DC's 1st Issue Specials

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DC released a collection of this series two years ago, and I've been considering posting some thoughts on it ever since (occasionally, not continuously). Specifically, I want to rank the issues first through thirteenth. The decision that has been holding me up is whether to rank low to high, high to low, or in numerical order. But Tom King's Danger Street is scheduled to begin next month and that has provided impetus. 

When I read the stories in this collection in 2020, some of them for the first time, I discovered that some of them were clearly better than others. In fact, it occurred to me that I could pick any two issues of the series, compare them side-to-side, and pick a favorite. For example, there are three Jack Kirby comics in the series' 13-issue run, and it's pretty easy to pick my first, second and third favorite among them. The problem is, enough time has now passed that I must read some of them again because I just can't remember which I preferred between, say, Lady Cop or Code Name: Assassin; between The Outsiders or The Green Team.

As the story goes, because first issues generally sell better than subsequent issues, publisher Carmine Infantino decide to publish a series of all "first issues." I will be ranking them taking into consideration the following criteria: concept, writer, artist, pedigree and legacy/potential. The collection includes editorials introducing the feature for most of the issues. By "pedigree" I mean was it a new character/concept or a revised/reintroduced one? By "legacy/potential" I mean did the character/concept go on to be used by other creators? 

Gerry Conway (from his introduction to the collected volume): "As a concept, the 1st Issue Special series was, frankly, frankly, more than a little half-baked. Supposedly a tryout book for new concepts or revised and reintroduced characters, it didn't really serve that purpose effectively. One-shot appearances don't do much to project reader interest in a character or series. They also don't provide a creative team sufficient time to develop whatever potential a new or revised character might have. And in the case of 1st Issue Special, production requirement didn't allow for much pre-development of any idea either." 

I have decided to present the issues in publication order, BUT... because it's been two years, I'm going to want to reread them all before I even get started, so bear with me. 

[Philip Portelli]

I just got this last month even I have most of the original issues.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

By this time I have now refreshed the entire series in my head and ranked the issues best to worst. I did this by cutting a piece of paper into 13 strips and writing the name of the features on each one. It is my intention to present one each day in release order, but I hadn't factored in the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'll start the next week so as not to be interrupted once I get started. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"It is my intention to present one each day in release order..."

I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to rank them from worst to best (or least favorite to favorite if you prefer). 

THE GREEN TEAM:

WRITER: Joe Simon

ARTIST: Jerry Grandenetti

PEDIGREE: None (new)

LEGACY: None

RANK: 13th

In late 1973, several people in DC editorial (notably writer/editor Joe Kubert) were keen to team Joe Simon up with his old partner, Jack Kirby, to do another "kid gang" comic for which the pair were so famous for back in the '40s (the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, Boys' Ranch, etc). Neither of the men were all that eager to resume their partnership, but each one agreed to develop a "kid gang" comic on his own. This is Joe Simon's.

I remember seeing "The Green Team" one on the spinner rack at Ahmann's Newsstand when I was 11 years old. As I have said before, at that time I was interested in any and every first issue I could find, not because I thought it would "be worth something someday," but because I desperately wanted to be in on the beginning of something new. the words "1st Issue Special" jumped right out at me. It wasn't until I got home when I noticed it was somehow the second issue (How could that be?) and I felt cheated. Then I read it and was disappointed. Even as an eleven-year-old kid I knew it was crap. I  was never to see another new issue of 1st Issue Special on the spinner rack again for the remainder of the series' brief run.

Three issues were produced, but the second and third ended up in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. 

[Philip Portelli]

THE GREEN TEAM did not age well. The book was filled with stereotypes and unlikable characters with a menace that was never really menacing. 

And they had money gimmick outfits! 

[Philip Portelli]

Plus these stories were supposed to appear in 1st Issue Special but appeared elsewhere:

Batgirl & Robin/ Batman Family #1 (O'75)

Green Arrow & Black Canary/ Green Lantern #100 (Ja'78)

Metal Men/ Metal Men #45 (My'76) 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Wow... If you were going from worst to best, I would've bet you'd start with The Outsiders. I bought that as a back issue, and man, was I sorely disappointed. 

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

I saw The Green Team about a million times in 20¢, 25¢, and 50¢ boxes. I never had any desire to pick it up. Glad my instincts were right.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

The book does have a bit of a legacy, though. In 2013 DC released The Green Team as an ongoing series, written by Art and Franco of Tiny Titans fame, with art by Ig Guara. It lasted 8 issues. From what I've heard, a lot of their ideas for the book were nixed by the publisher after the book was greenlit, so some DCU-centric ideas (like, say, the team having bought a salvaged Batmobile, or a fleet of them) never saw the light of day for fear they'd diminish the DC heroes. 

[Randy Jackson]

I actually like the concept of the Green Team, and I'd life to write a series about them five years later. They've evolved into a sort of Shark Tank group, plus they have honorary members such as Damian Wayne that do things like help in disaster relief situations. I see a fair amount of potential. 

