DC Special #28
Published and © by DC, June-July 1977
Title: “And the Town Came Tumbling Down”
Synopsis: Batman battles the Quakemaster, a discredited real-estate developer out to prove the building commissioner wrong.
Writer: Bob Rozakis
Penciler: John Calnan
Inker: Tex Blaisdell
Review: Little Me always wanted this comic but couldn’t find it. The cool logo. That striking cover. Batman teaming with the Legion. What Bronze-Age youngster wouldn’t want this? Sadly, the lead feature – a Batman solo outing against the ridiculous Quakemaster – makes it pretty clear this one won’t be meeting expectations.
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Title: “A Creature of Death and Darkness”
Synopsis: Aquaman and the U.S. Navy form a tenuous alliance to battle a creature born from crude oil and nuclear waste.
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Don Newton
Inker: Dan Adkins
Review: Don Newton draws some lovely individual images, but his panel-to-panel consistency is lacking and his layouts are occasionally awkward.
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Title: “The City That Stopped … Dead!”
Synopsis: The Legion battle a C-list villain who has disrupted future Metropolis’ fusion powersphere to catastrophic effect.
Writer: Paul Levitz
Penciler: Arvell Jones
Inker: Bob Layton
Review: This story is riddled with plot holes and the art is not a good fit for the Legion’s futuristic milieu.
Grade (for the entire issue): C+
Cool factor: This one could have been a contender.
Not-so-cool factor: There should be a rule that no character besides Superman can use a letter for a chest emblem.
Notable: Also includes a title splash page illustrated by Jim Aparo. … Also includes a two-page essay, “Great Disasters,” documenting the history of disasters in the DC Universe. … First appearance of Quakemaster.
Character quotable: “Go get ’em, Eagle Charlie! Send that slimy mud-thumper straight to hell!” – Unnamed Navy pilot, dropping napalm on a nuclear-sludge-oil creature
Editor’s note: This review was written Nov. 1, 2021.
