Monday, August 11, 2014

Episode 2 : Legends Part 1

Welcome back to Task Force X.  This is the second episode, which can be downloaded here:
Legends Part 1

Sorry for the delay in posting the new episode.  I'm going to try to make this a monthly Headcast for the time being.

I have a slight change of plans.  I was going to review the final three Task Force X issues of The Brave and the Bold, but as Shag Mathews (over at Firestorm Fan) keeps saying, "Find your joy", and sadly, my joy wasn't in those issues.  I may review them later on, but for now, we're going to jump straight in to the good stuff...

First I do a Character Profile on Deadshot aka Floyd Lawton.
Deadshot was created by Bob Kane, David Vern Reed, and Lew Schwartz back in 1950.
He first appeared in Batman issue 59.
As I said on my Headcast, here are some photo's of Deadshot aka Floyd Lawton...
Floyd Lawton (Pre-New 52)

Pre-New 52 Deadshot
Post New 52 Deadshot

Check out the Headcast for further information on ole Floyd.

And on to the actual comics:

Legends issues 1-3
All three issues were 75 cents a piece when they were released.
John Bryne did the covers on all the issues.

For all three issues: 
Editor Mike Gold
Plotter: John Ostrander
Scripter: Len Wein
Penciller: John Bryne
Inker: Karl Kesel
Letter: Steve Hayni
Colorist: Thomas Zuiko


The entire series was reprinted in Legend the Collection (TPB) released in 1993.

Here is the plot of the first three issues (that I pulled from Wiki to save time and energy on my part):

The plot of Legends is similar to the biblical story of Job. The evil god Darkseid makes a wager with the mysterious Phantom Stranger that he can turn humanity against its heroes. To win the bet, Darkseid sends his minion Glorious Godfrey to Earth, where Godfrey uses the sound of his voice to control people's minds and turn them against Earth's heroes. To further his scheme, Darkseid sends a fire elemental called Brimstone to Earth to defeat the Detroit-based Justice League along with Firestorm and a time-traveling Cosmic Boy.

Darkseid also arranges for the cyborg villain Macro-Man to be killed by the mystic lightning that Captain Marvel uses to change into Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel is blamed by the media for Macro-Man's death. Batman suffers his own loss when Robin (Jason Todd) is trampled by a crazed mob. Fearing widespread panic, President Ronald Reagan (the U.S. Commander-in-Chief at the time of publication) declares martial law and bans all superheroic activities in America. This angers several members of Reagan's department of defense, who - at the behest of Amanda Waller (aka The Wall) - activate "Project: Task Force X", AKA the Suicide Squad. Recruiting a team of expendable imprisoned supervillains, Amanda Waller has the Suicide Squad destroy Brimstone.

All characters are owned and copyrighted by DC Comics.  Check out DC Comics for the monthly adventures of the New Suicide Squad.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please e-mail me at TaskForceX@HeadSpeaks.com.

Please tell a friend, and check back next month for the exciting conclusion to the epic LEGENDS mini-series.