mind, and King Kull, who has gained four times as much power as any one of the heroes.
July 1981 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Metamorphosis Machine” (17 pages) Writer: Marty Pasko Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: To save Rebecca Langstrom’s life, Superman and her father, the Man-Bat, must treat her with a device from the Fortress of Solitude, but the Atomic Skull attacks in a bid to steal the device.
DC Comics Presents #36
DC Comics Presents #37
August 1981 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: “Whatever Happened To Starman?” (25 pages) Plotter, Artist: Jim Starlin Scripter: Paul Levitz Synopsis: Mongul kills Starman’s sister and marries Lady Merria forcibly to gain rulership--and the power of destruction--over an empire of a hundred worlds, and only Superman and Starman can stop him.
September 1981 Cover Artist: Jim Starlin Story: “The Stars, Like Moths” (17 pages) Plotter, Artist: Jim Starlin Scripter: Roy Thomas Synopsis: Superman and Hawkgirl learn that Superman’s greatgrandfather came to Earth over 100 years ago, established a laboratory there, and created a gateway between their universe and an X-Dimension which stores expended energy from suns.
DC Comics Presents #38
DC Comics Presents #39
October 1981 Cover Artist: George Perez Story: “Stop the World, I Want To Go Home” (17 pages) Writer: Martin Pasko Artist: Don Heck Synopsis: Superman and the Flash are tricked into fighting each other by an other-dimensional tyrant who wishes to siphon off their super-energies in order to return to her own world.
November 1981 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Thing That Goes Woof In the Night” (19 pages) Writer: Marty Pasko Artist: Joe Staton Synopsis: Plastic Man and Superman team up to bring in the Toyman and two Acme City crooks who have stolen one of his toys, a wind-up fake dog, to help in a bank robbery.
DC Comics Presents #40 December 1981 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Day the Elements Went Wild” (19 pages) Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Irv Novick Synopsis: Simon Stagg duplicates the Orb of Ra in an attempt to cure Metamorpho, but Java the caveman acquires it and uses it to cause havoc. Superman and the Element Man team up to stop him.
DC Comics Presents Annual #1 1982 Cover Artist: Rich Buckler / Dick Giordano Story: “Crisis On Three Earths” (1 page) Part 1: “Million-Dollar Mayhem” (3 pages) Part 2: “Missles Over Metropolis” (3 pages) Part 3: “A Switch In Time” (13 pages) Part 4: “When Menaces Meet” (3 pages) Part 5: “The Summoning of Supermen” (4 pages) Part 6: “Earth’s First Super-Hero” (14 pages) Writer: Marv Wolfman Artist: Rich Buckler Synopsis: The Luthors of Earths One and Two team up with Ultraman, Superman’s evil counterpart from Earth-Three, to threaten two Earths with destruction and to attack their respective Supermen.
DC Comics Presents #41 January 1982 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Terrible Tinseltown Treasure-Trap Treachery” (27 pages) Writer: Marty Pasko Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Synopsis: Superman must briefly team with the Joker to find the whereabouts of a comedian-cum-crime boss’s hidden hoard, which the Prankster is also seeking.
DC Comics Presents #42 February 1982 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Specter of War” (19 pages) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Irv Novick Synopsis: A group of survivalists intends to trigger an atomic war, and only Superman and a strange ally who may be the Unknown Soldier of World War II may be able to avert it.
DC Comics Presents #43
DC Comics Presents #44
March 1982 Cover Artist: Brian Bolland Story: “In Final Battle” (Part 1; 8 pages) Part 2: “The Thousand-Year Doom” (10 pages) Part 3: “Showdown In the Stars” (8 pages) Epilogue (1 page) Writer: Paul Levitz Artist: Curt Swan Synopsis: Mongul takes Superman captive as he menaces Earth with the Sun-Eater, and Jimmy Olsen summons the Legion of Super-Heroes to help.
April 1982 Cover Artist: Ross Andru / Dick Giordano Story: “The Man Who Created Villains” (25 pages) Plotter: Bob Rozakis Scripter: E. Nelson Bridwell Artist: Irv Novick Synopsis: Superman goes to Fairfax to investigate the rash of new heroes there, just as Chris King turns himself into a monster by dialing H-O-R-R-OR.
VOLUME 1 1970 - 1982
An Explanation of the Comics Index In this series, we examine every issue of every DC and Marvel comic book of the silver and the bronze age and also provide you with a color reproduction of the comic’s cover, a complete listing of the creative people involved in producing the comic, a summary of what happened in each adventure, and various other information. All comics indexed in a series will run in serial order, beginning with the first issue or the earliest issue that features the series being indexed. Each of the index entries is as self-explanatory as possible. Some of the criteria we used to create an index entry are provided below. Cover Credits It usually takes many people to produce a comic book cover, from conception and design through coloring and production, and it is impossible to credit them all. The Artist, responsible for the basic execution of the cover, does the lion’s share of the work. If more than one artist works on a cover, some usually pencil and the others usually ink. Records of artists and letterers are sometimes unavailable, particularly for covers that appeared many years ago, so the identities of some cover artists and letterers are the best guesses that the indexers and DC’s and Marvel's current editors and art staff can make. Credits other than Artist or Artists and Letterer appear where known. Story Information Story titles are given as they appear on the title pages, not as on the covers or in coming attractions. When a story lacks a title or title page (a rare occurrence), a note to this effect appears as a Comment. Story credits are taken from the credits as published. As with cover credits, it is impossible to credit everybody who worked on a story, but whenever additional information is available, it appears in the Index. If the published credits in a story are incorrect, the Index corrects them wherever possible.
Chronology A time line for all of DC’s and Marvel's comics that allows proper chronological ordering of the appearances of every DC and Marvel character is far from complete. Nevertheless, some appearances are known to precede or follow others. Whenever chronological information is known reliably but is not obvious from the continuity of the stories, it is noted in parentheses. “First appearance” accompanies a character’s listing when the comic is the earliest one in which the character appears. A first appearance is not necessarily a character’s chronologically earliest appearance, which might occur, for example, in an origin flashback first told many years later. As a general rule, in the case of feature characters who are members of a team but who also appear in their own features or comics, issue-by-issue chronological notations for these characters are made in the indexes to their own features, not in the index to the team feature. For instance, Superman’s chronology is noted in The Superman Index, not in The Justice League of America Index. A casual reading of a few Plot Synopses will make it abundantly clear that a whole month does not usually pass for the characters in between monthly issues of a comic. Many issues begin hours or even minutes after the previous month’s story. Consequently, a character who has had his own feature for ten years will not have aged ten years in the time it took for those comics to come out. As for trying to determine in what year a given adventure takes place, there’s no conclusive answer. Specific dates that appear in stories, as well as mention of current events and popular culture, depictions of contemporary fashions, and usage of contemporary slang, are all what is known as Topical References. These are specific details added by a writer or artist to a story to make it seem current at the time the story is being published. They are not necessarily indicators of when — what year or even what decade — a story took place.