Secret Society of Super-Villains #17

Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume 2 

Secret Society of Super-Villains #16 

title: "Death in Silver!"
writer: Bob Rozakis
penciller: Mike Vosburg
letterer: Shelly Leferman

editor: Jack C. Harris
cover: Rich Buckler & Jack Abel (collected edition)

Order of Appearance: Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, the Human Bomb, and Firebrand 

Supporting Character(s): none

Opponents: Copperhead, the Sizematic Twins, Silver Ghost, Mirror Master, Chronos, Killer Moth, and Quake Master

Overall Summary: 
The Silver Ghost has paid the Secret Society of Super-Villains to take down the Freedom Fighters!    

Plot Summary:
In Sun City, Florida Uncle Sam and Doll Man are attacked by the Sizematic Twins and Copperhead.

Copperhead tries to squeeze the life out of Uncle Sam, while the twins catch Doll Man by surprise. When he attempts to shrink away from the larger twin, he is attacked by the smaller twin. Then he is too shocked to react before the bigger twin grabs him and knocks him out. 

Although Uncle Sam puts up a valiant fight, eventually Copperhead squeezes him unconscious. 

In Central City, Black Condor and Phantom Lady fly towards Chronos and Mirror Master. Phantom Lady admits to Condor that she always liked him. He demurs, just as they suddenly find themselves flying upside-down in a mirror-world! 

Chronos uses his time-toller to make time pass ultra-quickly for them, causing them to live nearly two weeks within a few minutes. Exhausted, they collapse onto his flying sun-dial. 

The Human Bomb and Firebrand fly a commercial airline out to Coast City, California. On the way, the Human Bomb tells Firebrand how he swallowed the experimental explosive formula 27-QRX rather than let it fall into the hands of potential criminals or spies. 

The two arrive at the airport to find the Silver Ghost waiting for them on the tarmac. They quickly switch to their uniforms and attack. Quake Master and Killer Moth are with him, and those two manage to take down the Human Bomb. 

Firebrand hopes to come up behind the Silver Ghost, but the Ghost reveals himself as someone from Rod Reilly's past who was actually waiting for HIM! 

Review: 

First of all, I apologize for the quality of these scans. As you probably guessed, they are printed directly from Mike Vosburg's pencils, so the quality of the printing is not very good. When I scanned them, I tried to pull out the shadows and contrast, but if I went too far into "dark" the background turned gray and washed out the overall image. If you are interested in this story, I really recommend you pick up the hard-cover collection, The Secret Society of Super-Villains volume 2. That's the best way to get the best quality reproduction of these pages. 

That being said....wow! I would have eaten this story up as a teenager. It's a classic good guys vs bad guys story, in an all-out action issue! We even get the secret origin of the Human Bomb thrown in for good measure. It's a real shame this story was never published during the '80s. 

The one thing I want to touch on is the affection that Phantom Lady shows towards Black Condor in this story. I think it comes a little out of left field. She has been shown embracing the Ray a few times in Freedom Fighters, so for her to say that she isn't interested in him or the Human Bomb at all just seems a bit sudden. Mind you, I don't dislike the idea of Phantom Lady and Black Condor being a couple; I just never saw any evidence that she wasn't interested in the Ray or the Human Bomb. 

This story obviously ends in a cliff-hanger, and the next story was cancelled before any artist got a chance to work on it. But here (from DC Comics Presents #62) is what Bob Rozakis intended to do: 

 Next Week: My final thoughts on the Freedom Fighters.... 

Black Condor Moment 

Black Condor gets to have a scene with Phantom Lady  

Doll Man Moment

Doll Man escapes from the first Sizematic Twin.....

not knowing that he's about to be attacked by the second one!   

Firebrand Moment

Firebrand sneaks up on the Silver Ghost 

Human Bomb Moment

The Human Bomb almost takes out Quake Master and Killer Moth single-handedly  

Phantom Lady Moment 

Phantom Lady takes the initiative against Mirror Man Master  

 Uncle Sam Moment

Uncle Sam knocks Copperhead into an old wooden shed 

Freedom of Information

• The Ray does not appear in this story. He is busy having a solo adventure in Black Lightning #11. 
• does not join them. 

Because these are the last pages of the original Freedom Fighters' story, I have decided to prsesent each page as it is printed in The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume 2. Enjoy! 

The Freedom Fighters

assembled by Len Wein