Showcase '96 # 5 - Fathers and Other Strangers/Day & Night, Dark & Bright Part Two/Cages and Shadows

A Wikipedia serach on Showcase reveals that fans and speculators in the '90's were looking for something. They were looking for fresh, brand new first issues. Like now, pretty much everything on the stands is cemented in triple digits. It's pretty hard to find a jumping on point. I'm not really sure Showcase was what people were looking for. That may be obvious, seeing as how Showcase ended in '96 with issue #12. Showcase feels like The Brave and the Bold, or DC Comics Presents. Without Batman and Superman to hold your interest.

The issue opens with The Batman Adventures assitant editor, Darren Vincenzo bringing together an unlikely pairing. The Connor Hawke Green Arrow and The Thorn. I remember The Thorn from her team-ups with Superman in DC Comics Presents and some brief, solo back-up appearances. An interesting character. Not entirely compelling, but interesting. I'm more of an Oliver Queen fan. I wasn't exactly thrilled with what DC did with Oliver in the '90's. Pretty much like what they did with Hal Jordan, introducing Kyle Rayner. Kyle and Connor could have been handled better if things had gone for them they way they had for Wally West. There was just something flat and uninteresting about them. But, that's probably because I'm more used to seeing Hal and Ollie. They'd been around for years, and I never really gave Kyle or Connor a chance. The story here is a bit inside, and since I didn't follow Connor, I really didn't know who he was meeting at the airport. The Thorn was pretty much shoe-horned into the story and kinda glossed over. Rose just comes home from a day at work, and immediately falls asleep to become Thorn. You would have to already know that she, like Black Lightning fights against the 100 - which is a mob organization. 

I never really got into Jack Kirby's New Gods. I guess I never really got into Jack Kirby either. I read Spider-Man instead of Fantastic Four. I appreciate what he did for comics, but I was never really a fan. Mister Miracle was pretty cool. He and Barda were interesting additions to Batman's League. Mister Miracle, Blue and Gold, J'onn J'onzz, Guy Gardner, Fire and Ice, Captain (Shazam!) Marvel...good times. All I can say about the Lightray story is that the issue wraps up with a story featuring Lightray from the New Gods.

I bought the issue for the conclusion to the Tales of Times Past from The Shade's journal, featuring his team-up with Dr. Fate. It's an odd, unlikely pairing. Much like Green Arrow and The Thorn. Much like finding all these characters in the same comic. Matt Smith's work is similar here to the Tale of Times Past featuring Ted Knight, Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Rex Tyler and Charles McNider over in Starman 11. It's hard to tell if the guards are supposed to be Owl headed creatures. James Robinson's thread that brings hese two characters together is a bit thin and flimsy. The story ends abruptly. Dr. Fate gets what he wants, but not The Shade. I guess this would have been much better as an issue of Starman than here. 

Maybe these stories would have worked under a different masthead. As maybe a revival of The Brave and The Bold or DC Comics Presents than Showcase. Or maybe as single, longer, fuller stories.

I guess we will never know.

We may never know what fate awaits...

...you