[Luke Blanchard]

I think Conway's comments are partly off the mark. When the reader buys the first issue of any title he buys just one issue. The problem of a spotlight series like this one is there needs to be someone involved in shaping each project who has a sense of what will be commercial. There also needs to be people involved who have quality objectives.

Some number of spotlight series have employed the one-at-a-time approach. Showcase started that way and regularly used the approach from #72-#81. Marvel Premiere and Marvel Spotlight both had periods where one-issue spotlights predominated.

I speak of spotlights rather than try-outs because such titles were sometimes used to launch a series that had already gotten the go-ahead. The Warlord is a case in point, as its first issue appeared two months after the spotlight.

I'm with Randy on the Green Team. They're like a kid gang version of the Challengers of the Unknown crossed with Richie Rich.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"The book does have a bit of a legacy, though."

You're right, Rob: I should have listed that under "LEGACY." Now that you mention it, I do vaguely remember that series, but i think I repressed it. Come to think of it, I should have listed two issues of Cancelled Comics Cavalcade under "LEGACY" as well. 

"I actually like the concept of the Green Team... I see a fair amount of potential."

"I'm with Randy on the Green Team."

I considered adding "POTENTIAL" to my list, but that's so nebulous. A good writer can turn any virtually stinker around. The series you would like to see, though, is nothing like the one that Simon and Grandenetti made. (I have not read the CCC issues.) Perhaps someday a collection will include the three originals plus the eight-issue 2013 series. That series, subtitled "Teen Millionaires", just looks scary to me. (See "Squire Sebastian Senator" to see what that reminds me of.) 

"Wow... If you were going from worst to best, I would've bet you'd start with The Outsiders."

There are three pairs which gave me a spot of trouble slotting one before the other, and Green Team/Outsiders was one of them. That's why I wanted to reread the entire series before I started ranking them, to refresh them in my mind. You'll be happy to see my "second worst" choice below. One reason I was reluctant to go from worst to best was that I didn't want to "top load" the list with the two Simon/Gandenetti efforts; no matter what, I knew those were going to be my two least favorites. I think it was my own personal experience that gave "Green Team" the nod, but I should have included CCC and the 2013 series in my estimation.

THE OUTSIDERS:

WRITER: Joe Simon

ARTIST: Jerry Grandenetti

PEDIGREE: None (new)

LEGACY: None

RANK: 12th

A team of "outsiders" does have potential, I admit (the X-Men, the Doom Patrol, etc.), but Simon originally wanted to name his team "Freaks" (which was politically incorrect before the term was even coined), based on the Tod Browning film. the comic book is so bad it's almost good, like an MST3K movie. the first panel is of Doc Scary, the team leader, bursting into the rec room to find the rest of his team of misfits watching the news about "the freak terrorizing the town of Lynnville." ("Doc Scary" is only his code-name; his real name is "Doc Goodie.") They rush to the scene singing their "theme song" (I guess), which includes the name of the "freak" they're trying to help.

Hang in there, Billy... It's US... US...

Lizard Johnny, the Amazin' Ronnie,

Hairy Larry, Ol' Doc Scary & Mighty Mary!

We're THE OUTSIDERS

After they're rescued Billy, the plot shifts to relating four origin stories, the last of which leads to the same panel which opened the issue, the team watching TV coverage of a freak in the rec room. The freak in question is the "Flaming Freak," yet the final caption reads: "This is the end of our story... and it is also the beginning... for nature's bizarre experiments with the human form are a never-ending cycle!... And in this spirit, we ask you to return to page one for the continuation of this particular episode..." What? They're watching the Flaming Freak, not Billy... besides, Billy is already on the team. My head hurts.

I can understand why Jack Kirby no longer wanted to work with Joe Simon, but I can't understand why Simon reportedly didn't want to work with Kirby. I have my own theories about who did what and who was carrying whom. Just look at their respective output after they dissolved their partnership. Then, after Kirby died, Simon said some unflattering things about Jack when he was no longer around to defend himself. The most successful Simon/Grandenelli collaboration was Prez, which ran for four issues, one in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade and one guest appearance in Supergirl. Then, years later, was used in Neil Gaiman's Sandman, plus a Vertigo one-shot and a six-issue series. That concept had potential, but it did not debut in 1st Issue Special. There was one other project Joe Simon was developing with Jerry Grandenelli back in the '70s: a new version of Sandman, another series with potential, but again, it did not debut in 1st Issue Special. Ultimately, Jack Kirby was persuaded to take over as editor and artist. It was supposed to have been a one-shot, but sales warranted a series, for which Kirby drew the covers (five of them), plus the interiors of three and an additional issue which appeared in Cancelled Comics Cavalcade. If Kirby hadn't been brought on board, I have series doubts that Neil Gaiman would have been attracted to the character at all. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

That series, subtitled "Teen Millionaires", just looks scary to me.

Ah, Jeff. Considering how many times you've correct my incorrect names in the Dark Shadows thread, it gives me no small joy to say:

Teen Trillionaires.