Buying comics that are made exclusively for kids for me is usually an impulse buy like seeing The Avengers playing baseball against Galactus and Silver Surfer or when Ego The Living Planet fell in love with the Earth. So I guess all I really want is to read Silver Age type stories written today (this is just what Chris hates about my comic reading habits - I love Silver Age Legion of Super Hero stories).

I've only bought one other issue of Super Friends and that was for my little cousin Carter last Christmas and I was a little creeped out by that issue because the Justice League (I know they're the Super Friends but come on) fought Dr Light and since he became Super Rape Man after Identity Crisis I always found it strange to see him show up in the Teen Titans cartoon or the Justice League Unlimited comic. I know that he's a different incarnation but it still skeeves me out. He was melted by the Spectre during Final Crisis; after all this Blackest Night stuff is over please let him stay dead and buried.

Anyway, back to what this article is supposed to be about and not railing against 'realism' in comics (although wouldn't it be completely awesome if Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers had to play baseball against Galactus and his herald? Norman complaining the whole time about how ridiculous it was. It would be great!). The issue begins with Professor Hugo Strange checking into a hotel on beautiful Oolong Island for the W.O.R.M.S. convention -The World Organizations for Research in Mad Science! - hosted by none other than Lex flippin' Luthor!

There's a few pages of all the various mad scientists of the DCU competing within their different specialties - robots, monsters, evil plants, ray guns and other devilish devices - followed by a splash page of the various villains at the buffet. The single best conversation on the page being between Monsieur Mallah and Gorilla Grodd when they see Ultra-Humanite coming and don't want him coming over to talk to them because he's a gorilla wannabe.

Then Luthor betrays everybody because, as I said, he's Lex flippin' Luthor and that's what he does. He alerts the Super Friends so they can come in and handily defeat all the mad scientists (after they escape an over elaborate death trap) leaving all their inventions behind for Lex to steal for himself. Of course Superman comes back after the rest of the League carts all the villains off to jail so he can get Luthor and confiscate all the inventions. Wonder Woman then lets all the imprisoned mad scientists know that they will now be sharing their inventions with the world to make it a better place. Villains cry. The end.

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

Maybe this is just the continuity nerd in me but I'd like to see the same thing happen on Earth-0. Heck, I would read an entire miniseries about Lex hosting a convention on Oolong Island. DC! You should do this! It would be fantastic! Or maybe just more Luthor please.

BJ Dowd