The Ace of Spades! - All-Star Comics #73

 Be It Ever So Deadly...

All-Star Comics #73

Cover Dated: July / August 1978
Released: 18th April 1978

We open the issue with the story that goes through the entire issue, the two Huntresses fighting each other. As is traditional the heroic Huntress starts out on the back foot, falling for some of the traps evil Huntress has laid down, but after tricking her by setting off a beartrap Helena manages to grapple her evil counterpart into submission. Only for the evil huntress to trick her and throw Helena into a glass cage. I've got to say for how silly the tiger-striped huntress costume is her fringe game is on point!

Luckily for Helena Alan is signed up for Power Ring TV and decides to check up on her, right after that point and not a second before, and rushes off to help her out. Garrick and Power Girl apparently bored of waiting for Wildcat to get better rush off, somewhere, to do something that they'll figure out soon enough!

We then get more setup for later with Dr Fate and Hawkman being taken through strange dimension by shadow warriors to the base of some pyramids where someone with cool pyramid speech bubbles says that a big reckoning is coming for humanity. But that for future issues.

Instead, we cut back to Power Girl and Flash where she hears that Thorn is in a location across town where Garricks lab and wife are located. They find that indeed Thron is threatening Mrs Garrick, and for a change, a female supporting character is actually named, its Joan Garrick for those interested. The Sportsmaster intervenes and we get an amusing, for me, line about him using soccer equipment or Football for our British readers! Power Girl is not having this at all and owns Sportsmaster almost straight away, just bapping the ball right back at him, allowing the Flash to rush into the house and face down Thorn.

After a quick reminder that Wildcat is still very, very ill, we cut back to Green Lantern rescuing Helena from the cage, only to fall for a fake evil Huntress dummy with a poison gas attack. So again we're back to Huntress vs Huntress! 

More Wildcat is v. bad shape guys before we get a cool moment of Sportsmaster threatening Power Girl with a dead man's hand of razor-sharp playing cards before she just shuts him down using a rock and tree branch, and okay her superhuman strength, taking down the giant roulet wheel he's flying around on. meanwhile, Thorn is spinning around to stop Flash from getting too close, until he catches her out in the backwash from her superspeed. Power Girl then comes in with the captures Sportsmaster to take both of them to prison. 

Finally, we get Helena stopping the evil Huntress but using her mini crossbow to trap her in her own net so they get back just in time to save Wildcat after a six-hour operation. 

This comic does what it does best balancing a number of events at the same time, nicely cutting back and forward to create some tension. The only reason I'm so flippant about Wildcat is that it's a well that this creative team has dipped into one too time too many. Our Power Girl and her friend Helena get the most to do here, as it should be and put on a good show of things.

Next time is a small milestone for the JSA and this blog as we get the last issue of All-Stars, luckily it's not the end of the team by a long shot!