In “I’ll Find You In Yesterday” the Forever People have been scattered through time by Darkseid’s Omega Effect, and their friends of New Genesis, including Esak, ask Highfather to help them.

I just can’t read Esak’s few pages in the original Fourth World books and not wonder exactly what Kirby had in mind for him that place him where he was for “The Hunger Dogs”.

Anyway, Moonrider and Dreamer wind up at the scene of Lincoln’s assassination, Vykin among Spanish explorers looking for gold in Florida and Big Bear in old England, where he’s on hand for the events that give rise to the legend of King Arthur. Meanwhile, Serifan and the Super-Cycle are attacked by Glorious Godfrey and his Justifiers. Fortunately, Highfather acts with his Alpha-Bullets power to counter Darkseid’s Omega Effect, bringing back the time-lost members and saving Serifan by transporting him to Japan, where he’s reunited with Mother Box, left in a temple there by Sonny Sumo, who lived out his life in the past, outside of Darkseid’s reach.

Bit of an odd story, I’m not sure how it actually fits in what the series was trying to say, but with some great visuals and really nice Highfather scenes (although “Alpha-Bullets” lacks the oomph of “Omega Effect”. But then, Darkseid clearly has better PR people working for him).

Also in this issue, a 2-page “Lonar” story, where he shows off his newly found battle-horse to Orion, and a reprint of the cover and 10-page Sandman story from ADVENTURE #80 (1942), “The Man Who Couldn’t Sleep”, one of my favourite Sandman stories, involving a millionaire driven crazy and to crime by his inability to sleep.

Mike Royer inks the cover, 24-page lead story and 2-page backup.

Published 1972

This is the final issue of the 1970s SANDMAN series (with one unused story seeing print later). It’s noteworthy for providing the final chance for Wallace Wood to ink Kirby’s pencils in the 18-page story, which otherwise makes as little sense as most Sandman stories. Doctor Spider manages to capture the Sandman and Glob, and plans to use the Sandman’s magic whistle to force President Ford to turn power over to him.

Unfortunately for him, no one takes Doctor Spider threatening the President with the Sandman’s magic whistle very seriously (which is a pretty funny scene, I’ll grant you), and Brute and Jed are able to mount an attack and rescue the prisoners.

Wood’s inks on Kirby are always interesting. He’s not quite as heavy with his own style as he was on some of their 1950s work together, but still a lot more than the usual Kirby inkers of the mid-1970s. While I prefer the style of Royer in general, it was nice to get one example of this kind of inking from the period.

Published 1976

Oh, Cap, if only you knew the degrading spectacles you and your shield would be part of in the 1990s…

In this issue, Cap and the Falcon, on the hunt for the Madbomb, are held in the hidden HQ of the New Society and forced to participate in the violent Kill-Derby in order to recover Cap’s shield. Man oh man, wild combat on turbo-charged skateboards, does it get more Kirby than that? Some nice scripting, as Kirby plays off the contrast of the idealistic Cap and Falcon with the greed based thoughts and actions of the New Society. I like this bit from the last page:

SOMEHOW, THE NAZI GHOST NEVER SEEMS TO DIE WITHIN MAN. IT MARCHES WITH INSANE PRIDE… RESPECTING NOTHING… TAKING EVERYTHING AND IGNORING THE PAIN OF OTHERS. CAP SIGHS IN RESIGNATION. HE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT FOR HIS SHIELD.

D. Bruce Berry inks Kirby on the 17-page story while Frank Giacoia inks the cover.

This cover from the 1970s is a bit too busy with the multiple bits of squiggles and crackle, and probably needs some more differentiated colouring and inking to make it clear that the bottom half is supposed to be underwater. I do like the tech in the background, though.

Al Milgrom inks on this one.

Published 1976