Dazzler #25 (1983)
by Steven Grant & Mark Bright
cover by Frank Springer
This issue is a break from the regular writer and penciler, and you won’t believe just what difference that makes.
For starters, despite having a perfect opportunity for yet another obligatory underwear shot, we get a surprising amount of restrain.
The story is about Dazzler having to deal with a secret admirer.
Dazzler is incredibly naïve in this story (even more than usual), but the strangest part is her being defined as “almost famous”.
Okay she might not be a global superstar but… she’s had her own concert, doesn’t that count as being at least A LITTLE famous!?!?
Why did I say Dazzler is unusually naïve? Because she immediately decides to let her secret admirer get backstage access without knowing ANYTHING about him.
Considering her admirer has been spying on her through binoculars… yeah it wouldn’t take much to figure out he’s a creep.
He’s SO obsessed with Dazzler that he hangs around the keyshop where he works only because it’s next to her studio and he can look at her as she passes by!
This has simultaneously not aged well AND feels sadly timeless.
Who wants to take a guess on whether Marvel had the rights to the song?
I don’t know much about showbusiness, but I would hope it would take a lot more to get backstage access.
Okay I was ready to give Dazzler a pass since the guy doesn’t show any obvious red flags… but then she basically goes out on a date with him! WTF!?
Unless she finds him hot (hey, you like what you like), the only thing she could find interesting in him is the only thing they have in common: daddy issues!
Now don’t be shocked, but it turns out this guy is a total scumbag!
At least Dazzler manages to take care of him. Although judging by the crazy stunts we’ve seen her put on her skates, it’s a stretch that she even needs to use her powers.
You know what? This story is passable at best, but it made me realize an opportunity this series never considered… why doesn’t Dazzler have a super-powered stalker?
Shouldn’t that be the FIRST thing you do with a celebrity superheroine!?!?
Seriously, this COULD have worked. Just imagine what would’ve happened if this creep had powers!!!
Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen: not giving the name of her potential rapist to the authorities because he said some nice words to her.
The guy’s best asset is that since he works at a keyshop he can break into any place.
Sounds legit.
AMAZINGLY, Dazzler is able to put the clues together!!!
Could Dazzler have prevented the creep from murdering his own boss (!!!) if only her reaction to his assault was anything more than calling a taxi?
Unsurprisingly, the creep is completely nuts at this point. But despite being her usual dumb self, Dazzler is a surprisingly good detective in this story!
His new target is Dazzler’s father, so she rushes to save his life…
…which she does without her father deducing she has powers.
SOMEHOW.
In order to get there in time, Dazzler ends up getting a ticket. How does she STILL have so much money problems that she can’t afford fifty dollars!?
Dazzler STILL doesn’t give his name to the police (despite knowing he’s a murderer AND that he tried to kill her father), instead going back to perform!!!
What do you have to do to get Dazzler to try arresting you!?!?
Dazzler… this is your 25th issue. You’ve faced supervillains and gods but a regular guy is giving you this much trouble!?
HOW ARE YOU SO BAD AT THIS!?!?
She manages to get enough sound by crashing a mirror WITH HER BARE HANDS.
At this point I’m fully convinced Dazzler has at least some minor invulnerability.
And the moral of the story is that being famous sucks, I guess.
Dazzler significance: 0/10
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Does it stand the test of time? 5/10
This almost, and I can’t emphasize enough ALMOST, worked. Having Dazzler deal with a violent stalker is kind of a no-brainer that I’m amazed wasn’t tried earlier.
The creep is a little TOO stereotypical, even for a series like this, but again it COULD have worked.
Except… not to blame the victim, but Dazzler is astoundingly idiotic in this, not even considering any sort of danger. Which, again, COULD have worked if they went with the idea that she’s too confident in her having powers to the point of ignoring more realistic dangers.
It ends up meaning nothing because, for the 25th time, SHE’S JUST BAD AT THIS STUFF.
When he wasn’t writing comics, Steven Grant wrote for Trouser Press magazine, which was the main US publication covering Punk/New Wave music at the time, which explains why Alison was suddenly covering Talking Heads and the Boomtown Rats in this issue. This issue was nothing to write home about, but at least the songs Grant chose to have her singing – “Psycho Killer” and “I Don’t Like Mondays” – provided commentary on the action of the story and its theme of mental illness and violence, which is likely the most thought anyone bothered to put into such things in the entire series. And dear God, did I just ponder the “theme” of an issue of Dazzler?
I kinda liked this one. They did a good job of making the stalker disturbed and dangerous yet not entirely unsympathetic. And Dazzler might have been naive but she was new to fame and might react overly positively to a fan.