Issue(s): Dazzler #32
Cover Date: Jun 84
Title: "Moon lighting"
Credits:
Mike Carlin - Script
Mike Carlin & Jim Shooter - Plot
M.D. Bright - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker

Review/plot:
Dazzler is still an aerobics instructor at this point. I guess her singing career isn't going so well. And the Inhumans don't seem to want her aerobics instructor career to go well, either, because Medusa and Lockjaw materialize in the middle of her classroom.

They need her help, but Alison is trying to maintain a normal, non-superhero life. Eventually, however, she's guilted into it, in part because Black Bolt helped her out against the Absorbing Man a while back.

The menace turns out to be Moonstone and Blackout.

Two villains that i happen to like. At least, it turns out, when Roger Stern is writing them. Here, not so much. Instead of a manipulative Moonstone controlling a spaced out Blackout, we have what amounts to a bickering couple.

Blackout seems perfectly intelligent, a lot closer to his original appearance in Nova. So i guess he's temporarily regained his sanity, but it's a lot less interesting.

Their plot is odd as well. They apparently teleported to the moon after fleeing the Avengers in their last appearance. Moonstone wants to get back to the Blue Area, which is where the moon stone that provided her powers came from. She thinks if she can get more such rocks it'll increase her powers. She's not aware that the Inhumans have moved to the Blue Area. She and Blackout are traveling under cover of his darkness power, in theory to avoid detection. But instead of just covering themselves in a little darkness that moves along with them, Blackout continually spreads out the darkness. The growing cloud has drawn the Inhumans attention and is also straining Blackout to his limit.

To pierce the darkness, Black Bolt shouts at Dazzler, who absorbs his shout and blasts the resultant light at Blackout's cloud.

(Nice color effect in that second picture.)

Once exposed, Quicksilver takes the villains out.

Mr. Fantastic detects the ongoing battle from the Baxter Building...

...but Crystal informs him that things are currently under control. Later he suggests having Lockjaw teleport the villains to Project Pegasus. Moonstone is shown being restrained by handcuffs.

One imagines that as soon as she has a minute to catch her breath, she just phases out of them and escapes with Blackout.

I love Medusa's "incognito" look. Also note that she refers to Lockjaw as her "companion", possibly reflecting the revelation in Thing #3 that Lockjaw is a sentient Inhuman, not a pet. She still has him on a leash, though, although i guess that could be part of their "disguise".

I don't know what Dazzler is wearing in this issue.

There's enough bizarre concepts here to make this comic interesting, but the scripting isn't great and like i said, Moonstone and Blackout aren't represented well.

Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 134,764. Single issue closest to filing date = 117,507.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Quicksilver begins a quest in Avengers #243 that runs through Avengers #247. So in order to make room for that, we have to push this issue back a bit in publication time. The MCP places this before Avengers #243 for Quicksilver and before Fantastic Four #265 for Mr. Fantastic.

References:

• A reference to the fact that the Inhumans live on the moon directs us to "recent issues of the Fantastic Four". Nothing "recent" is really relevant. The Inhumans moved to the moon in Fantastic Four #240, over two years ago. We saw them once more in the FF in Fantastic Four #248.
  
• Dazzler got help from Black Bolt when she was fighting the Absorbing Man in Dazzler #19 (which was published around the same time as Fantastic Four #248, btw).
  
• Moonstone and Blackout fled from the Avengers in Avengers #236-237.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A