Welcome to “Disaster December!” Starting today and throughout the month, we’re taking a break from prehistory and all our entries into Codex Omniversa will have a theme: disaster. Let’s be honest, there’s impending doom in almost any comic book. However, we’re going to focus on disasters similar to 1970s movie and TV movie subgenres. In fact, all posts this month will be from books published in the 1970s. (This industry is not immune to jumping on a popular bandwagon.)
If you like the subject matter, be sure to check out my other blog, ClassicHorrors.club where we’re discussing Irwin Allen films, and The Classic Horrors Club Podcast where Richard Chamberlain and I will discuss two blockbusters: The Hindenburg (1975) and Black Sunday (1977.) Richard has also agreed to create one of our Wednesday posts this month. He’s a DC Comics fan, too, and I look forward to what he shares with us. You’ll also find additional trivia and polls across our social media platforms.
Jun/July 1977 (March 10, 1977)
$0.60, 48 pages
Editor: Paul Levitz
No criminal can escape Batman — but can the Caped Crusader escape Mother Nature’s mightiest blow?
The first story in DC Special #28 is “And the Town Came Tumbling Down,” written by Bob Rozakis, pencilled by John Calnan, and inked by Tex Blaisdell. On the first of ten pages, Batman notices Gotham City’s Cravett Building shaking. Then…
But it takes more than concrete and steel to stop the Caped Crusader, even if “the sky is falling.”
Commissioner Gordon grows impatient…
Good lord! Another quake — !
The Masked Manhunter is trapped in the Batcave and with the computer system down, must rely on his old file system to discover that Robert Coleman was a builder who was discredited when an apartment complex fell apart during a hurricane.
I’ve got to prove the building commissioner was wrong — none of the buildings in Gotham City could withstand a force like that hurricane! You don’t understand!
Recommended Film
Earthquake (1974)
Starring: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal, Walter Matthau
Written by: George Fox and Mario Puzo
Directed by: Mark Robson
Released on Nov. 15, 1974, by Universal Pictures
CODEX OMNIVERSA 