Friday, July 06, 2007

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- House of Mystery #169

House of Mystery #169 (On Sale: July 6, 1967) has a Dial H for Heroine! cover by Jim Mooney.

"The Terrible Toymaster" is the Dial H for H.E.R.O. story written by Dave Wood and drawn by Jim Mooney. In it Robby Reed uses his H-Dial to become Velocity Kid and track down the costumed crook the Toymaster. His girlfriend Suzy witnesses the transformation and follows Robby. When Velocity Kid is defeated by Toymaster, Suzy comes to his aid. She explains that she has learned Robby's secret. Despite his protests, she demands to use the dial herself. When she dials H-E-R-O-I-N-E, Suzy becomes Gem Girl.

Gem Girl pursues Toymaster while Robby waits for the dial to recharge so that he can become a new hero. Suzy succeeds in finding the Toymaster's hide-out, but she is captured.

The back-up feature is "The Manhunter Monster" starring the Martian Manhunter and it's by Jack Miller and Joe Certa. Martian Manhunter learns about two upcoming robberies planned by Vulture. At the first robbery, he witnesses monsters committing the crime. The monsters have flame breath which weakens the Manhunter. To avoid the danger, J'onn shapeshifts into the form of one of the monsters, but he is unable to change back.

Edited by Jack Schiff.

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