25. Dazzler vol 1 #18 & 19 ... Marvel ...

Hey it's our 25th review and to celebrate this we are going to post something off-the-beaten path so to speak. From the title, you will see that it's a supe that you have not been actively seeing or hearing about in a long while so why?

Well, Dazzler is Alison Blaire whose mommy left her daddy and she grew up with ultra-strict daddy and housekeeper only. Her dad is a judge and she is expected to follow in his footsteps except that daddy's precious is a rebel at heart and all she wants to be is a disco-singing; roller-blading star! Yes, Dazzler's first uniform is actually a disco-outfit and not your traditional supes uniform. Hence the make-up (thanks to KISS)

And to add more drama to the soap opera, Alison discovers that she is a mutant with the ability to transduce sound into light. So the more sound she absorbs, the more powerful she can be. Initially she was more of a screeching damsel in distress who skates away and uses her dance move agility to combat the baddies with the occasional light show. However, as the series progresses she learns to use her powers in ever more destructive manner like lasers and what-not

For the first two years of her series, almost every issue is inundated with guest stars from the X-Men to the Inhumans to Galactus, then there is Spider Man and Spider Woman, the Enchantress, Rogue and even Doctor Doom, I kid you not

Perhaps they figured this was a good way of ensuring people pick up her book but whatever the justification it worked for nearly 4 years. When the guest stars stopped popping up and we get to the grim n gritty of her trying to survive career and family, that's when lagging sales killed the book

So why did I choose these 2 issues to highlight?

Check out the covers. Brilliant artwork and a Hulk-level villain that ends up absorbing everything Allison can throw at him. The tale only ended with Black Bolt's presence in 19. So it's action heavy after a few pages into 18 and just doesn't let up until 19 with little bits and pieces of subplot plodding on so it doesn't slowdown the action ... which is how comics should be. Entertaining!

Ratings: 7/10