DC Comics Presents #52 (1982)
"Negative Woman Goes Beserk!"
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Artist: Keith Giffen
Right before the holidays I stumbled onto a new comic shop out in Lakewood's Colorado Mills
mall. Fairly small shop, but they had roughly 20 rows of 1.00 comics, mostly Marvel and DC
stuff from the 80's. Over the years
it's disgusting how much money I've blown on such bargain bins. I'm hestitant to drop
over 15 bucks on any one DECENT comic, but throw a tub of crappy comics in front of me
and I'm good for about 20 bucks.
I made it out of there with only 14 bucks of damage. Mostly World's Finest and early
80's Captain America, but I also picked up some old DC Comics Presents. This title
was similar to Brave and the Bold, only instead of Batman team-ups, it
featured Superman team-ups. Superman stories are usually limitless, so it's easy to team
him with ANY hero. Superman can easily go back in time, travel around the world,
fly to other planets, or hop
into another dimension. DC Comics Presents (aka "DCP") was also a handy "continuity filler"
series. The first 40 issues or so featured a "Whatever Happened to.." back-up series, that
focused on some of the forgotten DC heroes like Airwave or Sandy the Golden Boy.
Additionally, the title was also used as a launching point for new heroes or
series. Firestorm teamed-up with Superman in DCP, one month before his series returned
to the stands. Strange but true: Superman and DCP even gave the rub to ....He-Man and the Masters of
the Universe!
I grabbed this particular issue because it featured the seldom-seen New Doom Patrol
as the guest stars. Created in the late 70's as
a direct response to the "New" X-men, the "New" Doom Patrol consisted of Tempest,
Celsius, Negative Woman and Robotman. The characters weren't precise rip-offs
of the new X-men, but the costumes of Celsius and Tempest evoked connections to
those of Nightcrawler, Colossus and even Wolverine (v-neck design with pointy shoulder
pads). The team appeared in roughly 3 or 4 issues of Showcase in the late 70's, but
didn't prove popular and bounced around the fringes of DC for the next 10 years.
As this story opens, a "mysterious" bolt of black energy is zipping around
Metropolis and messing things up. Superman gives chase, but can't stop it. Complicating things,
today's also the latest in a series of endless parades in downtown Metropolis. To make matters even
worse, a green teleporting villain suddenly
appears on TV and kills a senator!
Superman meets up with Tempest, Robotman and Celius, who are also after the black energy bolt.
The bolt's actually their teammate, Valentina Volstok, the Negative Woman gone nutso.
The "negative" energy of her alter ego sometimes flares up and loses control. Typical
woman....starts acting all negative and runs through town throwing a tantrum. Usually
during a parade. The heroes run off to contain her, but that pesky teleporting
green feller decides to get involved....
Yup, this issue marks the first appearance of Ambush Bug! You can take
your Showcase #4 or Hulk #181...I'll take me DC Comics Presents #52!!
Ambush is completely scatterbrained,
while using little robotic bugs to teleport around and annoy the heroes. Superman
discovers the bug vulnerability and crushes the devices, just as Ambush Bug is
daring Robotman to hit him. Expecting to be teleported, Ambush shits a brick
as he suddenly realizes his power's not working. Robotman clocks him and
puts an end to the cheeky fun.
Eventually, Superman contains Negative Woman with a lead-lined crate and the parade is saved. The parade
featured several helium balloons, most of which were in-jokes to other comic
characters. Among others, Judge Dredd, Cerebus and Elfquest's Skywise were seen. They
even mixed in a Fred Hembeck version of Superman. Lois Lane
was the TV host of the parade, since this was the period when the whole
Daily Planet/Superman Support Crew worked at Galaxy Broadcasting as newscasters. As the
story ends Ambush Bug, sans bug suit, is seen in Arkham Asylum. He contemplates
his next adventure as a small robotic bug flies into his cell.
The "new" Doom Patrol disappeared once more after this story. They returned as
background filler in "Crisis on Infinite Earths", but didn't receive any
real attention until their series was surprisingly revived in 1988. Once again, they didn't
prove a huge hit and their book was sent to "direct only". Turned out to be a good decision,
as "Doom Patrol" became one of the first "Suggested for Mature Readers"
successes and led to the DC Vertigo imprint. You could walk into your
local State College Art Department in 1992, mention "Doom Patrol" or
"Crazy Jane" and you'd get a date with a goth chic.
Ambush Bug went on to become a running gag in DC Comics. He returned a few more times
to harass Superman in DCP, thinking he was his sidekick. Ambush was a
harmless prankster and was rewarded with TWO mini-series in the mid 80's. Both were
insane satires of DC and Pretty Damn Funny. Highlights included
an inflatable Darkseid and Argh-Yle the Evil Sock. Plus Ambush Bug
was the first DC superhero to have his kid sidekick (Cheeks the Toy Wonder) blown up by a bomb...
a good three years before Batman and "Death in the Family"! Without the
aid of a 1-900-Kill-Robin number, even.
Today, Ambush's antennae often pop-up in several crowd shots and he has a dedicated cult following. And yes, there actually is a
species of insect known as an "ambush bug".
The action and plot are the basic pre-Crisis cheese. Superman's closer to
the SuperFriends' Big Boy Scout that everyone grew to hate. Some "humorous" scenes with
Jimmy Olsen aren't that. Ambush Bug fighting Robtoman is legitimately funny, though.
There's also some unintentional humor in the scene where Superman meets the Doom Patrol.
He meets them walking in an alley and it's basically "hi, we're the NEW Doom Patrol" and
"hi, I'm Superman, welcome to Metropolis". Negative Woman's origin is also recapped
in one of those funny "only in comics" stories: as a pilot, she crash-landed on the exact same
spot where Negative MAN had been blown up.
 |
| Drokk it! |
Strangest thing about Ambush and this issue was the murder of the Senator.
A malicious deed for someone as happy-go-lucky as Ambush Bug. At the end of the story, there was
no explanation of why he killed him or the significance. I've never read Ambush's second
appearance, so I don't know if it was ever addressed. It would've been easy for Ambush to reveal
that he didn't KILL the guy, rather that he teleported him away. A strange start for Ambush,
considering what he became known for.
As mentioned, I picked this up for the sole purpose of reading a rare New Doom Patrol
story. It was a HUGE bonus when I realized that it also featured the debut of Ambush Bug.
Comic nerds are all into first appearances and shit. You can probably
find this comic for 2 bucks or less at any decent comic store. Of course, if
the shop owner has it tacked up on the wall with a tag denoting "1st Ambush Bug"
and a hefty price...well, you'll know that both of ya' read the same
crappy website!
Summary: Superman and Doom Patrol chase Negative Woman around a parade. Ambush Bug
appears out of nowhere and a legend is born.
Cover price: .60
Rating: 2.50 (highest rating possible!)
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