House of Mystery #171 (1967)
by Jack Miller & Frank Springer
cover by Nick Cardy
We are near the end of the classic run, with a couple of issues written by Jack Miller (who was 58 at the time and would die three years later) and with pencils by our old friend Frank Springer from Dazzler.
Robby hears over the radio that some criminals have stolen science equipment. Usually he hears this from the Plot Convenient News radio program, but he’s graduated to ham radio!
So he turns into King Viking. Who is, believe it or not, by far the most normal superhero of this issue.
Ah yes, the most famous thing that the Vikings did: worship winged horses.
The criminals are working for an evil scientist, and King Viking crashes their base quite easily.
It’s VERY obvious that Springer is doing his best ad imitating Jack Kirby’s artwork. Don’t get me wrong, Springer is not a bad penciler, but this clearly isn’t his best style.
The scientist spills the chemicals he was working on…
…and ladies and gentlemen, this is when the story gets bonkers.
Yes.
ALREADY.
Honest question: is “great suffering cats” a worse catchphrase than “Sockamagee”?
This ends up sending both King Viking and the villains in a microscopic world. Will this make more sense than Atom #5?
Feeling King Viking’s powers are not well suited for the mission, Robby changes into “Go-Go”.
Who, believe it or not, has the most normal costume of this issue.
Go-Go has the powers of disco dancing!
Did I mention Jack Miller was 58? Bringing it up for no reason.
Also, it goes without saying: Frank Springer is penciling a disco-themed superhero THIRTEEN YEARS before Dazzler was created!!! Which makes me wonder… is this issue the reason why he ended up as her regular artist!?
Honestly, Go-Go could potentially be a good superhero if only he had better artwork.
And a better story.
And a better costume.
And a better name.
But, you know, he COULD.
It’s a good thing that the gang ended up here, because these microbes are planning to take over the world!
Also: Springer’s attempt to copy Kirby may not have worked, but his alien designs aren’t half bad! Strong John Forte vibes.
Robby reasons that, with the fate of the world on the balance, the criminals will be willing to help him.
So naturally they IMMEDIATELY betray him and knock him out.
I guess disco powers aren’t all that great, uh?
The scientist then sells out Earth to these microbes.
Disco powers are powerless against prisons.
To be fair, we already learned that with Dazzler.
So Robby tries his final transformation, the awfully named Whirl-I-Gig.
A guy with razors for arms and legs who can spin super-fast. And who according to this panel AND NOWHERE ELSE apparently can spit fire?
We don’t get to see his escape: when we see him again he’s already back to normal size because of the atmosphere outside of his prison (wasn’t he exposed to that BEFORE being imprisoned!?)
This was EASILY the quickest and lamest attempt at planetary invasion EVER.
And that’s ALREADY the end! We get the only half-decent shot at Whirl-I-Gig, who doesn’t even seem to have fully formed arms and legs… just a torso.
For a 12 and a half page story, this one reads like a four page story.
Historical significance: 0/10
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
A disco superhero?
Does it stand the test of time?: 0/10
Dial S for SOCKAMAGEE! : 81
Five catchphrases.
Dial I for superhero identities: 41
King Viking, Go-Go and Whirl-I-Gig
Dial C for the superpowers count: 62
King Viking only has flight and super-strenght, both of which have been in the list multiple times.
I think Go-Go’s power could be considered little more than super-speed, which is also already on the list.
That just leaves Whirl-I-Gig with… uhm… flight and super-speed again! In his first panel he looks like he’s spitting fire, but there’s no mention of it and he doesn’t use it to escape from prison. I don’t think it’s enough to add a separate power, since the acetylene ray from #165 is already similar enough.
That makes this issue the first Dial H story ever that doesn’t add a single new superpower! No wonder the series is about to end.
Interesting letters: obligatory H-Dial explanation of the day.
Make that TWO theories!
