Dazzler #18

Dazzler #18 (1982)
by Danny Fingeroth & Frank Springer

First Enchantress, now the Absorbing Man… is Dazzler going to fight all the Thor villains?
To be fair, sooner or later every superhero ends up fighting the Absorbing Man.

We begin with Dazzler visiting the Baxter Building for a jam session with the Fantastic Four.

You know what? I kind of love the idea of the Thing being a sax player. I think it suits him (though with those fingers it has to be a special design saxophone, right?)

Though I can understand why we don’t see the FF play together again. But it does make sense that the Thing and the Human Torch don’t like the same music.

At first I thought Dazzler wanted Reed to analyze her powers again, but nope, she really did go to the FF to play music.
While I would’ve loved to see Reed play an instrument (possibly a violin, going with the Sherlock Holmes cliché?), he actually wanted to give her a sound weapon.

That’s powerful stuff, supposedly powerful enough to render any foe completely deaf.

Dazzler wants nothing to do with this invention, making a connection to her daddy issues.

Invisible Girl shows up to point out the obvious: Dazzler is CONSTANTLY getting into superhero shenanigans, so any kind of advantage to protect herself shouldn’t be thrown away.

Susan brings this up to mean “are you sure you aren’t a superhero?”, but considering Dazzler’s career so far… I can’t help thinking she thinks Dazzler sucks as a singer!

I mean… I fully support Dazzler not wanting to be a superhero because she REALLY sucks at it, but Reed is 100% right about this. At least keep the weapon for self-defense!!!

Meanwhile, Angel has moved on from stalking Dazzler to stalking her grandmother. (!!!!)

We’ll see how that turns out next issue. But here’s also the fact that Dazzler’s father has completely gone off the deep end.

Also, I just realized: the lawyer in the scene isn’t Dazzler’s boyfriend… why!?
You have a character with daddy issues, the father is a judge, she’s dating a lawyer… and you DON’T make them interact!? HOW!?!?

Thankfully the Absorbing Man interrupts the subplots.

The last time Absorbing Man showed up was in one of the earliest Hulk stories I ever read, where he was defeated when he tried to absorb the properties of an entire island.
Which was mostly done for the obvious “no one man is an island” joke…

But this story reveals that… yes one man CAN be an island for a while, as long as he has vaguely-defined magic powers!

I’ve always loved the Absorbing Man, so I’m glad he eventually got tired of ruling his own island and came back to fight superheroes… but if he had any brains, this would’ve been his final story!

But what is Absorbing Man doing in a Dazzler comic? He wants to take her hostage because, while it’s still a secret that she has powers, her being friends with superheroes is public knowledge.

That… that DOES sound legit, for once!!!

While the comic has a really exaggerated opinion of Dazzler’s singing talents, she has more realistic expectations. Then again I can’t possibly know what her singing sounds like because… you know.

More reasons why Red Moustache is a great love interest: he takes Dazzler to a baseball game even if he doesn’t like baseball! Now that’s commitment, I wouldn’t wish on anyone the pain of sitting through an entire game. Well, maybe on Jimmy Olsen.

He’s starting to get a liiiitle jealous of Angel, though. And apparently not without some merit, because Dazzler is starting to fall for the mutant stalker.

Absorbing Man is getting tired of his plot being sidelined, so he just goes straight to Dazzler’s employer. Cue to Lance being completely useless in three, two, one…

This leads him to the club where Dazzler is performing…

…where she proves just how dumb she is by activating Reed’s weapon to power up the lightshow of her concert. (!!!!)

AMAZINGLY this doesn’t turn into the lawsuit of the century.

How is this Reed’s fault?!?!? He told you this was a weapon!!! He even tried to explain you how to use it and you didn’t even let him finish!!!

Is the Dazzler the Dazzler without her Dazzle? Asking the real questions here.

After all that talk about how she doesn’t need the weapon… just guess what’s the first thing she does as soon as Absorbing Man shows up.

So not only Dazzler is going to be a hostage… she’s also given her kidnapper a weapon to use against the Avengers. Great job, Dazzler!

At least she’s smart enough to trick Absorbing Man into turning the weapon on himself.

However you don’t constantly fight Thor without growing SOME resistance to pain, so Absorbing Man is able to power through the sonic attack.

Dazzler does get one badass moment when she absorbs the sound to use against Absorbing Man…

…but this is Dazzler we’re talking about, so all she accomplishes is making Absorbing Man more powerful than ever.

To be continued!

---

Dazzler significance: 4/10
The mental breakdown of Dazzler’s father will be the focus of a new storyline, but other than that this will only impact the next issue.

 Silver Age-ness: 4/10
The Fantastic Four jamming session alone. I seriously wonder what Susan and Reed would’ve played?

Does it stand the test of time? 3/10
There’s nothing wrong with a protagonist who doesn’t learn a lesson, but Dazzler has repeatedly shown to be an idiot so many times it’s hard to root for her right now.
At least the Absorbing Man is entertaining enough, and for once his plan DOES make perfect sense.