Ms. not appearing in this issue - All-Star Comics #70

A Parting of the Ways

All-Star Comics #70

Cover Dated: January / February 1978

Released: 18th October 1977

The problem with following a single character in a team book is occasionally they just don't (or hardly) appear in the book at all. Such is the case with this issue, after three pages Power Girl flies off not to be seen again in this issue. This is from a time when they tried to keep something resembling a continuity so she's off to have a solo adventure, more on this next blog post. 

But then again I'm a completest so here we go...

Whilst I don't normally comment on the covers I've got to say the text boxes of speech from Huntress are both incredibly goofy and amazing at the same time!

We start with all the old and new JSAers finishing a meeting now all as good friends, with Bruce and Power Girl hanging together in the background. Bruce then says goodbye to everyone, making extra sure to tell Power Girl to be patient with the old 'uns. Wonder Woman is out of there in a few panels with just a Hola, apparently, she made an impression on Power Girl who says it was nice to meet her, maybe she wanted a peck on the head from Diana rather than Bruce in this case?

The rest of our regular crew melts away one by one, Hawkman first to meet back up with Shiara, Alan to sort out a new job and Garrick for a vacation with the family. The final straw is when of the last two, the Star-Spangled Kid, suggests a game of monopoly causing the already mopy Power Girl to storm out of the comic and into her own solo adventure. And that it for Power Girl!

...

Oh okay then! 

We follow Star-Spangled Kid (SSK) and Wildcat as they spend a rather boring monitor duty playing checkers(or draughts). After losing quite a few rounds, and taking a pop at Wrestling being fake (even then) Wildcat decides to take the pair of them out to have some fun waiting for nothing to happen. As they leave we again see that mysterious figure in the shadows, even though she was revealed in the last issue and is again on the cover (apparently shuffling Power Girl out of the sidebar, obviously the JSA have an only one girl policy for covers).

As they're leaving the place the national Bank is being raided by a team of supervillains that call themselves the Strike Force. the regular police are quickly beaten back and our now recovered Commissioner Wayne gets O'Hara of all people to call in Gothams tactical squad. The Strike Force bursts out in SeeThru sphere's soundly trouncing the Tactical Squad.

Wildcat and SSK see none of this as they're in Duffy's bar, where after a few minutes a fight breaks out when someone takes umbrage that Wildcat calls Ted (himself) a washed out fighter. Luckily at this point, SSK sees about the bank and drags Ted out to go face off against Strike Force.

After a lovely splash page of Star-Spangled kid flying with Wildcat, having put on their costumes with technobabble, there's a page of the two heroes fighting the Strike Force, who apparently haven't left the scene yet. They're quickly overwhelmed and captures by the group who then decides to fly away leaving the chasing cop away in the distance.

We then have a brief cut to the tower of Doctor Fate who meets up with his beloved Inza, only for the pair to be menaced by an as yet unseen foe that's apparently set up for the future.

Then back to our pair who finally meet Huntress, who is introduced with relatively little fanfare for all the setup, who says she's here to rescue our two heroes. Wildcat is initially unsure as to whether she is on the level, but they have no time to debate the situation as Strike Force arrives to menace the three heroes with their weapon drawn to finish up the issue.

Whilst this is really a breather episode, manoeuvring new plots and characters into position -  along with passing Power Girl along to her solo stories, it's actually a pretty solid tale. It's nice to just follow a few characters, even if it's not my beloved Power Girl, after the massive number of characters of the last few issues.

But next we have Power Girls first (mostly) solo story!