And here’s some more of CANCELLED COMIC CAVALCADE #2, the hand-produced compilation of a bunch of material that was spiked due to the DC Implosion of 1978 and which was created to insure that DC kept the copyrights to the work. 35 copes were made, with most going to contributors and a pair being sent to the Library of Congress. Over the years, additional copies have been made from those original copies.
This story had been intended for SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #17 and was halted in mid-production when the DC Implosion happened. Accordingly, only a few portions of the opening three panels have been inked. Everything else we have here are lettered pencils by series artist Mike Vosburg.
This story focuses entirely on the members of the Secret Society on Earth-One, who have been engaged by the Silver Ghost to take out his old foes the Freedom Fighters, with the group of Society members who are on Earth-2 and attempting to pick off the members of the Justice Society of America completely unrepresented. So we can see that the series was becoming a bit fragmented, and perhaps taking on more story material than it could comfortably balance.
The issue was written by Bob Rozakis, who was the regular writer of the title at this point. He attempted to use it to tie up some loose ends from the already-cancelled FREEDOM FIGHTERS series, but wound up entangling the situation even further when these two issues were similarly spiked before publication.
This issue was also intended to include a back-up story that would reveal the origin of the new Star Sapphire, but it seems as though no work had been done on that story at the time the plug was pulled, as none of the materials are included in CCC #2
Like the prior story, this issue eventually did see print in the second of a pair of collections that compiled the entirety of the SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS series in 2012.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
DC’s Secret Society of Super-Villains#1-15 ( May-June – 1976 – June-July 1978 ) and Marvel’s Super-Villain Team-Up#1-17 ( August 1975 – June 1980 — 16 ( May 1979 ) ) – plus Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-up#1-2 ( March-June 1975 ) weren’t hits for either company. But at least DC got more villains in their version.
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It seems like Secret Society of Supervillains had a brief vogue in 1977, with issues between 5-10 drawn by Buckler; issues 6-10 being inked by Layton & McLeod; Conway returning to write it with# 8; it moving to 8 times a year and getting a Special in the Summer of 1977 (not to mention the related CPT Comet/Tommy Tomorrow Team-up Special).
This makes me wonder if this was selling, at least before Buckler left . . . .
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There was something inexplicably compelling about the concept of SSoSV, even though it was pretty mediocre for most of its short run.
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I thought CPT Comet had a lot of potential, but none of his later stories (even with talents like: Giffen; Kitson; and Starlin) have ever recaptured what he had in those stories and their off-shoots.
Part of it is his Cap-like “man out of his time” vibe.
But part of it (if you go back to the original stories in Strange Adventures) is that he is a man **REALLY** out of his time, other people like him won’t exist for about 100,00 years (which he learns from meeting other mutants, living in societies at a stage of development like ours that he meets in space)..
SSoSV preserved the idea that CPT Comet is a bit alienated; but the 1960s series was about a hero who fights valiantly, not for us, but for what are progeny can become,
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Vosburg’s pencils are solid, reasonably energetic storytelling, but there isn’t a moment in it anywhere where it looks like he cares about the story he’s telling. Which was probably true for a lot of DC’s artists at the time.
His work on the personal stuff he did for STAR*REACH, on the other hand, looked to me like he’d have been a star artist if he could have done that kind of thing at DC or Marvel. He absolutely had the skills, and he was certainly getting work when he wanted it, but he apparently just never got the kind of assignment that he could have committed to and elevated.
Which, in a system where you didn’t get to choose the stories and didn’t get royalties (at least, not in the 70s), is pretty understandable. But I’d love to have seen him on a long stretch of something he brought his A-game to…
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Agreed. He’s done great work on the Lori Lovecraft series, which I’ve collected even though I usually don’t like black & white stuff. But his early DC stuff looked ragged & rushed like he just didn’t care. Frank Springer was the same way. He put a lot of effort into his b&w stuff but not a lot into most of the colored stuff for DC & Marvel.
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I agree that it’s a shame Vosburg didn’t get a break out showcase. Even doing nothing stories for the Big Two, I can’t think of a single instance of being disappointed with his work.
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I first became aware of Vosburg during his She-Hulk run. Later, I suspect that he was in the running to take over Ironman against Luke McDonnell. At the time, he and McDonnell seemed to have very equivalent skills. Nice work but not exactly my cup of tea.
The last two issues of Vosburg’s work that Tom has posted shows a spark his Marvel work didn’t show imo… and I’ve seen other work from him that is pretty cool looking and distinctive in a very good way.
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Didn’t he follow Cockrum on Ms Marvel? Tough shoes to fill but he did amazingly well.
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Hey Tom Hope yer well ole buddy. Jeff from the Port Jeff/Glen Haumann time. I just wanted to send you a foto of a nifty wide paperback anthology Marvel Germany did in the 90s. Not sure but it looks like reprints from the 70s? As usual, I find these Euro editions in the weirdest places…this one was in the free books bookcase at a municipal pool…in nearly perfect condition, which is odd. I can mail it to you if you like. Amusingly enough the German editions are worth little so I can find them here rather easily. Not the same as reading them in EN of course. Enjoy! And take care bub Ă°ÂŸÂ™Â‚ Excelsior,Jeff
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