For his final Justice Society of America script, co-creator Gardner Fox conjured up the Wizard to give the JSA the runaround (All-Star Comics 34, May 1947).
In his debut, the top-hatted sorcerer tries to team up with the JSA, believing their alleged “honesty” a mere con. After a few chapters of cat and mouse, the Wizard apparently commits suicide.
“In the end, all the Wizard’s attacks are explained as illusions,” noted Roy Thomas’ All-Star Companion. “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Miracle Man (in Fantastic Four 3, March 1962) will have a similar look and modus operandi. Of course, Lee Falk and Phil Davis’ Mandrake the Magician had been ‘gesturing hypnotically’ since 1934. Yet when, in the All-Star finale, the Wizard seems to jump to his death in a vat of acid, only the Flash seems at all suspicious!”
In Superman Takes a Wife! (Action Comics 484, June 1978), the washed-up Wizard is hired by the super-criminal Colonel Future to wipe Superman out of existence with his magic. The Wizard succeeds simply by making Superman forget who he is.
Freed of the pretense of weakness, Clark Kent then becomes a dynamic reporter, winning the love of Lois Lane and marrying her. Their happiness is only threatened when Lois accidentally discovers that Clark is, in fact, the vanished Superman.
Nathan J. Bennett wrote:
ReplyDeleteHawkman: Frozen.
GL: Shrunk.
Johnny Thunder… got scared.
Michael T. Gilbert wrote:
ReplyDeleteSeems to me, The Atom should have been the one shrunk "to the size of a fountain pen."
Joseph Lenius wrote:
ReplyDeleteCool! Full page, but has the feel of a 1960s DC ad.
Bob Doncaster wrote:
ReplyDeleteA good villain never dies. Just ask Norm Osborn. (Who should have stayed dead in my opinion)
I replied:
I tend to agree. I never thought of the Goblin as a particularly good villain, but he became important by learning Spidey's ID and killing his girlfriend.